[weesec01]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fishy Mama I am also curious how long different varieties hold their beauty. I do not show, altho I do love koi appreciation. My pet fish are kept because of my personal view of beauty. I appreciate the fact that no one commented on Hirohito's looks. Over the years she has had more and more sumi rise and her german scales have darkened. At one time the rising sun hi was clean. Then sumi came up under it. The sumi has stayed and the hi comes and goes. She is a much loved pet. I currently have a 7 year old shiro utsuri who just this year has lost all his surface sumi. He is male, about 21 inches, and is American (bred by Hunting Creek in Maryland). He still has a lot of deep sumi, do I have a chance of his deep sumi surfacing? Will it take 7 years to return?

Hi Fishy Mama, I think papabear has given a very good explanation on your queries.

I hope I can give my best knowledge for opinion here . High water temperature does play an importance role in dissapearing hi but never heard about sumi. Sometime, the koi must have gone thru a very stress period for some reason and lost the Hi. If the hi lost due to stress, I doubt if the Hi will recover. I have heard of showa lose its hi but not all. There was still remnants of hi, under a proper care by the owner and the hi did recover. But that could be once in the blue moon. Seldom heard of sumi lost unless secondary sumi and it will hardly return. Some expert here should be able to advise you.