Originally Posted by
Russell Peters
I just want to point out that there is some information being posted here that just isn't true. There is no way any US dealers KHV test their Koi before they arrive from Japan and to post that they do is irresponsible and just not being truthful. In order for breeders to be able to have their Koi imported into the US they must be certified KHV free by testing their Koi. Most breeders test 6 Koi two times a year for them to have this status. This is 12 Koi that are tested and for any dealer to say that this is KHV testing before their Koi arrive from Japan is wrong. If a breeder tests 12 Koi per year, and they sell 50,000 Koi then they could have KHV and not know it as testing 0.00001% of their Koi does not even come close to the numbers required to sample enough Koi to get a true representation. If a breeder sells 50,000 Koi then he needs to test at least 3,000 of his Koi.
KHV is a serious matter and it has struck again in England, India and the US that I know of, so if you are a dealer and you truly care about your customers then post your results, the kind of testing you are doing, and tell us the percentage of the Koi you are testing. Show us your QT systems and tell us what you do and how you seperate your Koi. On my last shipment I tested 40% of my Koi by doing gill snips and PCR testing after heating them all to 74 degrees for 30 days. We are now in the process of building a new QT facility so that we can have an additional 12-15 tanks to separate, QT, and test our imports before they are shipped out to our customers.