When you buy Koi from us you must provide a suitable environment for them. Here are the basic requirements for keeping Koi:
A Koi pond should be at least one metre deep and must have a filter designed to cope with the volume of fish in it.
Only use de-chlorinated water to fill up your pond, do water changes or clean the filters. You can use a dechlorination unit or add an appropriate dechlorinating additive.
Clean your filter every week, all year round.
Change 10% – 20% of the volume of the water in your pond every week, all year round.
Keep the floor of the pond clean at all times. Bad bacteria thrive in dirty ponds.
Feed a good quality food to your Koi. The same food all year round is fine, and feed them all year round if they are hungry. If there is uneaten food left floating on the surface of the water, remove it and feed less.
Buy a test kit to test that your water parameters, including Ammonia and Nitrite, are at a safe level for your Koi.
Buy a microscope and learn how to use it. A basic microscope is fine as you can see everything you need to at 100 times magnification.
Buy yourself a good Koi health book.
Buy a salt meter. Salt is one of the safest things you can add to a pond and it treats several different parasites. Only use salt when necessary and always use a salt meter to control how much.
Observe your Koi daily and learn what their normal behaviour looks like. If it changes, they could be feeling unwell.
Don’t put medications into your pond unless you know what the problem is that you are treating.
Make sure you know exactly what the volume of water is in your pond. You should not add chemicals to a pond without that information.
When you add new fish to your pond, quarantine them first if at all possible. This will reduce the risk of introducing diseases to your pond with your new fish.
Don’t add new Koi to a pond unless the current population is fit and healthy.
We are always happy to offer advice – all you need to do is ask – and we can provide you with pretty much everything you need to keep your Koi healthy and happy.
Your legal responsibility as a Koi Keeper
The Animal Welfare Act 2006
As a Koi keeper you are bound by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to care for your Koi as you would any other animal.
Animal Welfare Act 2006 section 9
“Duty of person responsible for animal to ensure welfare
(1)A person commits an offence if he does not take such steps as are reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which he is responsible are met to the extent required by good practice.
(2)For the purposes of this Act, an animal’s needs shall be taken to include—
(a)its need for a suitable environment,
(b)its need for a suitable diet,
(c)its need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns,
(d)any need it has to be housed with, or apart from, other animals, and
(e)its need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.
(3)The circumstances to which it is relevant to have regard when applying subsection (1) include, in particular—
(a)any lawful purpose for which the animal is kept, and
(b)any lawful activity undertaken in relation to the animal.
(4)Nothing in this section applies to the destruction of an animal in an appropriate and humane manner.”