Just looking for some opinions on what is accepted as a rate of culls for a given pair to produce. It would be great to have none but this seems unlikely. I have several pairs together and notice certain traits among them. My platinum pearlscales produce maybe 20 to 25% fin deformities, with the rest being normal. Very few were missing the ventral fins but a few with one and too many with bent ones. I put the male on a different female this time to see if I can improve on it. None had gill issues but it seems to me that short gill plates are more prevalent in the blushers. I have too many there in my first koi, nearly half with short gill plates. No longer have that pair which was dark gold marble but produced some koi. Nearly all the non blushers had normal gill plates but 50% among the blushers with one or both short. Too many, I think. Just wondering how other breeders approach these types of things. When is it time to split a pair or eliminate them from a breeding program altogether? Thanks for any input.

Bill