We’ve actually been busy around the yard since the koi show in early August. Lots of gardening work (I updated the plant ID section of the blog) and having people over. Along the way we spent one and a half weekends repainting the house.

I’ve also been watching some koi with health issues. Natsumi the shiro utsuri was supposed to go to the koi show but she was chased into the skimmer by a male kohaku. Natsumi was scraped up a good deal but she has healed well over the last six weeks. Hopefully we will not have any mishaps like this next year. She is currently at 27″, Omosako Shiro Utsrui, sourced from Koi Acres.

 

Another koi we have been watching is Lavinia. She has something going on with some scales on her back. Today I dabbed a little more iodine on the affected scales.

Some koi look pretty good except for an unfortunate stray black spot. Chuck Norris has a little shimmy, most likely from our hard water. Some people will just remove the scale but I’m not sure I want to do that. A koi judge recently told me that it may not be that big of a deal. I have read that some koi will get a shimmy in the spring and it will go away in the winter. I’m sort of in the wait and see mode.

 

Genius the little ki utsuri is looking very much like a hi utsuri. Odd and if he continues to look like a hi utsuri, he might end up as fertilizers for one of my magnolia trees.

My goshiki, Manolete has been growing well in the lower pond. I am hosting a mini growout with two other friends and in a few weeks we’re going to see whose koi has grown the most. A little bit of money is on the table. I’m thinking I’m doing good but I feel the other two are going to be bringing back monsters.

 

Thinking about size, I decided that a few of the koi in the lower pond could use a change of scenery and opportunity to grow. The upper pond koi seem to get more food because their feeder dispenses food five times a day. So I moved Augustus (one of the konishi karashigoi), Grey Poupon (kaede), Ziggy (a gin rin showa) and Maki ( a kohaku) to the upper pond. Chuck Norris and Lavinia came to the lower pond to balance out the load. The koi all seem a little squirrely but it generally takes only 20 minutes or so for everyone to settle down.

three and a half minutes of koi watching…

Are you still reading this post??? The pond builder always has a project going on and he’s in the middle of turning our lower pond overflow into an irrigation system for the front yard. It will all be underground in a week or two.

 

Fall will be here soon and we will be thinking about the indoor pool again. We decided that creating the greenhouse over the lower pond was not in the cards this year. So we’re having the garage floor resurfaced before setting up winter koi land. Crossing my fingers that winter arrives late.