Hello all,

My wife and I have a young, ~8 inch Sanke (we think), that has changed color
recently. He is probably around a year old or so (we are the 2nd owner of
the house/pond, so we don't know for sure). Basically, he has lost almost
all of his orange and black markings and is now almost pure white. He does
not appear to be sick at all. He eats rapidly, swims around quickly, has no
lesions or other parasites, and his white color is brilliantly white. We
also monitor the water parameters carefully so that does not appear to be
the issue. Is this something that can happen to a healthy, growing Koi?
Any help/advice is very appreciated.

John

(sigh . . .) the problem with young koi is that that they DO change their
coloring for the first few years. High quality Japanese koi from
established bloodlines over generations are still subject to change, and if
you're a collector or want to show the fish, you're still buying a "pig in a
poke" until the fish is at least 3 years old. And some lines are known for
maturing "late", so are subject to change up until the time they're 8 or 10
years old! For whatever its worth, your fish is probably happy and healthy,
just changing color. I have a fish that changes colors with the water temp:
too high or too low, and she's white. Just right, and she's the most
beautiful lemonaide color you could wish for! So, her coloring changes,
depending on the season: two fish for the price of one!!! Maybe your's will
do that, too.

Lee

"Joe Blow" wrote in message
...
Hello all,

My wife and I have a young, ~8 inch Sanke (we think), that has changed
color
recently. He is probably around a year old or so (we are the 2nd owner of
the house/pond, so we don't know for sure). Basically, he has lost almost
all of his orange and black markings and is now almost pure white. He
does
not appear to be sick at all. He eats rapidly, swims around quickly, has
no
lesions or other parasites, and his white color is brilliantly white. We
also monitor the water parameters carefully so that does not appear to be
the issue. Is this something that can happen to a healthy, growing Koi?
Any help/advice is very appreciated.

John

(sigh . . .) the problem with young koi is that that they DO change their
coloring for the first few years. High quality Japanese koi from
established bloodlines over generations are still subject to change, and if
you're a collector or want to show the fish, you're still buying a "pig in a
poke" until the fish is at least 3 years old. And some lines are known for
maturing "late", so are subject to change up until the time they're 8 or 10
years old! For whatever its worth, your fish is probably happy and healthy,
just changing color. I have a fish that changes colors with the water temp:
too high or too low, and she's white. Just right, and she's the most
beautiful lemonaide color you could wish for! So, her coloring changes,
depending on the season: two fish for the price of one!!! Maybe your's will
do that, too.

Lee

"Joe Blow" wrote in message
...
Hello all,

My wife and I have a young, ~8 inch Sanke (we think), that has changed
color
recently. He is probably around a year old or so (we are the 2nd owner of
the house/pond, so we don't know for sure). Basically, he has lost almost
all of his orange and black markings and is now almost pure white. He
does
not appear to be sick at all. He eats rapidly, swims around quickly, has
no
lesions or other parasites, and his white color is brilliantly white. We
also monitor the water parameters carefully so that does not appear to be
the issue. Is this something that can happen to a healthy, growing Koi?
Any help/advice is very appreciated.

John