QUARANTINE NEW KOI

One of the key aspects of Koi keeping is maintaining health for the Koi. The first step in protecting your Koi's health is ensuring a proper quarantine procedure for any incoming fish that will be added to the pond. With this procedure, you can ease your mind because you will be able to observe any problems that may arise before adding your fish to the main pond. The Quarantine tank in many instances should be able to accommodate however many fish you plan to put through this process. Something to keep in mind, while this is still a quarantine tank and it is for temporary use,  pond owners should still filtrate and care for the tank as if it were your actual pond. 

How do we Quarantine or incoming Koi?

As a dealer, there are many factors to Quarantining your koi. Some of the factors include: How many fish did we get? Which farms did we get the fish from? Do we have tanks to accommodate them? These are the few questions we ask ourselves before taking in a shipment. Why are these factors important you might ask? As a dealer, it is important to us to maintain a high-quality stock at all times, but doing so requires intense scheduling. Why? Our Koi will be Quarantined for a minimum of four weeks before it is introduced to the public. Doing so, allows us to observe the Koi's behavior and general health. If we like what we see and the Koi seems to have no health problems, we will allow the Koi to be sold. So how do we begin the process? When we reach out to our importers/ farmers regarding the inquiry for Koi, our mindset going in is based on the space/ tanks we have available. Before the fish are sent out, we will select a date that works for the importers/ farmers and ourselves. Once that date is set, we are on the clock. Our tanks that will be used for the quarantine process will be filled up with water to the top. Then, we add Pottasium Permanganate ( a very strong chemical compound) to the tank and let the water filter. Potassium Permanganate is an oxidizing agent that we will use to kill bacteria, fungus, or any other pathogens left from the last group. As the chemical compound is cycling through the tank, it will kill the good and the bad bacteria left in the tank from the last group. (During this time, we will also add any buckets, nets, and clips that need to be cleaned before receiving fish.)Then, we move on to draining the tank. The tank will then be drained and scrubbed down before we refill it with new water. Once the tank is cleaned to our satisfaction, we will add new water into the tank to let the beneficial bacteria develop. After this is completed, we will add 3-4 lbs of salt per 100 gallons. What the salt does, at higher salinity, most parasites on the Koi will not be able to survive. In addition to ridding them of parasites, the salt will act as a stress reliever for the Koi. Next, we receive the fish (usually a week later). Once we have them, our goal is to put them in the tank as soon as we can. First, we will acclimate the bag to the water. We recommend you acclimate the bag for as long as you can, given that the fish don't look stressed out. Then, we will release the Koi into the tank. (There are more steps to acclimating, but we want to condense it for you ***Check out our Forum on "How to Acclimate***). Once the Koi are in the tank, we like to add a heater to the tank to heat up any dormant virus or bacteria. Once this step is complete and all the fish seem settled in, we will cover the tanks with a black cover. The purpose of the black cover is to relieve them of any light. Light in many cases will cause the fish to be stressed out. This is why we recommend hobbyists to partake in such practices! One key tip we would like you to have when receiving new koi. Please refrain from feeding your Koi in the first week. The reason we say this is because most of the time your Koi is scared and will not eat the food. Uneaten food in your take will cause an ammonia spike in the water, essentially harming your fish more than it is good. The only way to remove ammonia is through water changes, and we do not want to change our environment too much until we see that they are settled in. After a week or two, the fish should be settled in. This is when we will take a scale scrapping of the Koi. This will give you a generalized observation of how your fish is doing. In addition to scrapping, we highly suggest observing them as well. Look for cuts, missing scales, bleeding, or even unusual swimming behaviors. Once we are confident in the Koi after four weeks, we will allow the fish to be sold. Hobbyists at home should also partake in a strict Quarantine process. By doing so, you will give yourself peace of mind when adding your new Koi to the main pond. When buying from a dealer,  we advise you to ask questions regarding their Quarantine process.  For all of our Japanese Import Koi, our importers' quartine and KHV test the fish prior to us getting them. To us, that is not enough and we implement our protocol as well. Hope this information is helpful and as always, Happy pond keeping!!