bugsb....I am a certified koi health advisor. This information is common knowledge among the koi community and koi veterninarians (including the KHA program instructors). If you want to feed trout food....go ahead! It makes no difference to me. Koi keeping is not a poor man's hobby....but I somehow found myself right in the middle of it. Believe me....I am not wealthy! I built all of my ponds myself (3100 gallons, 9000 gallons and 1300 gallons plus two 300 gallon Quarantine tanks). Most of my filtration is DIY. I can't afford to feed the BEST koi food on the market....even though I have seen the results in other people's fish. Some of that stuff runs $10 to $20 per POUND!! I do my homework though, and look hard for the best food that I can find for the money.....a food that is formulated for koi, has the proper ingrediants for koi, and is affordable. Good decision Eric! Here's a run-down of the foods that I have reviewed and found to be both affordable and good quality: Aqion (www.aqion.com) is a good food for the money. they are in the midwest somewhere so shipping out to seattle may not be that costly. Their wheat germ food is especially nice. Blackwater Creek (available from may suppliers, including Foster and Smith and also Aquatic eco systems). Very nutritious food. The only thing I didn't like about it the first time I used it is that the food left a slight oily sheen on the water. This is due to the fish oils used during processing. I initially did not like the oily film and declared I would not use the food again....but I have since changed my opinion. My filters are cleaner than they have been before and the pond water looks fantastic. I will order this food again. Azoo is another good, inexpensive food. The only thing I don't care for is that it has color enhancers in it and Idid notice the fish pinked up every so slightly on them. Not a problem for most people....but some of these fish are show fish and I can't have any pink in the whites. the wheat germ food didn't do this....only the high protein growth food. (Aquatic eco sells this) Mazuri wheat germ food is also good. I don't like regular mazuri because it has too much corn in it, but the wheat germ food for cool weather is a good product. Available from Purina dealers.

Thanks for the kind thoughts all. Though I still have a couple of issues (have to watch out for lung illnesses for a few years etc) I've been really lucky. I know of others who have spent months in nursing homes because they couldn't fix their leaks. Scary stuff...I thought that stuff only happened to the '"really fat" people (eyes rolling). I learned some great life lessons about not being invincible :) FYI I did not have a bypass. Those require that you take vitamins for the rest of your life as you can not get enough healthy food in. THey have major malabsorption issues to deal with, etc. They are typically recommended for grossly obese people. The procedure I had is a new procedure that is pretty much replacing the lap band, which has turned out to be a bit of a failure long term as it requires too much maintenance and causes significant scaring long term which damages the stomach permanently. My procedure removes the stretchy part of your stomach, leaving a banana shaped muscle which functions as it always has, only can not stretch much. Lifelong you have no significant changes in how your body functions so it's healthier, safer, etc...unless you have all of the complications I had...then it's not so much :( I would recommend the procedure to anyone who had comorbidities to deal with. High BP, sleep apnea, etc, which can be life threatening, not to mention diabetes. The rates people go off of medication with this surgery is amazing. I however had it more for cosmetic reasons...that I don't recommend...the risks and rewards don't pan out. ....and yes it's now seen as the easy way out. It's not actually easy, even for those who don't have complications. You still have to have self control, watch your diet, obey the rules, etc., but you really can't "cheat" until quite far out. 80% of people are successful long term...but some do gain back some of their weight. Very few ever gain it all back because you really have to work to make that happen. Success rates with dieting alone are rather abysmal...don't get me wrong, I wish I'd not have done this, but those are the facts, so it's just fair to share them.

This is something I wish I could change about myself. I do not eat fish, or shellfish. I continue to try little bits of it when it is offered. It's not so disgusting to me that I can't eat a couple bites, but it's bad enough that I can't continue eating it. Like the first bite is OK, but it gets bad after 3 bites. LOL. But I don't cook it, so my kids don't eat it either. I know it's good for me, and I feel that I miss out on a lot of tasty and nutritious meals, and fun restaurants, because I don't eat it. If I could re-train my taste buds to eat it, I would. Every once in a while I get a bug in my head to search for mild fish recipes, but lose my nerve and don't commit to buying it at the grocery. DH is even pickier than me or the kids, so he is fine with me never cooking fish. My dad is the perfect eater. I wish I learned/inherited my tastes from him rather than my mom. My dad will eat ANYTHING. I know there are a couple foods he doesn't favor, but nothing he refuses to eat. I swear, this is the truth, I have seen him eat an entire meal at a restaurant and then announce it was delicious, but not at all what he ordered. Even when he gets the wrong meal at a restaurant, he just says "great, a surprise, let's try it." He is thin, strong and healthy and looks 15 years younger than his age.

Pammyfay, I've been on a few cruises and didn't know you could request special orders, unless of course it was for health reasons. This gal does it on every cruise she said. She asked for special meatballs several nights in a row (can't remember what they were called) but they never materialized. She was not happy. She was an interesting one. At midnight one night, she came to our suite with a breakfast menu with two of everything checked off. Imagine our surprise (and horror) when the butler arrived with an entire cart filled with food and six different things to drink ... everything but coffee. Sheesh. Yeah, she was an interesting one. Jodi-