Glossary of Koi and koi related terms.
This is an on going section which I am slowly building.
CHAGOI.
These are basically brown koi, the translation relates to cha as in brown tea. Good quality chagoi have strong scale reticulation, where the edges of each scale shows in a dark (black) colour. These are a Koi UK Ltd speciality and having traveled to Japan on many occasions, I can honestly say, I produce as good as can be found anywhere in the world.
Darker colour chagoi show this reticulation better than light colour ones. Although all chagoi will become very tame, the lighter colour ones are very 'dopey'.
They are eating machines and become very large, with sizes over 1 metre quite possible. My record so far is from new born to 60cm in one year (12 months) and I have some under 4 years old at 80cm plus.
PHOTO of a one year old.
CULLING.
When breeding koi, the number of fry from a single spawning can be massive. In their natural habitat carp fry have a huge number of predators and only a few are destined to survive.
When breeding koi, we have removed all of the predators from the food chain, so far more survive. Because of this the koi breeder has to become god and decide which will survive and which have to go. This is necessary, although many people find it distasteful, but if I kept all fry, none would prosper, as there is not enough food for all. So many fry from a koi spawning are of no commercial value and eat far more than their true value, so these have to be disposed of.
All my culling is carried out as humanly as possible by placing all culls in anesthetic until they have gone into a permanent sleep.
EAZY.
An Eazy is the mechanical section of the Nexus filter. the water enters via a bottom drain or pump and goes through a stainless steel basket where static Kaldnes media traps the waste particles. This waste is held in the media until cleaning is carried out, to do this the media is agitated with air which sends the waste particles into the draining water. This is the most effective means of mechanical filtration to date and is carried out without getting your hands wet.
I have used static Kaldnes media for mechanical filtration for many years, I helped Evolution Aqua design the Eazy using the concept of my own design static Kaldnes filters.
FILTER
We use filters to keep our pond water in good condition for our koi.
Koi pond filters should always be thought of as two separate systems, if you build you own, or buy one off the shelf, a filter must have firstly a section to remove heavy waste and this is followed by the biological section for converting Ammonia to Nitrite to Nitrate.
The mechanical section is extremely important and should be designed for easy and complete cleaning and flushing. The shape of the bottom, should ideally be cone shape and not flat bottomed as this makes flushing the waste away more successful.
GOSANKE.
Gosanke is a term which is used to describe the three main (prime) types of koi, these are Kohaku, Sanke and Showa.
HEAT EXCHANGER.
This is a means of heating pond water, it is a stainless steel vessel which the pond water is pumped through. Basically this stainless vessel has an inner and outer chamber, hot water from a central heating boiler is pumped through the inner chamber and the pond water is pumped through the outer chamber. Heat is radiated from the hot water chamber through the inner jacket to the pond water outer section. This slowly raises the pond water to a given set temperature set on what is normally called a Digistat.
KALDNES MEDIA.
This is a plastic media which has a very large surface area due to it's shape. It was originally designed to be used only in an air agitated form, but is now also used as a static media for trapping fine waste particles.
Distributed by Evolution Aqua and supplied by me at Koi UK Ltd in 50ltr bags.
KIWA.
Kiwa is the back edge of the red pattern on a koi. There is two types of kiwa, kamisori kiwa is where the red pattern cuts through the middle of the scales meeting the white ground. Maruzome kiwa is where the red pattern ends at the edge of the scales, forming a scalloped effect.
PHOTO Kamisori kiwa. PHOTO Maruzome kiwa
KOHAKU.
A (so called) white koi with red areas, referred to as a red and white koi. The pattern in an ideal world should not go below the lateral line.
For many novices, kohaku seen a little plain and boring. But as one progresses through the hobby, the beauty of a really good kohaku becomes more apparent. This is the easiest variety to learn the qualities of koi which define the cheap koi from the high quality more expensive koi. Kiwa and Sashi are easily evaluated where the red pattern meets the white ground.
MUD POND.
This is a natural or semi natural pond with a mud/clay base for raising koi. Unlike our concrete ponds, mud ponds do not have filtration and rely on natural processing of waste.
My mud ponds at the farm have linered sides and a mud bottom. The liner is not to make the ponds water proof, it just stops the sides from being eroded away.
NEXUS.
A Nexus filter is one of the most modern filters available, it is designed to be as 'maintenance free as possible'. The media used is all plastic 'Kaldnes'.
Designed, manufactured and distributed by Evolution Aqua, 'Koi UK Ltd' are master dealers of all EA products.
The Nexus is an all in one, small foot print filter, with inner mechanical filter called the 'Eazy' and outer biological filter.
Cleaning the Mechanical section (heavy waste) is easy and can be carried out without even getting your hands wet.
I use many Nexus filters at the farm and these are cleaned daily, this is due to very heavy feeding. When fitted to a normal koi pond, cleaning is not needed quite so often, but because it is so simple, I advise cleaning as often as possible, as any accumulation of waste increases the build up of 'pathogenic' bacteria.
NISAI.
These are koi which are in their second year. At harvest time (Autumn), koi which have just past their first birthday in the summer, once harvested are called Nisai.
SASHI.
Sashi is the front edge of a red pattern. It gives the appearance of being pink as the red edge of the pattern underlies the white scales. How the sashi looks can have a big bearing on the quality of the koi, if it extends into too many scales, the quality comes down. Ideally a young koi should have about 1 1/2 scales which define the sashi, as the koi gets older, the white skin thickens and covers/hides the red scale underneath, so the sashi tightens up.
TOSAI.
When fry born in the current summer are harvested in autumn, they are then called Tosai. These koi stay as Tosai until they are harvested next autumn, when they are then know as Nisai.
