While there are several steps you can take to help maintain optimal koi fish health, in the end koi fish are still living creatures. Sometimes even if you follow the strictest of quarantine procedures and provide exceptional water quality, koi can still become ill and koi losses can still occur. Why? Because in the end koi fish are not household appliances, and therefore they do not come with a factory warranty. This statement applies whether you spend thousands of dollars to purchase high quality Japanese koi from a reputable koi dealer or if you are given a small koi fish as a gift from one of your trusted friends. All koi losses hurt, but somehow these losses seem to feel even worse whenever you lose a beloved fish which cost you a small fortune to add to your pond.
There are many products sold online under various brand names advertised to treat common koi parasites and various pond health issues. In fact, there are so many choices available that it can often be a bit confusing for a frantic koi keeper trying to treat a sick fish. Over the years we have gained valuable knowledge through our close relationships with various koi dealers, importers, and breeders. This knowledge combined with our own extensive experience gained over the past two decades has led us to identify three specific treatments we feel any serious hobbyist should always keep on hand. These critical MUST-HAVE treatments include (1) salt, (2) praziquantel, and (3) potassium permanganate. Our koi adoption request form also requires private hobbyists to agree to keep these products on-hand.
Visit our Koi Health page for valuable information, which may help to avoid koi losses in the future.
As a registered non-profit animal rescue, our primary mission is to find suitable new forever homes for the beautiful living jewels entrusted to our care. This mission would continue regardless of whether we ever again host another adoption event for private hobbyists. We require a completed koi adoption request form for all adoptions for several reasons. First and foremost, this approval process helps to ensure our rescued koi fish are placed into suitable koi ponds with knowledgeable hobbyists. This process also helps to exclude those wishing to acquire fish for resale while helping to set realistic expectations for private hobbyists wishing to attend one of our special hosted koi adoption events.
If you were to purchase a new koi fish from a reputable koi dealer only to watch it die in your pond at home shortly thereafter, regardless of actual price paid you are very unlikely to be offered a full cash refund. And why is this? Because your koi dealer realizes the fish you lost would likely still be alive today if it were never sold to you. At best, your koi dealer would likely offer a partial credit towards a replacement koi from their sale tanks only after doing their own due diligence to help identify why your fish died. Back in 2020 when the COVID pandemic required us to begin making some of our rescued koi fish available direct to private hobbyists for the very first time, we tried our best to adopt a similar policy given the reality our minimal rehoming fees are a very tiny fraction of typical koi dealer wholesale cost.
We commonly offer several “free koi” quantity discounts during our special hosted koi adoption events. It is also impossible for us to effectively diagnose nor treat any koi health issues after they leave our care. For these reasons, we do not offer free replacements for any koi losses occurring after adoption date. We do, however, guarantee live koi arrival for private hobbyists who attend our events located anywhere within our primary service area. If any koi losses occur during transport (due to a leaking bag or any other reason), simply let us know immediately and we will gladly issue “full face value” credit redeemable towards free replacement koi at our next scheduled koi adoption event. Without exception, this credit amount far exceeds the effective rehoming fee (actually amount paid) for the specific fish lost.
Any credit issued for koi losses occurring during transport may not be “banked” nor saved in perpetuity for use at any other future events. All credits are void after our next scheduled koi adoption event has been completed, and credits are not transferrable. If a customer would like to redeem this credit but is unable to attend our next scheduled adoption event, upon request we will gladly extend this credit offer to apply towards free replacement koi at the second scheduled koi adoption event taking place after credit issue date. Once this second hosted koi adoption event has been completed all credit offers are void regardless of their redemption status.