Dragon Fish on the Move: Transporting or Relocating Koi Fish

Moving is a strenuous and stressful event for most people, and the same can be said for your koi fish. As hardy of a species as they are, koi fish are highly sensitive to change—a stressed koi is ultimately an unhealthy koi. Stress potentially compromises their immune system, opening your fish to a heightened risk of illness and parasitic infestation.

So whether you’re moving your koi fish to a new pond or tank, or to their new home thousands of miles away, here are some of the things that you’ll need to ensure proper transportation.

Dietary Change

In anticipation of moving your koi, stop feeding them about five to seven days ahead of time. It will help to cut down on the waste your koi will produce and help with the water quality.

Supplies

Before you get started, you will need a few essentials to make sure your koi fish are as comfortable as possible:

• net
• plastic bags
• rubber bands
• sealable, waterproof containers
• cardboard/Styrofoam boxes
• water conditioners
• bottled oxygen and hose
• ice packs

Some of these products are distance-specific. Oxygen and ice packs, for example, won’t be necessary if the distances your fish are traveling are particularly short.

Bag or Box

Again, this can be distance and mode of transportation related. Plastic bags are generally better suited to longer distances and plane travel.

This may seem self-explanatory, but fewer fish per bag (or container) is better and larger fish should always get their very own bag. Transporting those bags in cardboard is acceptable but to make doubly sure, Styrofoam boxes will work better if leaks should occur.

Some enthusiasts have reported success with large covered Rubbermaid® containers for shorter car trips.

Netting Koi Fish

Unless your Kung Fu is superlative, you will need a net (knotless, fine mesh is better) to corral your koi.

Koi don’t swim backwards particularly well, so always approach from the head. Attempting to wrangle your koi from behind can damage the caudal fin. Take your time and be patient. Put the net under the head and gently guide the koi into the net trying to minimize contact with the net itself.

The koi will do its best to evade the net and that includes a last ditch effort to jump out of the water when it reaches the surface. Be prepared for it.

Water and Preparation

The water should be deep enough to cover the koi fish’s head, but no deeper than a quarter (25%) of the bag. Try to keep the pH and temperature as close as possible to the levels of the water the koi just came from. Using pond water (as long as it is clean) can be helpful in this regard.

To limit the amount of ammonia from waste for longer journeys, use a water conditioner to treat the water. Don’t guesstimate the amount of dilution—be precise. Also avoid adding vitamins at this time.

Some enthusiasts recommend adding a small amount of salt into the water to lessen the osmotic stress and help to calm the koi. Almost any type (iodized or otherwise) will do. Avoid using rock salt however, as rock salt is full of impurities.

And now, add your koi. The polyethylene bags that are ideal for transport are usually available from your koi dealer.

Before putting the bottled oxygen into the bag, try to squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag by bunching up the top of the bag and pressing the bag down toward the water. Hold the bag neck around the O2 hose as you inflate. Once the bag is full, remove the hose quickly and twist the bag off and fold the twist over. Seal it off with the rubber bands. Using more than one rubber band is advisable.

Place the oxygenated bag into a second bag and seal that bag with rubber bands. Some enthusiasts use up to as many as 4 bags.

Cooler is Better

A koi’s metabolism is tied to water temperature. The lower that temperature, the slower its body movement. Cooling the water is a good way to slow your fish and its processes down, resulting in less waste and less movement, which in turn results in more oxygen in the water.

Put an ice pack next to the bag to keep the water temperature down and keep the containers out of direct sunlight as much as possible.

Releasing your Koi

We will cover the acclimation process in more detail in a future post, but when moving your koi from the plastic to its new home, if the fish isn’t stressed, float the fish while still in the bag for 30-60 minutes on the surface to allow the temperature to calibrate.

Of course, at Next Day Koi we have turned the process of transporting koi fish into a finely-tuned system that guarantees you prompt overnight delivery, but we hope that this advice will help you get your living jewels safely into their new home.

Please contact one of our staff to find out how we can help you stock your pond with koi fish for sale from some of the top sources in the industry.