Fish moving service
Healthy Koi Limited has been granted an animal transport licence on the 10th November by the Government’s State Veterinary Service. This authorisation allows us to undertake the movement of fish on all journeys over 65km and over 8 hours in duration, by road, sea and air within the UK and EU countries.
Are you moving house or needing to transport fish from one site to another? If you let us move your fish then we can take care of all the details for you. We will visit your pond to assess the number of fish that need to be moved and test the water, to assess compatibility with the destination. We will then prepare a movement plan together with our method statement which will be sent to you for your approval, For journeys over 65km, we will issue an ACT (animal transport certificate) required by law for the movement process. During the move the fish will be checked at two hourly intervals to ensure they are not under any stress. Once the fish reach their destination we test the water of the new pond then let them acclimatise to their new environment before releasing them. Once the fish are in their new home we will leave you with sample bottles to send us water samples to ensure the water quality of the pond does not affect your fish health adversely. This can sometimes occur with new ponds or when adding more fish to an existing pond.
In additional to the fish moving service, we are able to provide you with a temporary tank together with a suitable filtration system and ancillary equipment which can be purchased or rented, for the interim period whilst your new pond is being constructed.
KHV Test Certification for Koi import/ export
DEFRA have recently stated that in all probability, England will be declared an Eradication Zone for KHV.
When this takes place, several outcomes will naturally follow. These include:
- Imports of fish vaccinated against KHV will not be permitted.
- Fish will only be allowed to be imported from Countries, Zones or Fish Farms which are proven to be free from KHV. At this stage, the exact method in determining KHV free stock has yet to be finalised by the European Commission.
- In view of the proposed classification, new restrictions will apply when exporting fish. Any fish exported from England will only be able to be transferred to ‘diseased Zones’ unless the exporting ‘site’ can be established to be free from KHV. This will obviously impact with Koi trade with Scotland, Northern Island, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey, depending upon how these regions classify themselves with regards to their KHV Status.
At the present time, DEFRA are looking to implement the legislation at some stage during 2009.
Should you wish to move your Koi from England to a ‘disease free’ Zone, Healthy Koi are now offering a new service. This will entails a pre-defined percentage of the fish stock being blood sampled, and then the samples being sent to a government laboratory (CEFAS) to be tested for KHV. Healthy Koi will then provide the relevant certification allowing the fish to be legally exported. The blood sampling process we have developed is not damaging to the fish, unlike some other methods of KHV blood sampling. A similar testing service is undertaken for imported fish.
