Why You Should Consider Setting Up A Koi Fish Quarantine Tank

Did you ever consider that introducing a new Koi to your pond might also introduce parasites, bacteria, fungi or viruses that may jeopardize your other fish? When buying new Koi, it’s not so easy to just bring them home and put them into a new pond just like that. Transporting fish from one pond to another is a process that should be handled delicately, as fish need time to adjust to a new environment. Not only that, if the Koi is carrying any parasites, bacteria, fungi or viruses, it can easily infect all the other Koi in your pond and cause a crisis. Imagine paying so much money for your new Koi fish, only to have it fall sick or cause your other Koi to be sick, and maybe even critically so! Hence, before you introduce new fish into your pond, you should certainly put it in a Koi fish quarantine tank to make sure that you prevent such crises from happening.

Risks Of Skipping The Quarantine Step

If a Koi is not properly quarantined before being introduced to your pond, there would certainly a chance of an undetected infection spreading throughout your pond and becoming very difficult to treat. The least that could happen if you damage the beauty of your Koi, and likely also its value. In the worst case scenario, the Koi might be carrying a deadly virus such as Koi Herpes Virus which could wipe out your entire pond. Though the chances of this happening are relatively low, it is important to be aware of the risks should you feel you do not need to do the quarantine.

How To Set Up A Quarantine Tank

In order to set up a quarantine tank, you would have to essentially recreate your pond system, but outside of the pond. You need a tank (say 300 gallons) covered by a net, with an air pump, water pump and a pond filter connected to it. The air pump would keep the water aerated, and the water pump helps to clean the pond water by bringing it to the pond filter. Do take note to raise the pond filter to around the water level of the tank, so that it can pour the filtered water back into the tank. You can also use a simpler, temporary version without a pond filter if you find it not necessary for your purposes, but make sure to do a partial change of the water (25% of the water) every 2-3 days.

Tips For A Proper Quarantine

• Check nitrite, pH and ammonia levels constantly as they can change quickly in a small tank
• Ensure 0.3% salinity (3 lb salt per 100 gallons of water)
• Use supplements like Microbe-Lift Stress Relief to help your fish stay healthy
• Observe the new Koi in the tank over 14-21 days to check that it does not develop any diseases
• Maintain water temperature at 65-78 degrees F, ideally above 70F