Japanese koi care: Quarantine.

Preventative Measures

It is that time of year for the quarantine of your koi to ready them for winter/spring. This is a practice that we have done with our koi 2 times a year and it works. The worst thing a koi lover can do is leave their koi open for parasite and bacteria problems. Make sure you take the needed steps to keep your koi healthy. A simple quarantine will leave your koi healthy and ready when spring comes around.

If you choose to have a Bi Annual quarantine, this is what I suggest:

• FIRST Make a 25 percent water change in your pond(s)
• Treat with Prazi
• Treat with salt - make sure you remove your plants if you salt. I(f you cannot salt there are a few options. Email us for further information.)
• Feed a wheat germ based food and/or medicated food if needed

You need to know:

• The gallons approx gallons of water of your pond/ or ponds
• The amount of medicated food you need if you choose (1.25lbs, 3 lbs, 8 lbs)
• Wheat germ based food if you choose ( 1lbs, 4 lbs, 11lbs)

PRAZI comes in many sizes sizes. The dose is about 1 gram per l00 gallons of water. Praziquantel is really safe so you can overdose many times the amount without harm to the koi. We have dosed 4X the normal amount and the koi did fine. They did fine, but the koi fish did not like it.

If you treat with salt then the best purchase is at walmart. It is about 4 dollars. a blue/white MORTON 40 lbs bag. Make sure it is 99.5% free of everything When you treat with salt treat accordingly:

1 pound of salt per one hundred gallons / 10 pounds of salt per 1000 gallons etc...

Treat 3 times over 3 days
Total 3 pounds of salt per one hundred gallons / 30 pounds per 1000 gal etc

If you own a salt meter it will show .3%. This is the therapy level for koi. Leave the salt level at this percent for 21 days then make water changes weekly to remove the salt. You may make your weekly water changes within the 21 days just add more when you remove water.

If you are heating your water over the winter you should perform this quarantine the same way.

For the koi lovers that have plants we recommend using Malachite Green & Formaldehyde. You can get this mixture that is filter safe from Koi Care Kennel: Proform C and Aquameds: Terminate. As said both brands are filter and koi fish safe.

You can find all of these products at a koi dealer. Check www.cotskoi.com for all of the need Koi Care medications.

When you treat your koi this way ( two times a year ) then your chances of having a parasite drop down really low. Doing this you will kill:

1. Flukes
2. Ich
3. Trichodina
4. Costia
5. Oodinium
6. Epystilis

For those of you with Anchor worm of Fish Lice use: Proform LA.

For more information please contact us at info@cotskoi.com.