| Mike,
This was the Koi Bito condensed version of my compiled notes concerning quarantine. It regrettably leaves a lot of blanks… which I thought would best served by questions and answers. Your question: “wouldn't you get rid of the parasites immediately?” Answer: The anchor worms are removed before treatments starts because they can leave open wounds which the following antibiotic treatments can prevent from becoming infected. The malachite green and formalin cure is as bad as the disease itself is sometimes. I would hesitate to subject the newly arrived and stressed koi to the malachite green/formalin treatment as the first course of treatment. I feel the use of diatomaceous earth filter will keep any external parasites populations in check (except for live bearing flukes) until treated. I highly recommend a diatom filter for quarantine tanks. They are capable of filtering particles as small as one micron (millionth of a meter). Since almost all freshwater parasites are larger than one micron, they are entrapped by the filter and thus eliminated from the tank. If not incorporating a diatom filter in the quarantine tank, I would make an assessment of the parasites and probably go your route and treat for parasites first.
My philosophy is to assume the koi have been exposed to or have the aforementioned disease, and will be treated for each specific pathogen accordingly. Antibiotics, in and of themselves, do not cure the koi. Antibiotics merely control the population of bacteria in a koi long enough for its immune system to eliminate them. Once healthy, koi are extremely sturdy and long lived creatures. I still have my first koi, purchased over thirty years ago.
Mark |