A Blue Heron got a peck at my Koi a few weeks ago but I luckily came outside to find it out of the pond, I quickly ran over, picked it up and placed it back in the water. He is still alive and was doing fine until the same thing happened this morning! Unfortunately, he got pecked a bit harder a couple times on the head above the eye toward the gill. I again, ran over picked him up and put him back in the water, only this time, he has not recovered as well. After reading some forums on www.koi phen.com/forums I put him in a container, put some neosporin on the wound and put 5 drops on stress coat in there. He is such a Rambo! He is still "dazed" but looks at me when I walk up and is still breathing and moving his fins but he is ?lopsided? I am not sure that he will pull through... The other Koi didn't come up from the bottom of the pond until later this afternoon... poor things :(

A local garden center had a koi pond with an underwater bridge made from a large flagstone supported (invisibly) by cinder blocks. They said that it provides a large shelter for the big koi to stay under when a predator threatens. It's a deepish pond, at least 3 feet and when you look down into it, the appearance is that the big shelter rock is on the bottom. They said that it works very well. It sure looks nice. I was surprised to see a few large koi swim out from beneath it. I didn't know that they were there.

I too had to go with a net after losing two koi.. the floating aligator didnt work for me.. anyone know where I can get a clear net?? I would like to swap the black one out for clear as I think it would look better.. I hate having to net the pond at all but I dont like losing koi either.. I checked pondnets.com and they look to only have black and their nets are a bit pricey too..

I've battled probably the same heron for about 3 years. He comes in during winter through early spring. Always in the AM. I tried the fishing line, watched him circle and circle, army crawl through it and finally he flew up and crashed down in the middle of the pond in the deep water, like a duck. a big duck. They are persistent nasty things. I named mine Smaug, after the Hobbit dragon. This winter I went with a green house plastic over the main pond area, to keep him out and to keep the sub tropical fish alive. it worked. The day after I removed the plastic this spring, he showed up. The effective deterrents for me have been: 1. Me. Any movement in the house, the drapes open, I get up off the sofa, he sees me through the window and he's gone. Every time. The pond is about 50 feet back from the house. If i want to watch him, i HAVE to sit perfectly still inside the house; they have amazing eyesight. 2. Truck netting. I buy truck bungee netting on Amazon and stretch them out over the main pond. It works pretty well and is a compromise from full fish netting, this way I can let the birds and the frogs in and out, the big birds have a harder time. This year I got the alligator head. It looks really good, moving with the current, like the real thing. Not sure it'll work for long but anything helps. I also put out a cheap radio on batteries, talk radio. I am also this year going to capitalize on movement. Since he always leaves when he sees anyone moving in the house, I bought a wemo device. I can power on or off, either from my smart phone or on a schedule, any electronic device. I hooked up a circulating fan to it, aiming it at my drapes. From the outside, it appears to be someone moving the drapes. Someone suggested going with one of those tube dancing things, the kind you see for advertising. I think it would work for a while. What I really want is a halloween witch i see on Amazon, its a motion or powered activated full standing prop. Its crouched down, and when activated stands to full height, makes noise, etc. that is something I could use on the back porch or in various places in the house where it would be seen. I also have a Foscam camera, with audio. I've yet to catch the heron on the motion sensor, but having the ability to tie in anytime, anywhere is very powerful. I would not go without having an IP based camera to monitor, even if its just a passive device, knowledge is everything.