you probably have a few things going on. Since the koi lived long enough to get a nasty infection, we can pretty well rule out parasites such as costia and ich since those can kill pretty quickly. I suspect a parasite was still responsible, possibly flukes. Flukes are irritating and cause a break in the skin. The bite gets infected, causing an ulcer. The fish is now sick, and a fungus called saprolegnia starts growing on the ulcer. Saprolegnia releases toxins into the fish making him even sicker. SAP alone can be deadly. I realize it is too late for this one, but in the future here's how I would treat that fish. Catch the fish and sedate. Gently scrub the wound with a q-tip and betadine. Remove all traces of fungus or it will grow back. Be sure to keep betadine out of the gills!! Treat the sore with a paste made of potassium permanganate (dangerous stuff....handle with care), or malachite green. Seal the wound with denture powder. With an ifection as bad as that one, I would also treat with an injectible antibiotic such as amikacin. The fish needs to be returned to a clean QT and the temperature needs to be slowly brought up from the pond temp to around 70°. A koi cannot heal in cold water. Further investigate the possibility of flukes on other fish. Symptons include flashing, jumping, excessive slime coat.

I'm so sorry about your Koi. Somehow it always seems the ones we like the best are the ones that we lose first. It got to the point I stopped naming them. I hope the others are just being coy. It took a while for mine to rise. If you see them soon you might want to feed them for a while on antibacterial food. Bronchitis is a misery. You need to take care of yourself and avoid getting chilled or overheated. It can come back or cause other ailments. Sandy

It took almost a full week for my new fish to start eating. They just wanted to hide. Now they're little piggies. I was fretting over it too but I just kept offering it and sitting quietly next to the tank (they were in a quarantine tub) till they got used to me. Bet yours will be eating this weekend. Vanessa

That is so nice of you, to try to help me solve this problem. I believe damping off may have played a role on my first batch of seedlings...due to the fact that I kept it too hot, too wet, and cover on to boot. This second batch does have me puzzled...and I think (i don't know) that lack of fertilizer is the problem as well as lack of water. Since this thread started I began a twice weekly foliar-feeding program (weak solution) so far I have misted 3 times....and everything I have sprayed is turning a darker green, putting out true leaves, and getting bigger. The tiny seedlings are the only ones I lost yesterday...and pretty sure it was because the media was too dry. As per tons of advice I figured my media needed to be more porous than the last batch...so by golly I made it porous. Seeds sprouted just fine, but now I've made it too hard to keep up with watering. I need to meet at the happy medium. I am going shopping (maybe tomarrow) for some ProMix BX. I think you guys are right and that may be a great point in the right direction...for PH reasons too. I have also been faithful at adding 1 tsp of vinegar to each gallon of water, which bring the ph to 6.7. I can definately tell that I'm not leaving water spots on leaves nearly as bad. It may have gotten up past 80*F in my greenhouse yesterday, but not much more. I didn't take the plants out because the forcast called for scattered showers, and that usually means a downpour. Lately I've been able to to move them all outside for at least part of the day, so genuine sunshine (not filtered) might be helping with the growth spurt too. To tell the truth, I am quite happy with the week and a half improvements made, with all your help. And other than yesterday's disaster, I believe my greenhouse is going to start seeing more green. :) I'll try to take some pictures...if I can figure out to post them.