ARE SHOW KOI HARDER TO KEEP THAN PET GRADE KOI?

 This is a complex question.  And perhaps it is a question that needs to be asked in two parts;

1)      Are show koi harder to keep alive?

2)      Are show koi harder to keep in good condition over time? ( another subject for another time)

The first question revolves around the Darwinian Theory of ‘Survival of the fittest’ and in that regard, show koi tend to be weaker versions of the wild common carp. Yet show koi ARE from large spawns in which lesser siblings tend to sold as ‘pet grade’ specimens. So this begs the question “how different could they be”?  Well as it turns out, the answer to that question is—how reverted is that pet fish to its roots!

     All koi are inbred to a degree. This is done to bring out recessive genes that give us that great color and interesting pattern.  And nature is constantly there to ‘pull back’ the old dominate genes in what scientists call ‘atavism’ or reversion to the wild gene. So in a spawn of 150,000 brothers and sisters, some will indeed come out looking all the world like a wild type and others will be the ‘golden child’ and possess all the recessive genes and phenotype that the breeder is after.  So we see near perfect pure white and red fry with elaborate stepped patterns and we also see brown or even all red individuals.

   When we expand this reality we also see that some varieties tend to hardier than other varieties. And often it is down to how close or maybe better—how far we have moved away from the ‘look’ of the solid patterned, wild colored common carp.  So breeds like chagoi, asagi, ogon, etc are expected to be hardier than refined fish like showa and sanke and kohaku.  True enough if that were the ONLY criteria for survival.  We must not forget one thing- the individual and its ability to adapt.

    What this all means is that we must accept that our specially bred nishikigoi are indeed more delicate than their wild cousins the common carp. But they the range of ‘delicateness’ of our purchases can vary from individual to individual. That being the case, we need to handle and cater to our new purchase with the weakest individual prototype in mind. By doing this, we insure a good survival rate for all our purchases. Anything short of that will be playing a kind of Russian roulette with our charges.

  This would not be a complete article however if we did not stop for a moment to discuss a universal physiological behavior that all living things experience while trying to adapt to a new stressful situation- and that is G.A.S. ! No not gas – but—GAS or General Adaptative syndrome.  This is the physiological stress or physiological stressor that causes changes in other physiological functions such as immune response, circulatory changes, kidney function etc, in an effort to ‘adapt’ to change.

   Our inbred koi still have coping powers and in some areas, actually better than a wild carp. But the individual might not. And because the G.A.S. sequence has stages to it, we can often receive new fish that are already along two stage II or stage III in this sequence of stress.  Indeed, a live swimming fish can be, for all practical purposes doomed when we buy it and no matter how good our systems are and how sensitive we are to a new arrival’s needs, they fish is going to die as it is too far gone, physiologically speaking.

    So how can we assure our new show koi survives as well as its sturdier wild cousins and even its ‘more reverted siblings’?  Assume the fish is in need of support and move all new purchases to a quarantine system first.  The quarantine water should be well filtered and of the highest quality. The fish should be allowed to settle in with dim light and clam conditions. Resist the desire to overfeed a new arrival. Instead, allow it a clam well aerated environment with some companionship. Keep the water lightly salted with solar salt (99% pure) a neutral pH and a temperature of 72-76 F.  Resist netting the fish or disturbing the fish. In this setting your koi should ‘seem’ as healthy as any wild carp within three or four days. 

   ( to be continued)         James Reilly, ZNA NA District Chairman

Dear Tri-State ZNA Chapter Members

Our next meeting of our Chapter will be held at The home of Philip & Denise Gray on January 21, 1pm at 211 S. Ocean ave Freeport, NY 11520

The Tri-State ZNA Koi Chapter is a social, special interest organization dedicated to the enjoyment of Koi through participation and education.

Our chapter meeting will be the best source for Koi information for the novice, as well as for the expert Nishikigoi (Koi) hobbyist. One of the goals of our chapter is to provide members with the most current information on the following topics: Koi history, Koi classifications, and detailed technical information on Koi. We will focus on helping educate our members and the public on all aspects of Koi Keeping, to promote the study of Koi and to assist hobbyists in becoming part of the larger community of Koi enthusiasts throughout the country and the world.

Our next meeting of our Chapter will be held at The home of Philip & Denise Gray on January 21, 1pm at 211 S. Ocean ave Freeport, NY 11520.

Our featured speakers will include: TBA we have a talk on What is Biological Filtration ?

We look forward to your participation. Please contact us for further information or to let us know that you will be attending our Meeting.

Contact information: email:philiegray@mac.com

Tele:516-967-4966

 

Because it bears repeating----

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF NISHIKIGOI

As we have discussed on several occasions now, there are some basic fundamental lessons that every student of koi appreciation should understand before trying to understand the details of koi.

We can begin this discussion by talking about the fundamental genes (mutation genes) that are at the heart of all varieties of koi.

Historical data 1 - The nishikigoi is a creation of the Japanese people of western Japan. Niigata is considered the homeland of nishikigoi.

Historical data 2- All Nishikigoi are common carp and have derived from different strains of common carp, including wild carp, feral carp and domestic carp imported from surrounding countries originally and isolated for centuries in the waters of Japan. Over time, even strains of European bred common carp were introduced into lines of Japanese carp and nishikigoi.

Principle 1- all nishikigoi arise from four basic foundation strains of common carp or 'goi'.

Principle 2- all nishikigoi arise from one of two BASE color mutations. White or black. Not directly, but fundamentally, once two special gene mutations appeared.

Principle 3- all nishikigoi's varied colors arise from variations of four color mutations. It is important to understand that the seemly unlimited number of colors were not bred directly from these four color mutations but rather -- four color mutations exist within the nishikigoi's gene pool. Some of these colors are mutations (such as red and yellow) and dilutions (such as blue) and combinations (such as orange) of the basic colors of black and white. And others are due to the intensifying of the basic white and black color (Leucism or 'all white, no color' and hypermelanism or ' black on black’).

Principle 4 - All nishikigoi patterns (pattern orientation) arise for four basic patterns.
Solid, wrapped, dorsal and lateral.

James Reilly ZNA NA District Chairman

 A CONVERSATION ABOUT SCALATION IN SHOW KOI

One way to divide Nishikigoi as a family is based on their scales.

The dominating and most desirable group is the normal/natural scaled koi or WAGOI or Urokogoi. These scaled carp represent of the look of the wild common carp and are very natural in design and body line. Something that is highly valued in Nishikigoi.

The next group is the partly scaled or ‘scale-lee’ group known as DOITSU GOI and this group actually contains 2 variations (and one complexity).

• The first of these, and the least desirable, is the scale-less carp. Also called a leather carp and known as KAWAGOI in Nishikigoi lexicon. If done well, with a neat lateral seam a kawagoi can be an attractive animal. Albeit less complicated and ‘easier’ to get than some of its cousins listed below. Please note that if this is the look we judge for, stray or random scales here and there on dorsal or lateral line are a demerit. You will see a lot of judges miss this within a well patterned fish. But we are judging the fish for its Doitsu traits and so poor scalation is a big problem.
• Moving up the scale of accomplishment and desirability we next have the mirror carp or KAGAMIGOI. In the ideal the kagamigoi should have three rows of scales neatly lined up in rows from head to tail. One row on the dorsal/spine and two rows on either side of the fish arranged on/over the lateral line (mid-section side). These pronounced scales are an art form in and of themselves and represent a breeding accomplishment. Known as TAIRIN, these scales can be quite large and ornate, well ordered and symmetrical, and add to the beauty of the fish. It is key to appreciation to understand that doitsu scales are looked at just as wagoi scales are for judging purposes. That means that the quality and arrangement of gin and /or matsuba effect is critical. As is the neatness of the arrangement of those scales or koke nami.

And even though I mentioned that there are two varieties ( and one more complexity) created since the Meiji era (1904 introduction) it seems I have only covered two. This is because both the single lined scale arrangement and the three lines (back and sides) are grouped in the single term KAGAMIGOI. Yet the levels of accomplishment on the number of rows separates the ‘zipper’ from the full outfitted three zipper specimen! J I should mention that this is a debated subject as some do like the cleaner more refined effect of one row only along the dorsal.
To find a kumonryu, for instance, that has perfect rows of scales on both sides and along the dorsal is a thing to behold! So in the area of ‘accomplishment’ and level of difficulty, the three rowed Kagamigoi is higher ranked when ‘right’ than the single rowed kagamigoi.
In the past we have seen odd arrangements in the scales of some Kagamigoi. Scales that make up intricate mosaics of scales. This can be a wondrous affect! But it is rare and not bred for to my knowledge.
Hope this helped to look at the simple Doitsu in a more sophisticated way!  James Reilly ZNA District Chairman

Beauty is only skin deep

 But O how beautiful that good quality skin is!!

What is ‘good skin quality’? You might ask

  We often hear the term ‘skin quality’ when the judges give their Sunday walk around talks at your local ZNA chapter show.  And people often talk about a koi’s ‘skin quality’ as if it this thing that only the emperor with no clothes can see!

  Well, as it turns out, there is a major difference between a wild fish’s skin type and a high quality domestic koi’s skin type. If both are healthy they both can be lovely to take in—health and luster make any fish’s skin look bright and glowing with color. And in both cases we can admire and be amazed by the look of the different fishes.

  But high quality skin is a man made thing! It has properties that have been both accidently and purposely brought along over generations of breeding to be what it is today.

   Let’s explore and put into words what good quality skin is in terms of appearance and then let’s go deeper into the actual components that make for that look.

   First, like a lot of amazing art pieces, we are wowed by great quality koi as living art. Not only  is the fish colorful, it is moving color and it is color that can absorb light to make it even brighter and at the same time it can reflect light back to our eyes- leaving an impression that viewers often describe as ‘ unreal’ or ‘surreal’.  The very bright white of high quality skin seems to lose its hard surface borders and tends to give a glowing soft affect. Some describe it as fine glowing porcelain. Others call it ‘cream’ in a translucent porcelain cup (I like that one). In either case, you can see that high quality skin captures the imagination of the viewer. But the white skin itself only acts as the canvas for the true ‘fireworks’ of high quality skin.  The color pattern within the skin lights up the fish!  In very good quality skin, the colors of red and/or black, take on a density that makes koi true living art. In addition to a thick lacquer look, the color also takes on a three dimensional look within the translucent white skin as the fish moves. And the interplay of color at the margins of the color plate interplays with overlapping scales to complete the artistic effect.

   In short, high quality koi skin is dimensional, bright, bold and living! Real but surreal. Nature’s rare genetic material forged by man thru selective breeding.

  So how is this all possible? How can a fish become a work of art? And how can a man change a fish’s skin?

  Well to understand that, we need a brief physiology review—a koi’s skin is made up of layers of different types of cells and fibers. The very top layer is a loose liquid like surface. The next layer down is a differentiation of the top layer and is made of surface color cells and epidermal cells. This layer like all layers is not a flat surface. Instead its tendency is to wrap each scale top and bottom much the way our skin layers wrap our finger nails. This creates the potential for the human eye to see into and thru the top layers and the bottom layers (if the skin is translucent enough).

 The next layer down is ‘the money layer’!  This is the dermis and it is the home of the scale base, some blood circulation, some fat cells, the color cells and the all important collagen fibers that ‘hold the skin together’.  In wild carp, it is a strong layer that protects blood supply and the muscle below. In our koi, it is the canvas that displays the pattern and in that function, is as important in its detail as the pattern itself.

  Let’s look deeper into the dermis layer.  The collagen fibers of the dermis layer are primarily to create strength. Think of them as fibers of a good pair of blue jeans.  They run in semi-different directions so as to make a mesh like structure within the dermis.  But in high grade koi, these fibers tend to run more parallel than in a wild fish and the fibers themselves tend to be much more translucent, both these things allowing light to enter the dermis rather than bound back off the dermis as it does in light reflecting wild skin. Good skin does also contain very high quinine content. And this light reflecting substance is contained in special cells, embedded within the fixed scale  as well as being ‘loose’ within the epidermis and dermis itself.  This creates two effects-  

1)      An interplay with the collagen fibers of light absorbing and light reflecting

2)      A glow to skin

3)      And also a diamond dust affect that we in the hobby call Fukurin

Please note we have covered just the ‘canvas’ or good quality skin and already I think the reader can agree that high class skin in its highest form/grade is a thing of wonder!

But now we get to the feature of high class skin and that is the pattern------

High class skin if often, but not always, blessed with high class color cells. But let’s spend a minute on the pattern itself. 

   In high grade koi, the pattern, that is genetically programmed to grow and mature within the ‘canvas’, is very stable. Its edges and details are, for the lack of a better description, thick and very well defined. The plate does not split or fray. It is as structured as much as the body edges of the koi itself. It is, and this is important, a separate genetic event than the cells within it. That is a bit difficult to imagine initially. But it is important if one is to understand the nature of pattern and color.

  Now for the icing on the cake! Color!! Great quality skin has intense color! This is accomplished in one of five basic ways—

*the size of the cells that hold color

* The number of the cells.

* The depth arrangement of those cells

* The mix of color tones of different color cells

* The mix and interplay of luster and color cells

  This is very important in that, depending on depth, luster and density, the pattern will look either three dimensional or flat when viewed within the right or the wrong canvas. In other words, the genetic traits of the canvas, plate and cell color cell structure must match. Think of the odds!

  Finally, something that most people don’t think about that much—the scales. The scales must be right. Some scales are large, some small, some too dense and some very delicate. Some add to the look of refined skin and some distract. The Japanese refer to ornamental traits on the scales edging. Some can really add to the look and some can be a bit too much. This might be down to a matter of taste but generally speaking scales must work with everything else we have discussed.

  So now you have an over view of what makes for good quality skin in nishikigoi. To take this lesson further, this author suggests that you look at a lot of koi. Your best opportunity is at a ZNA recognized koi dealers shop or a ZNA sponsored koi show.  And to own a few exceptional high class koi is of course another way to become intimately familiar with the details in this article. Remember, there are no perfect koi and it is just as important to recognize short comings as perfection.

  Koi is a hobby for a lifetime.  And as such, represents a life of lessons. Enjoy the journey!   


                                                                                                               James Reilly, ZNA assistant judge