Ake Nisai Hosokai Showa

[Lam Nguyen]

Thank you all for the responses. Bob, I brought these koi in to my 1300gal QT tank inside my garage from the main outdoor pond about a month ago in hopes of continuing to beef them up over the winter. I guess I moved too many of them in too fast without giving the filters a chance to mature so my ammonia shot up to about 8ppm. I immediately changed 1/2 the water and used about 1lb of chloramx to decrease the remaining ammonia. My source water is very soft so I did use 1 lb of baking soda. It remained soft so I purchased some, I believe, calcium chloride to increase GH to about 60, which is about the value of my KH. I added the baking soda, calcium chloride, and chloramx all in the same day.......maybe this explains why the colors are washed. They were not like this when I brought them in a month ago. My water parameters from a couple days ago are as follows:

pH: 7.3
Salt %: 0.2%
GH: ~ 60-80
KH: ~ 80
Ammonia: 2-3 ppm
Nitrite: I can't remember but I know that there are some present
Nitrate: minimal

Hopefully this color washing is not permanent. This clearly shows that I am not ready for high-end koi.

[KoiCop]

Don't feel too bad, Lam: We all started where you did.

And FYI, lack of natural light will tend to wash out their colors, too -- so don't be too hasty to give up on them, OK?

[Bob Winkler]

Hmm.. That may change things....Sometimes the pattern comes back and sometimes not. Why not keep both for now? Murphy's law would be that the one you get rid of is the one that gets better and the one you keep goes shiro muji. Why not keep both? How many fish going into the 1300 gallons? We have all had things like this happen, don't feel bad.

[HEADACHE6]

I'd really like to see these koi in the Fall to see what the Beni does . Keep them Both , if not for you , for me !

[Lam Nguyen]

Thanks again guys. I just might keep both and see how they look at the end of this summer. Hopefully the colors will return once they return to the main outdoor pond. Bob, I have 10 in my QT tank right now. I know that I am not supposed to have that many, but I am too kichi to listen right now! I was hoping to make space for another tosai when I attend Dick's tosai selection seminar this weekend.

[luke frisbee]

bsides all of the above..I would go with the Kindai because of the mismatched pecs on the traditional...especially the hi in the white pec...that could make a guy go nots.
it also has a little stray fragmentary sumi around the nostril.
The only thing that concerns me with the Kindai is the mid-body hi...it is splotchy...i think the Kindai will be more entertaining as the sumi comes in.