QUARANTINE PROCEDURE FOR NEW KOI

Every so often, you will likely buy a new koi (or goldfish), but how do you know that this fish isn’t carrying any harmful diseases that could spread to your other koi? Now more than ever, it is important to make sure new fish are disease free, quarantining new fish before adding them to your pond should be considered mandatory.

WHY QUARANTINE?
There is more than one reason to quarantine new fish, not only do you want to protect your existing koi collection from any possible disease or parasite that the new fish may carry, but you also need to make sure they are in good shape before introducing them to your pond, Here is a basic guideline for properly quarantining your new fish before adding them to your pond. Most imported koi will have been very stressed during their journey from fish farm or breeder to your pond. In most cases, they will have been caught and moved from ponds to holding tubs, sorted then packed (crowded) in boxes, put on 1 or more flights for up to 36 hours, transported some more and then finally released into the retailers tanks – all without being fed. After all this stress, the fish are very susceptible to bacteria and parasite infestations. A good retailer will allow the fish time to recover from all the stress endured on their journey before selling them, however, many just want to sell them as quickly as possible before any problems occur. Plus once you have a quarantine tank set-up, you can always use it as a hospital tank or even to raise baby fish.

WHAT TYPE OF TANK TO USE FOR QUARANTINE

Quarantine tubs don’t have to be elaborate, but they do need to be reliable. You can many different types of tubs or tanks - large aquariums, livestock water troughs, 45 gallon plastic drums and ‘kiddy’ pools will all work as long as they haven’t been used to carry and harsh chemicals that could leach back into the water during quarantine. As well, filters don’t need to be very complex either. A large sponge filter or pre-filter like our HydroClear filters will work well. For larger tanks, pressurized filters are ideal. The most important thing to remember is that the filter must be ‘cycled’ (see below).