Quarantine for New Koi You Would Get

There are two or three definitive and complete articles on quarantine and a download about Your New Koi at Koivet.com

QUARANTINE

Quarantine is perhaps the most important technique I will describe to you. You should become a master of quarantine. This will require a complete understanding of what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and what to look for while you’re doing it. Let’s talk about what quarantine is.

Quarantine is simply a well thought out “waiting room” for your aquarium which pre-screens any fish which might be carrying an infectious agent from ever entering your main collection.

Anyone with a penchant for purchasing new fish will be included in the group of people who need a quarantine aquarium.

The equipment needed to develop a quarantine aquarium depends upon the size and number of fish you will want to hold. My incoming Koi, goldfish and pond fish quarantine is a 150-gallon tank with a bead filtration system. (See discussion of bead filtration). The water is held in the mid seventies and is well aerated. I always maintain a healthy carpet of green algae in the aquarium by providing abundant overhead lighting. Interestingly, algae do well with almost any lighting, so my quarantine uses efficient fluorescent lighting and not the expensive full spectrum halides.

My quarantine for Koi (not Koi, goldfish and pond fish) has been as large as 2,800 gallons, which is as large as many people regular ponds. I was afforded the luxury of abrogating [taking over by force] my swimming pool for the koi and so the original aquarium has become the quarantine. ‘Truth be known, any aquarium that affords the fish plenty of space and can be kept impeccably clean will be adequate for quarantine.

The actual performance of the quarantine procedure involves three arms of care:

1.      Setup

2.      Prophylaxis [pre-emptive treatment]

3.      Observation and Reaction

Setup of quarantine would involve the selection and setup of a aquarium of a size suitable to hold your intended specimens. The larger the better. I will repeat that for emphasis: The larger the aquarium is, the more ideal it is.

Koi Beginner Once you've leapfrogged through this tutorial you will have a solid, working concept of the Koi hobby and what it's all about. This is done just about exclusively with video and very little written material.

The tanks must be “cycled” before the first fish is put in there. Please refresh your memory on the cycle, which originates the beneficial filter bacteria that reduce nitrogen. You can start this cycle in your quarantine by running it a little warmer than usual [80⁰F], feeding regular fish food to the system despite the lack of fish, and most importantly, wringing out a filthy established filter sponge or introducing dark bead-effluent into the system. Your filtration system will assimilate the filth and make ample use of the bacteria you’ve inoculated into the system. I have set up several systems in the last few years with nothing more than this “Sponge-squeezins-jump-start” and had rapid minimization of Ammonia and Nitrite.

The aquarium needs to have ‘above-average’ aeration and circulation. On the other hand, the fish must also be able to relax and rest, so there should be specially engineered ‘dead-spots’ where the current does not interfere with sleep and other convalescent processes. 

When the fish enter the aquarium, it is ideal if you’ve allowed considerable algae to proliferate on the sides of the aquarium or tank. They will thrive considerably better than fish kept in sterile tanks.