Let me start out with the good:
We had a great experience at the store! When doing my research on reputable koi stores. I really appreciated that they quarantined their fish from Japan and make sure they are disease-free before selling. For this reason, we drove a little under 2 hours to pay them a visit. When we arrived there, Kelvin was there. He was ready to help, but not intrusive or hovering at all. When we visited most of the young koi were all $85, with one small section that was $75, the one's in the main tub were over $100. We were able to take our time picking out our koi. When we express interest he patiently caught the koi fish we liked and allowed us to observe them close up in a blue tub. There was no pressure to buy at all, we had a great time. We went home with two beautiful koi and a bag of Hikari gold food.
The unfortunate:
Our koi lost most of its orange color within a week (photo attached). While we were picking out our Koi, we asked Kelvin if the koi would change color or pattern. He told us the pattern would stay the same as they grew, and the color would just enhance, especially the black. He said the gray parts would definitely get more black and he pointed over to the bigger koi for us to observe. This was very important to me because as a young girl, we had a koi pond, but we always bought cheap $15 koi from pet stores, and they would always lose their color. So now as an adult, I wanted to invest in nicer koi that would not lose their color. We went home with two $85 koi that day. $85 is quite a jump from $15, so needless to say, I was alarmed when my Koi lost color. Especially when I was reassured they wouldn't.
I instantly tested our water (PH 8, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 0ppm) Nothing seemed wrong with our water, everything was within healthy parameters. So I contacted East Bay Koi through their website. The website asks you to leave your phone number in which they follow up with a text.
Tony responded to me fairly quickly and sent me a link about color loss and said possibly my PH was on the high side and that he recommended us to use PH down (a name of a liquid used to reduce the ph)
We were hesitant to change the PH, as so many websites say it can shock the fish, but we did as he recommended, and slowly dosed ph down. Unfortunately, after a week, our koi lost even more color and his orange is reduced to a small pale dot on his head.
At this point, I contacted East Bay Koi again, letting them know that decreasing the PH didn't work and that I was very disappointed and felt tricked. This time, someone else responded (I'm not sure who) and said:
"East Bay Koi: Sorry. I see your fish loose colors ,but I see your pond have a lot the rocks to keep all the ammonia, not let the filter to clean ,your pond water can not be Heath ,when fish get bigger more ammonia ,they are not only loosing colors ,will sick and die ,you set up the pond is the pablum not the fish !"
I can tell English was probably not their first language.. but the message was clear: "not my problem"
Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback. He didn't ask us about the specs of our pond, he didn't ask anything he just flat out told us our pond was the problem because it had rocks and not his fish. On top of that, our pond tested 0ppm for Ammonia. I instantly responded with our pond specs: Our pond is an ecological Pond, filled with plants- it has a large 8'x8'x5 up-flow wetland filtration and a 6'x6'x4 mechanical filtration intake bay. We invested in the best. Bacteria is auto-dosed regularly. The water goes down through the rocks intake bay and is pumped around 30 feet-- and then up 5 feet of the wetland filtration before it goes down the 30 feet of stream of 4 waterfalls and down another water waterfall into the pond again. Basically, it's a HUGE filtration system. Again having a pond as a young girl, I didn't want to make the same pond mistakes. So we invested in a massive filtration system. But according to them if you have any rocks on the bottom of your pond irregardless of your filtration-- your fish will die from ammonia poisoning.
After doing a ton of reading and research on my own. I learned that its Tosai (young koi) often change color and it's not unusual for them to lose color, even those with great genetics. And for this reason, sometimes it is better to invest in older Koi when their color is more stable. SO BE AWARE that the young koi you pick may not retain its color! I was not well informed and just believed Kelvin.
I don't want to return my Koi, that's not my intention. It's my precious fish now, no matter what color it ends up. But I do want this shop to be honest with its customers. Koi are often chosen based on appearance. This is the main deciding factor. If a koi can lose or change its color, tell the truth.
In conclusion: I feel like I was flat out lied to and then when I inquired about it I felt like I was basically told "it's not my problem" read more