I am sorry to hear about your loss lily. Friends and family laugh at me when I tell them my koi are like family. I don't know what would have cause this to happen, but I will keep you and yours in my thoughts and prayers. Don't beat yourself up too bad. Even if you were home there is nothing you could have done. Thank God that you and your family are all alive and unharmed. This spring has been bad weatherwise just about everywhere. Massachusetts had a tornado touch down last night too. That is my worst fear and something I hope I never experience first hand. Your fish were 20 years old and had one heck of a good life with you and your husband. Even though it's like losing a family member you and your husband were excellent koi parents. We can't question Mother Nature as to why she does things, we just have to look at the bright side.

I have overstock of 1 year old koi if you are interested. They are free to a good home. Send me an e-mail if you are interested and we can work something out.

Jenny

I am so sorry for your loss Lily.
Jenny said some really good things.
I'm glad you and your family are okay.

I'm wondering if there was something about the rapid pressure changes that happen with tornadoes that may have killed them.
There has been so much loss and sadness recently in the U.S. caused by tornadoes and floods.

I like to think that Mother Nature knows what she's doing, even if it isn't what we like.

You're in alot of pain right now. It will slowly ease up and you'll be able to be more hopeful again.
((((((hugs))))))

I'm so sorry, Lily. It isn't easy to lose your favorite fish. I know because I lost my favorite, highest quality, and prettiest koi last weekend. She was fatally injured during the spawn. Sadly, she was only four years old.

I know my situation can't compare with losing five prized koi, though, and in a situation such as yours. I hope you'll be able to recapture the magic of ponding. I'm still a little down myself, but I'm not giving up. I'm going to start browsing for a new koi, and I think the interest and excitement from that will get me back on my feet again, so to speak.

There are a couple of things you might consider but it is likely too late to pin down the cause at this point. First would be a rapid PH change due to lots of rain water entering the pond. David, one of our experts, adds a dose of Bicarb. even before the rain hits to buffer the expected crash. Second is oxygen depletion. The oxygen would have had to be borderline to start with but without constant aeration, the larger fish would be the first affected since they would require the most oxygen. It sounds like the pond is small for the amount of fish that were in it so it is possible that could have had an affect.

Sorry your fishies are gone. Personally, since there are so many things that can happen to them that are out of our control, I don't even try to raise the more expensive koi. It seems the more attractive they are, the more they become vulnerable.

Oh, Lily, what a sad experience. Losing your beloved fish is so hard.

Anne

I don't want to give the impression that these koi were special .They were to me but just run of the mill ones who spawned and had babies. We were stupid to buy koi and put them in the little pond because they grew so large we had to build another pond. I know they died from oxygen depletion. We have a vigorous waterfall and ultra violet filter running but there are a lot of inches of fish. It's hard to measure our pond since we ran into limestone so it's deep in spots , not so deep where the rock is. I miss these guys. The rest of the fish are not friendly now and it's been a week.No one will eat out of my hand.

If they were special to you, then they're "special"! Hopefully some of the ones that are still there will eventually warm up to you.
Its always hard to lose pets, no matter what they are.
I have chickens and am devastated every time one of them dies.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm sure it was oxygen depletion, especially if they were the biggest/oldest fish. They always go first.