New Koi quarantine?

[koicrazy]

Question......I would love to add ONE more Koi but would like to know if a 30 day quarantine is mandatory to do it.
Does everyone always quarantine?
What about mail-order? I kinda think it's probably not a good idea?

I have a 100 gallon tank I could use but does it need a filter/air/plants and a heater? Essentially, a mini pond?
I know it's the only truly safe way to add fish but it makes the cost for a $100/Koi go up by approx. $500 or more.

 

[Jhn]

Question......I would love to add ONE more Koi but would like to know if a 30 day quarantine is mandatory to do it.
Does everyone always quarantine?
What about mail-order? I kinda think it's probably not a good idea?

I have a 100 gallon tank I could use but does it need a filter/air/plants and a heater? Essentially, a mini pond?
I know it's the only truly safe way to add fish but it makes the cost for a $100/Koi go up by approx. $500 or more.

Isn’t your pond only 1200 gallons and you just got your water quality straightened out? If you have a few koi in there already I would leave well enough alone.

That being said not a bad idea to qt if you have the capability to do it and do it correctly. Ie pull pond water out of your pond and add some filter media or plants from your pond to minimize as much as possible any cycling that goes on (have a bottle of prime handy). No heater necessary koi are cold water fish, some type of filter is a necessity, can be a diy one though.

Mail order is fine, I order fish all the time through the mail, haven’t bought a koi in person in years. Just keep in mind you aren’t going to acclimate the fish like one you brought home from the store. You want it out of the bag asap, so if there is a big temp difference, temp acclimate for 15 minutes and dump it in. Reason being ammonia is building up in the bag by the fish waste, however as CO2 in the bag rises it depresses ph making the ammonia less toxic, as soon as you open the bag and off gas the CO2, ph will start to rise and the built up ammonia will become much more toxic damaging the health of the fish.

All this being said is qting mandatory no, there are proponents of both ways and pros and cons of both ways. Heck, I go back and forth sometimes I just toss the new fish in my main pond and other times I have qt’d them, but I have multiple 300 gallon stock tanks plumbed into another 1800 gallon pond, so I can take one off line and use for qt or a hospital tank if necessary.

 

[koicrazy]

Isn’t your pond only 1200 gallons and you just got your water quality straightened out? If you have a few koi in there already I would leave well enough alone.

That being said not a bad idea to qt if you have the capability to do it and do it correctly. Ie pull pond water out of your pond and add some filter media or plants from your pond to minimize as much as possible any cycling that goes on (have a bottle of prime handy). No heater necessary koi are cold water fish, some type of filter is a necessity, can be a diy one though.

Mail order is fine, I order fish all the time through the mail, haven’t bought a koi in person in years. Just keep in mind you aren’t going to acclimate the fish like one you brought home from the store. You want it out of the bag asap, so if there is a big temp difference, temp acclimate for 15 minutes and dump it in. Reason being ammonia is building up in the bag by the fish waste, however as CO2 in the bag rises it depresses ph making the ammonia less toxic, as soon as you open the bag and off gas the CO2, ph will start to rise and the built up ammonia will become much more toxic damaging the health of the fish.

All this being said is qting mandatory no, there are proponents of both ways and pros and cons of both ways. Heck, I go back and forth sometimes I just toss the new fish in my main pond and other times I have qt’d them, but I have multiple 300 gallon stock tanks plumbed into another 1800 gallon pond, so I can take one off line and use for qt or a hospital tank if necessary.

I have 3 Koi and 4 goldfish, your right, I did just get things straightened out and am so happy about not loosing my biggest Koi.
I should be content with the fish I have but the heart wants what the heart wants.......most probably I won't be adding any more unless I lose one, the risk to the fish I have is just too great.

 

[Jhn]

I have 3 Koi and 4 goldfish, your right, I did just get things straightened out and am so happy about not loosing my biggest Koi.
I should be content with the fish I have but the heart wants what the heart wants.......most probably I won't be adding any more unless I lose one, the risk to the fish I have is just too great.

I hear ya, I get bit by the koi bug and need to stay of the various sites that sell koi or I will end up buying one. Now my pond is large, but it can still get overloaded with fish, so I have to use restraint, which I am good at most of the time.

 

[koicrazy]

I hear ya, I get bit by the koi bug and need to stay of the various sites that sell koi or I will end up buying one. Now my pond is large, but it can still get overloaded with fish, so I have to use restraint, which I am good at most of the time.

It's probably a good thing I don't have anything bigger since I'm on a retirement budget....if I had more room, I would never stop.