However, to insure it's safe transport to your pond there are a couple things to take into consideration to make sure the fish's journey goes well.

(Dan Blatt) "Make sure the bags are large enough for the size of you new purchase. You want them comfortable and not cramped. Don't bring a 16 inch box or ice chest and buy a 20 inch fish. Small fish can always fit into a bigger box, bigger fish won't fit well in a smaller box. Be prepared, as you'll never know what strikes your fancy. If it were me I would want the koi double bagged, larger fish triple bagged. Have the vendor put some water (1/2 gallon or so in first bag and hold it up checking that the bag does not leak. Then slide that bag into a second bag so they fit right ... like one inside the other, seam on seam. The water weight in the 1st bag makes it go into the 2nd empty bag quite easily. With larger koi repeat process with the first two into the 3rd.

The amount of oxygen is more critical than the amount of water. You want enough water to cover the fish sufficiently when the bag(s) are placed longways in the box. Make sure the person packaging your fish fill the bag until it is full or nearly full(not overfull) with oxygen. Rubber band each bag closed with at least 2 rubber bands, perferably 3 or 4 on the first bag...the one the fish are in. Close the box lids and tape shut.

Put the box in your car or trunk widthways, so that if you have to make a sudden stop (like slamming on your brakes), the fish will rock from side to side. If you put the box lengthwise and you slam on the brakes, the koi can bump their heads and potentially injure themselves.

They will now travel quite nicely for an extended period. Even if you have a 5 or 6 hour trip or longer. Remember when they come from Japan they are in bags many times 30 - 40 hours from bagging to unpacking."

IF YOUR FISH IS IN THE BAG LESS THAN 8-10 hours : * do not add your pond or quarantine water to the bag during acclimation *

When you arrive home float the bags in your quarantine tank (or pond if that's where they are going) for a period of time to equalize the temperature of the water in the bag to your water. The closer the temperature the shorter the float. If it's during the day and you have alot of sun, cover the bag(s) with a towel or place them in a shady area so you don't superheat them in the bag.
Do not add pond or quarantine water to the bag as this will change the PH of the bag and allow the ammonia to be more deadly.
*** It's important to leave the bag sealed until you're ready to take the fish out - opening the bag early, and letting the oxygen/CO2 out, or adding any fresh water to the bag will change the PH of the bag water too much for safety.

Get your bowl out and gently dump your koi and water into the bowl. If you have a sock net use it now, or if not use your hands and release koi into your water. Dump the water in your bowl on your yard, flower bed etc....not in your tank or pond.

A word of caution....some people like to give their new fish a salt bath prior to release. DON'T, you will be risking your new purchase. (more on the salt debate here) They have already had enough stress from being shipped to a show, handled and bowled all weekend and then packed up and sent home with a new owner perhaps 5 -8 hours away. I know of a couple examples where a salt bath after all this pushed a koi over the edge.....released and swam a few feet and spiraled to the bottom, where they layed. Attempts to net and bowl and revive them were in vain. Word to the wise.

IF THE FISH ARE IN THE BAG 12-24 HOURS:

Tips from Jr (koi judge)

"What the experienced fellas recommend is correct- IF the koi is in the bag less than 8-10 hours. IF the koi is in the bag 12- 24 hours the pH is very very very low indeed! AND the koi are in an ocean of ammonia! This is cool in that, the koi are semi protected by the low pH, which can easily be 6.2. But IF you just float the bag until temperture adjusts, two thing happen- the koi put out more ammonia and the pH is even MORE deadly in warmer water! The koi can experience pH shock as the change is great. Professionals estimate a loss of 5%- 15% in such abrupt transfers.

THEREFORE, if your koi are in the bag more than 12 hours and the pH is low, take your pond water and place it in a bucket and lower it to match the bag water in pH. Once the pond water is the same temperature and pH as the bag- transfer the koi immediately to the isolated pond water. NOW, raise the pH in the doctored pondwater via a drip from your normal pond water. When it is within .2 of your pond or equal to your water's pH - move the fish. This way, you will never loose a fish upon direct transfer, and more importantly, you will not set the stressed fish up for disease in your new water.

At different pH levels, ammonia becomes more or less toxic. In low pH most of the ammonia is in a less lethal form.

While the koi is locked in the bag during shipment, it breaths in oxygen and it breaths out carbon dioxide. The trapped carbon dioxide lowers the pH. This makes the ammonia less toxic. In fact this neat little fact is what makes it possible to ship koi such a long distance without ammonia poisoning. If you were to add pond water to the bag like many people do to ‘ acclimate’ them to their temperature and pH- you cause the pH to rise, but the deadly ammonia now shifts to the much more deadly form and damages the fish.

If you add too much ammonia lock or amquel to the water in the shipping bag, it will coat the gills or if you add both, cause a reaction (formalin) and possibly kill the fish- I have seen this happen with large fish. Most Pros avoid this for exactly that reason. Instead they rely on the closed bag, bottled oxygen and the carbon dioxide/ pH dynamics I described.

Upon arrival at your home - get a large blue bowl and fill it with pond water / quarantine water. You float the bag in the bowl. While the temperature is equalizing (make sure you have removed the double or triple bags to allow for easier temp transfer) open the bag. Test the pH. IF the pH is lower than 6.6, adjust your pond water in the bowl to 6.6. You can use 'pH down' from the aquarium shop or acedic acid from the photo shop at a rate of one drop per 5 gallons (this varies so check the pH as you go. Aerate the water in the bowl but not the bag as that will raise the pH in the bag. Once the pH and temperatures are similar/same, transfer the koi into the bowl and get rid of the plastic bag and old shipping water. Your new koi is now in well aerated, non ammonia laden water of the same pH as the bag 'was'. Now set up a drip with fish aquarium air hose (a knot in it if the water is coming too fast) - this will now raise your bowl water towards your real pond/quarantine water's pH. This should happen over 30-40 minutes so make sure the bowl is covered! I use a koi net to cover the bowl.

This technique has been used in marine import facilities and this simple act has cut import losses dramatically as the delicate marine fish is trapped between ammonia poisoning and pH shock upon arrival from the pacific ocean/ Indian ocean reefs.

lots of people rush and botch acclimation out of the bag. Koi are tuff!!!! But once in a while, they do shock out or more accurately; they never really get going and seem to get parasite after parasite and infection after infection. No one really attributes this behavior to stress from pH shock and ammonia burns - the fish doesn't die, it eventually eats and no one looks for a reason the fish is not doing well. It is more likely blamed on that bacterium, or the Chicken Little virus or super resistant bugs!!!

As I said in the beginning of this, you really only need to go through these heroics IF the koi has been in transportation over 10 hours and you get a 6.5 or lower pH and a strong smell of ammonia upon opening the bag. Also if the water is very warm along with these other things. IF the water is cold you will find that the fish come around better.

Very large and very valuable fish should be babied. After all, the size leads to more stress and the value leads one to the conclusion that a little effort initially can go a long way in terms of how quickly a big fish will come around. Sulking is the number one sign of transportation stress in the big girls. Some won't eat for a week. JR.