Lost another koi due to egg compaction

[fly4koi]

Where I am at (PNW) my pond is shaded so the water never get warm enough for spawning condition, so I've lost 2 large koi due to egg compaction.

Thoughts:
1) Setup spawning brushes and hope the fish will consider laying eggs?
2) Inject hormone, return to pond, deal with water quality issue if spawns?
3) Setup QT, warm the water and inject hormone to induce? I tried it last winter on 1 fish but it didn't work, maybe I should do it again now these few days are warmer.

Also I am considering just buying male koi from now on, other than the slimmer body, I've read that the pectoral fins being round or pointy, but I can't really tell them apart. Thanks in advance.

[coolwon]

Some males Koi pecks, have a rough sand paper feeling effect ,when you rub them between your thumb and forefinger.

The male pecks are generally smaller, pointed, opaque and colorful.

The female pecks are more rounded than the male, translucent and can be nearly transparent.

The males body, are a smaller with a slighter or slimmer build.

Built for speed and agility to mate.

The females are bigger, thicker peduncle,more plump, and rounded fish to carry an abdomen full of eggs.

[SimonW]

I just wonder if female koi can get killed by her unspawned eggs. It is so unnatural. I think that many expensive koi are kept in female-only ponds and if it were so dangerous, why?

[coolwon]

They do die from not being able to reabsorb their eggs.

Why I honestly don't know.

It is not uncommon,I know hobbyists who have lost big expensive fish from the females being unable to reabsorb their eggs.

[kdh]

https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showt...come-egg-bound

[Orlando]

If I can add something to what's been discussed already I decrease the feedings for the female's that weren't spawned to once every other day for the duration of the warmer months every year, knock on wood I've never lost a female due to being egg impacted .

[Matt24]

My condolences for your loss fly4koi.

... knock on wood I've never lost a female due to being egg impacted .

This is not a subject I know much about, but I offer the following simply as experiential data:

I am not aware of this ever happening with my female koi either. However, I have on rare occasions had a female koi die of undetermined cause, and I did not cut them open to look for rotting eggs.

For the breeding hobby, I usually just do one controlled spawn a year involving one female. I don't keep plants in my main pond, so the koi almost never spawn in the main pond. So each year, the vast majority of the females do not spawn. Currently, I have:

• Two in the 6-9 year age range that have never spawned
• A ~15 year old and a ~12 year old that have spawned 3 times each
• An 8 year old that has spawned twice.

I think the rest are 4 years old or less or are male (or unknown). About 2/3 of all my koi are male.

[fly4koi]

Thanks, I read conflicting information here: https://cafishvet.com/fish-health-di...egg-bound-fish
It says that female kois can carry eggs for years and it's not necessarily an issue...

I guess my first step is to get some spawning brushes and just put in the main pond to see if that does anything, my pond is clean w/o plants.