Color Change
Steve Johnson
I purchased a Kohaku with burnt orange coloring from Taz Takeda in early
July. This Koi has since lost all its color and is now a white fish. What
happened? All my other fish appear to be holding their color just fine and,
in fact, most appear to be getting richer colors.
Any chance it will get its coloring back?
Steve Johnson
http://lornet.com/~alside/pond.htm
Zone 5 - Littleton, CO
m. hogue & s, robinson
Mu experience with koi - new purchases fade pretty startlingly while
they are adjusting to their new home. They do come back, sometime
better, sometimes not better.
Kax is a reputable vendor - have you tried calling him?
Paul Putter
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Steve Johnson wrote:
> I purchased a Kohaku with burnt orange coloring from Taz Takeda in
> early
> July. This Koi has since lost all its color and is now a white fish.
> What
> happened? All my other fish appear to be holding their color just fine
> and,
> in fact, most appear to be getting richer colors.
>
> Any chance it will get its coloring back?
>
SteveHow big was it when you bouight it?
It is unlikely that the colour will come back - but not impossible. Koi
tend to lose colour as they grow, so if you're buying small ones, go for
ones with too much rather than too little (Especially Kohaku). Water
conditions and feed can also affect colouring quite drastically. Try
feeding them something containing 'colour enhancer' and not too much
'growth' food (i.e. high protein) as the faster they grow, the more
colour they lose.
Paul
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Steve Johnson
Paul Putter wrote in article . This Koi has since lost all its color and is
now a white fish.
>
>SteveHow big was it when you bouight it?
>It is unlikely that the colour will come back - but not impossible. Koi
>tend to lose colour as they grow, so if you're buying small ones, go for
>ones with too much rather than too little (Especially Kohaku). Water
>conditions and feed can also affect colouring quite drastically. Try
>feeding them something containing 'colour enhancer' and not too much
>'growth' food (i.e. high protein) as the faster they grow, the more
>colour they lose.
>Paul
The fish was about 7 inches. I think it is about 9 inches now. I have two
other traditional Kohaku that were smaller than this one when I got them.
They both appear to be getting richer colors. I use Tetra Floating Koi
Sticks.
Steve Knight
"Steve Johnson" <ste...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> I purchased a Kohaku with burnt orange coloring from Taz Takeda in early
>July. This Koi has since lost all its color and is now a white fish. What
>happened? All my other fish appear to be holding their color just fine and,
>in fact, most appear to be getting richer colors.
Just sounds like bad genetic's
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brett rowley
In <342abe69...@news.pacifier.com> ste...@pacifier.com (Steve Knight)
writes:
Its not unusual for a koi to eventually lose its color. This can and does
happen to even famous bloodline fish. As a general rule, once red goes, it
stays gone. Black may come and go with changes in the seasons, water
chemistry, etc. Every time you purchase a koi, this is a possibility.
Generally speaking, more expensive koi tend to hold onto thier color better
than less expensive ones, this is not a hard rule and there are many
exceptions.
Loss of color can be associated with a stressful situation, poor water
quality, overhandling, disease, and many factors including poor breeding.
In some cases it can actually improve a fish. A doitsu sanke I bred was a
a tobi (faster than normal growth) and was a wonderful sanke until it got
to be about 20" or so. It lost its black and became a doitsu kohaku. It
won several prizes as a young sanke, then again as an older kohaku.
The most notorious variety for losing color is tancho kohaku. As best as I
can tell, about 80% of young tancho kohaku will become shiro muji (mostly
white) as they age. This is less the case with other kohaku, but certainly
not unusual. Another general rule is that the older and larger the koi,
the more stable the colors will be. If you purchased a 15" kohaku and it
lost its color soon after, that would be very unusual. Purchasing a small
one, you take a bigger chance on this happening, of course the smaller fish
will have a much lower purchase price than the bigger one, not just for
size, but for the fact that it has made it to that point and still has
stable colors. There are indicators you can look to in smaller fish to
determine how stable the colors and patterns might be. These are subtle in
nature and require a good deal of study to learn. Attending seminars on
the subject can be a very valuable tool to learn such. Otherwise, find a
friend that understands and ask for help in purchasing a koi.
Another method is to let the shop proprietor pick a fish for you. I know
that this is very difficult to do, but in most cases the proprietor will
pick you a much better fish than you can pick yourself. You must be
trusting of your koi shopkeeper in order for this to work, but most are
interested in getting you the fish you really want. I know for a fact
that this is the case with Mr. Takeda, a reputable shopkeeper,
knowledgable koi expert, and good friend of mine. Of course, koi can
defy all attempts at understanding by even the most experienced people.
Color change in koi is one of the most fascinating aspects of koi.
This is one of the things that makes them fun and challenging to work
with. Of course this can also be very frustrating. I once heard it
said that there are many potential grand champions in any batch of very
young koi. However, there are very few grand champions. To get there,
the fish must live to a ripe old age, not lose its color, not have any
physical deformities show up, reach a large size, etc., etc. The odds
are against it.
In all cases, caveat emptor,
Brett Rowley
Fisheries Biologist
Texas Sportfish and Koi
Liverpool, Texas