Koi lost her color?

[hotrodzak]

I have (or had) a beautiful koi which is white with black and orange. Over the last year she has slowly lost her orange and now the black is fading too. Her white is more transparent and not the bright milky white. We have only fed high quality food, our water values are normal. I can list them if that helps...

A bit about our system, we have 2 ponds connected by a small shallow stream. The upper pond is 2000g, 4' deep in the centre and houses our koi. The lower pond is 750g and houses our shubunkins, except for the one koi that went over the waterfall and down the stream.... haven't caught him yet to put him back.

Any ideas?

Lori

[STANKYfish]

Maybe she is going through a transition, to adulthood

[Luke78]

Lori,

Posting your water perimeters might help you out here.Thats quite the space for your all your fish, and it sounds like a beautiful setup.Water temps too high can cause koi to have a 'bleached out' appearence to them.Dropping the temps will aid this.Koi genetics also play an important as well followed by diet.With age sometimes it improves, while in others it doesnt.It obvious selecting good stock helps here.Diet is the last one, with foods high in shrimp meal,plankton,spirulina to name a few these aid the pigments found in koi skin.

I have (or had) a beautiful koi which is white with black and orange. Over the last year she has slowly lost her orange and now the black is fading too. Her white is more transparent and not the bright milky white. We have only fed high quality food, our water values are normal. I can list them if that helps...

A bit about our system, we have 2 ponds connected by a small shallow stream. The upper pond is 2000g, 4' deep in the centre and houses our koi. The lower pond is 750g and houses our shubunkins, except for the one koi that went over the waterfall and down the stream.... haven't caught him yet to put him back.

Any ideas?

Lori

[hotrodzak]

I've read conflicting reports with color. Some say the water needs to be soft to maintain color and some say it needs to be harder. So I'm not sure if it's a guessing game... and was hoping that possibly there might be some that are more experienced with koi than myself here.

GH 120
KH 80
ph 7.8
nitrites 0


It is an outdoor setup so the water temp is just starting to rise enough to start feeding again. The color lose has not been something that has come on quickly but slowly over the year. She did come from a private collection so did in some ways presume that her genes would be better than a fish purchased from a wholesaler. Having said that we have one koi that we picked up as a rescue, plain transparent white and is now the brightest lemon yellow. So suppose it really is a crap shoot.

Thanks for any input.
Lori

[beaux]

i have had a outdoor pond for alot of years now and have had many fish that have changed color on me. not sure what its from..lol. good luck though! it has never seemed to affect the fish one way or another, only the way i look n think about em..hehe. as i understand it koi are the only fish that can see color. just keep up the hq food and good water n let em do what they do is my philosiphy (sp?..lol)

[H .]

Lineage is the key, and lighting plays an important rule as well.

[Rastapus]

I've read conflicting reports with color. Some say the water needs to be soft to maintain color and some say it needs to be harder. So I'm not sure if it's a guessing game... and was hoping that possibly there might be some that are more experienced with koi than myself here.

GH 120
KH 80
ph 7.8
nitrites 0


It is an outdoor setup so the water temp is just starting to rise enough to start feeding again. The color lose has not been something that has come on quickly but slowly over the year. She did come from a private collection so did in some ways presume that her genes would be better than a fish purchased from a wholesaler. Having said that we have one koi that we picked up as a rescue, plain transparent white and is now the brightest lemon yellow. So suppose it really is a crap shoot.

Thanks for any input.
Lori

Lori,
Koi do not like soft water. They thrive in hard water conditions, the color change is most likely just genes as has been said.

[`GhostDogg´]

I know "k2damax" & his father have a lot of experience with Koi.
They have ponds outdoor & indoor, & some of the largest Koi I've ever seen.
I'm not a Koi or Goldfish keeper, but I must say this collection is amazing, never seen so many different color morphs.
I've been away for a while so I don't know how active he is any more.
Maybe try to PM him & ask him for some tips.

Great looking pond too!!!

[hotrodzak]

Interesting.... ran into someone who knows, most likely, the pond this particular koi came from. He had seen many of the koi there and at the time said his initial thought was that they had nice color, but it didn't seem deep. Low and behold, 4 years later his instinct was correct and she didn't hold her color. Genetics it will be.

I had heard too about soft water, it is one of the parameters that I check on a regular basis and our water is definately harder than softer.

We have a good size pond, at 2000g, but at the same time for a number of full grown and growing koi it really isn't that big. I have rehomed her and her new owners are pleased as punch with her, and I have a few new little ones to watch grow....

Thanks for everyone's thoughts.