Please Critique these Kohaku and Showa

[JasPR]

Mike, you need to slow WAY down on collecting choice specimens and get an apprenticeship in koi husbandry going. Take a season and get your pond in order and your skills up to speed before buying potential specimens.
The fish in question are showing health issues so their pattern is kinda unimportant at this moment. Ammonia burns and flexibacter infection are your current challenges. Best of luck, JR

[mike]

don't worry Jaspr, the ammonia burns were not my doing (though i should have seen them when purchasing) they already had them when I bought them. I make sure my QT doesn't build up ammonia/nitrite by salting and changing 40% water (with pond water) every 12 hours.

I believe koi4 died either from bacterial/fungal infection arising from stress; PH shock or temperature shock (didn't float the bag when transferring from the inside QT to the outside pond - temps and ph must have been different by a lot)

re: picking koi
the good news is, i'm not repeating previous mistakes...
the bad news is, there's a whole new list of mistakes each time, some from critiques in the forums, some from my own observation that sumi in my pond comes out real good (and is multiplied)

I'm experimenting showas because they show the most change

[JasPR]

well Mike, if it's change you like, you picked a good variety! Best of luck, JR

[aquitori]

The beni on the replacement is so-so...patchy at best and in some areas no depth.