John,

I know we are all looking for reasons that our fish don't grow, but like I
have said over and over again, three things are imperative for good growth
and healthy fish, of which I have both good growth and healthy fish every
year, they are 1. Clean Water; 2. Clean Water, and 3. Clean Water. It
sounds simple, but these three simple suggestions are all effected by
stocking, feeding and your filtration system.

I have read extensively about the growth inhibator hormone, but no one has
every found one. And most scientist, not hobbyist have come to the
conclusion that there is none. Pheromones are similar, and are used by
the fish for a number of effects, sometimes it is to tell the crowd who is
the boss, or "hey, I'm a girl and ready to party, guys," etc. and like so
many communative organic materials, they there are not meant to stay around
and they break down very quickly, and usually disappear.

I have published my growth results on this list off and on for years and if
you follow this technique and have "Clean Water" your fish will grow.

For those who still believe that there is a growth inhibitor hormone there
was an test down in 1977 that was experimental work done with KOI at
Ahrensburg that dealt with tank volume. In experiment 67/20 -- 30 KOI
were used and test ran for 42 weeks. Five fish were put in to containers of
20 liters of water compared to five fish that were placed in 40 liters of
water. There were 4 groups in 20 liter containers and two groups in 40
liter containers. Each container had its own water supply of freshly
filtered and aerated water. Each group of five fish weighed about 700 grams
at the start of the experiment. At the end of the 42 weeks each group
weighed about 4,600 grams. At this point the fish in the 20 liter
containers did stop growing but this was do to the fact that the fish were
just too big for the container effecting their movement and their feeding
capability.

So this kind of bursts the growth hormone theory which was the purpose of
the trial.

HTH

Tom L.L.
--------------------------------
"John Rutz" wrote in message
...


~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:
Here's the website (or one of them) Ingrid

http://www.koikichi.com/about/articles/pheromones.html

I googled for: Perimutter, Alfred, Daniel Sarot, Man-Lin Yu, Rocco
Filazzoia and Seely on the Effects of Crowding on the Immune Response of
Fish and there were other sites listed, if you want to check em out.

Thanks John, puts the hammer down for folks to do those water changes
and
FOR ME to sell those two koi I have been meaning to since last
summer.s
~ jan

welcome
makes me think I have to go through and do another culling dangit

Im still looking for somthing definitive on growth hormone and crowding
with Koi

John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

good judgement comes from bad experience, and that comes from bad
judgement

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com