After I lost a few of my favorites I decided to really attack the
problem. Since I moved in 1999 and put in a new koi pond and veggie
filter I have not added any new koi to the pond. After I lost 2 to
infected eggs and one orfe to jumping, I netted the pond to keep
birds out and fish in. I now cover and heat my zone 5 koi pond and
feed the koi during winter so they dont have to go for 6 months
without food and go thru such long periods without a functional immune
system.

After losing some of my favorite fish I found myself reluctant to go
out to the pond, afraid of who I might find floating or gone. I still
get a little worried in spring when I count whiskers and look to make
sure they are all there.... and there are times when I spot what could
be a floating corpse but is actually a chunk of floating lily bud and
my heart races a bit. But mostly I am glad to go out to my pond to
sit every day, morning to wake up, at night to sit mesmerized by the
side lighting on the fish as they swim lazily in the pond and am not
worried about losing them any more.

I am becoming attached. Ingrid