tanchos

[Ethan25]

Last fish for the day I would like comments on....then I'll give ya'll a break!

I bought this tancho at our petstore as a goldfish. I know it is a koi because of the conformation of it now, and the barbels. For $5.99, not a bad deal. Our petstore gets some japanese koi in....which I am assuming this one is....but they sold it to me as a goldfish...I couldn't convince them otherwise. It was 4" when I bought it, but now is around 8". Thoughts? Will it hold the tancho? What can I do about the small orange spots on the side? They are tiny and I think may fade....

[Sangreaal]

Do you have a side pic to go with the top and front pics?

My thoughts are that the yellowing on the head and fins and the specks of orange on the sides are from being on color enhancing feed. My tancho sarassa female gets pretty yellow when she's on it--without it she's brilliant white. I know that's not a koi but is an example of what happens when too much color enhancer is fed to a fish.

Marie

[aquitori]

Nice bargain Tancho. The Tancho is large enough to fit the fish as it grows, I cant tell how clean the kiwa is around the Tancho to give you a firm opinion on the quality of it but from what I see it looks ok.

The small red scales you can treat it in different ways. Since the fish is still young you can remove the scales, the other thing is if the red is light enough and on top of the scale you can remove it with lemon juice(refer to latest issue of KOIUSA). Other than that the skin(white) quality looks consistant enough to condition later to white.

[bekko]

With jikin goldfish they just pluck out the offending red scales. It is an acceptable practice in jikin.

-steveh o

[Ethan25]

It is definitely a koi....I know that Marie. I also haven't fed it any color enhancing foods. Is it possible the head is still tinted yellow since it is a year old and the skin hasn't thickened yet? Would love for this fish to hold up....what a bargain at $5.99, huh?

In regards to the side of the fish...this is the best I got:

[Ethan25]

Quote: Originally Posted by bekko With jikin goldfish they just pluck out the offending red scales. It is an acceptable practice in jikin. -steveh o

Is the fish "strong" enough at 8" to do that? Should I wait till it reaches a foot in length???

Ethan

[KoiCop]

you can pull the scales at any time, but you need to knock the koi out and apply a dab of antiseptic afterwards.

Not only does this stress the fish but the scale pocket can get infected, especially if one doesn't have top quality water at an acceptable temperature level waiting for the koi after 'surgery.'

Since the biggest reason to pull tobi hi scales would be to improve a koi's chances in the show ring, one would have to believe the koi had show potential in the first place.

You could always do it 'just for drill' of course. But I wouldn't.

[CarolinaGirl]

Ethen, also if you decide to pull scales, wait until summer when the fish's immune system is back on-line and Saprolegnia (a fungus that prefers cooler water) is not as much of an issue.

[PapaBear]

I hadn't thought of using lemon juice, but wondered if hydrogen peroxide gel might not work as well. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

[Ethan25]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ethan25 It is definitely a koi....I know that Marie. I also haven't fed it any color enhancing foods. Is it possible the head is still tinted yellow since it is a year old and the skin hasn't thickened yet? Would love for this fish to hold up....what a bargain at $5.99, huh? In regards to the side of the fish...this is the best I got:

From the pictures, does it look like the hi is limited to individual scales? I see a total of 3 areas that need "cleaned". Also, will the scale grow back and if it does, will it grow back red?

Anyone have any thoughts on the quality of the tancho spot? I have heard that stray hi on the body means that the hi is a good quality hi...

Ethan