Do anyone know what i'm doing wrong or what I can do to improve my tancho kohaku hi.

[moikoi]

Quote: Originally Posted by SoCalSun Yes, click onto my SoCalSun name and go to "public file", it'll direct you to my page, where you can see my koi pix. It's a tancho kohaku.

sorry,i don't see a tancho kohaku in any of the pix.

[aquitori]

I only see a Maruten...The color actually looks okay on the fish. You must be questioning the depth of the beni, not the lose of beni. The color will get lighter but I dont think it will fade or go away.

[PapaBear]

Considering the overstocked condition of your pond, I'm amazed the Ammonia is only 0.50. With high ammonia levels like that (no doubt your nitrite is higher than it should be too) your koi are under an awful lot of stress. If you reduce the number to no more than 10 (less would be better), double the number of water changes, and double the size of your filtration, you might get by for a while. Stressful water conditions will burn their gills, ruin their skin (and colors), and make it difficult for them to carry oxygen in their blood.
Just to give you a sense of proportion, your pond is less than half the size of mine, has less than 1/4 the amount of filtration, and you have about twice as many Koi. I consider my pond to be slightly overcrowded... Yours is scary.

[l113892]

I have a filter recommendation. Construct a 10,000 gallon filter- you can break it up into parallel systems, each 5,000 gallons and break it up further into a settlement chamber and a bio chamber or two bio chambers each as long as the total volume is 10,000 gallons. You will still need to get rid of half of your fish.

It doesn't sound like you want to hear what you are being told here which means you will probably suffer from fish health problems in the future, your koi will never develop to their potential, your fish will never grow to the proper length and you will continue to struggle with many issues relating to your fish and water parameters. Why not take the pond level up two or more feet?

[Fishbreeder]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquitori There's many factors to why a fish or tancho for that matter loses color. 1. Water quality 2. Poor selection in the fish itself 3. Stress I think number #3 is the cause to your fish loosing color. Do you have pics of the fish?

Number 2......poor selection.

If bought before it was 15 inches long, loss of tancho spot is very common, about nine out of ten.

Part of the problem is cheating on the part of dealers and/or breeders. Nothing new in the fish biz, old as the fishkeeping hobby, in tanks or ponds.

Feed your inexpensive specimens esoteric substances to make them color up and look good for sale. I'm not talkin' color food here. Most common thing would be methyl testosterone. Other hormones also work well to temporarily intensify colors.

Take the fish off the drugs and it fades.

Just a common trick used to justify higher prices for low grade koi.

As for tancho, I tell everybody buying a small one that they are taking a big risk. A good two year old tancho would be the place to begin if you don;t want to lose the spot. Figure a good tancho to cost around a thousand bucks.

Brett

[Nancy M.]

Quote: Originally Posted by SoCalSun My koi tancho seems to be dying down. It is not as vibrant red as the first time i've bought it at 9" long; It looks more like its orange like its scale now and it has grown to about 14". I use a savio 22" lip filter, sequence pump 4200SE, pond is 2600 gallon (which I change out 10% water weekly), 10watt UV light, and color enhancing feed. Population of my koi pond is about 30, from sizes 3-21". The only water test I do is amonia which average about .50. Is there something else anyone can advise me to do? Thanks!

You are way overstocked, under filtered. Even if you add more filtration, you will still be way overstocked. If you want your fish to grow and be healthy and keep up the quality I would recommend reducing your numbers to 15 koi max, if it was my pond there would only be 7 or 8 in it. You would still need to add more filtration, you could add a barrel filter or a pressurized unit.

Do you have a bottom drain? or are you sucking water thru a skimmer or intake screen?

Under filtration and over population will cause stress on your fish, and they will begin to deteriorate over time, losing color is one sign, aeromonas will be your next sign.

[MikeM]

SoCalSun: In 2600 gallons, you really should not have more than 8 koi, and even then you will not get full development. I would recommend that you focus on keeping 8 males you like best and find new homes for the rest. Soon, disease is going to reduce the population without regard to your preferences. Better that you select the ones you prefer.

[SoCalSun]

Quote: Originally Posted by moikoi sorry,i don't see a tancho kohaku in any of the pix.

Yeahhh that was my point. Before hi of the tancho was more distinguishable but, now its begining to look more like the color on its back, making it now more like maruten kohaku.

[Nancy M.]

Quote: Originally Posted by SoCalSun Yeahhh that was my point. Before hi of the tancho was more distinguishable but, now its begining to look more like the color on its back, making it now more like maruten kohaku.

No your fish is not a tancho it is a maruten Kohaku

[SoCalSun]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquitori I only see a Maruten...The color actually looks okay on the fish. You must be questioning the depth of the beni, not the lose of beni. The color will get lighter but I dont think it will fade or go away.

The crest on the head was a more vibrant red and within about a 4-5 month time, the color died down to what I have now. I honestly think i'm not color blind. But then again... unfortunately I don't have an old picture of it to compare and cotrast to.