Boy can I relate to THAT! I took two of the large koi and tried to "save"
them by putting them in a huge tub with 2/3 pond water and 1/3 tap water,
but of course I conditioned the tap water first, removed chlorine, etc. I
then added some salt and hoped I could miraculously heal them in this
hospital tub. Of course when they died I fel the horrible guilt as if I had
killed them trying to save them . . . I'll never know if they would have
made it had I left them alone. I, too, am going to leave well enough alone
from now on and do all I can WITHOUT disturbing the balance of things. The
change might be enough to push them over the edge. Of course, had they
died in the pond, I'd always wonder if I could have saved them by putting
them in a tub, etc. Guilt. What a useless, but powerful emotion.
Sue
"jammer" wrote in message
...


Ahhhh.....I am so sorry for your loss. I have a 1 1/2 yr. old friendly
goldfish i wouldn't take money for, so i understand. Time will heal
you. And like you wanted, maybe you can learn and prevent it from
happening again. Last year i had thousands of tadpoles that i killed
trying to save. It took months to stop feeling guilty. This year i am
leaving well enough alone and will watch for stressed fish, then i'll
bring them in or something.





On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 06:38:23 -0500, "SueAndHerZoo"
wrote:

Hi. If you recall I wrote about a week ago with my koi hiding and
dying.
Some of you suggested nitrite poisoning, which made sense, and when I
tested
the water, the nitrites were high. I have been doing water changes,
adding
salt, firing up the pump and filter, added 2 more airstones, etc. and
the
water tests fine now. Unfortunately, I lost 4 of my very large,
"been with
me from the start" koi. I still break down and cry a lot,
especially when
I'm out working on the pond, and most people think I'm nuts, but I
knew
people here could relate - they were my "babies", I raised them from
only a
couple of inches long, they ate out of my hand, followed me around
the pond,
etc. Of course a part of it is the guilt - I feel as if I killed
them or
let them down.

But anyway, sorry for the venting, here are my real questions: why
is it I
still have quite a few small fish and koi fry that survived, and only
the
big ones didn't make it? I thought it would be the other way around
with
nitrite poisoning. And secondly, I still need to know WHY I had a
nitrite
problem this winter - it's never happened before. It would be
easier to
deal with this and prevent it from ever happening again if I knew
WHAT I was
dealing with. Thanks for letting me vent - nice to know there's a
place
where I can cry over fish and not feel like a fool.
Sue