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 can't see your pictures although I have appropriate browsers. To see whether a rose is alive, remove any blackened or shriveled cane sections and prune down, looking for green inner bark in the cross section. Green bark indicates life. Then if the center pith is brown, keep pruning down until it is white. Sometimes you have to go all the way to the ground or the graft. The plant with exposed roots may have frozen out. Roots are more tender than canes. Also the graft or bud union, if any, should not be exposed to even a zone 8a winter. Here's where you may have gone wrong. --Shrinking soil may not have ben properly settled to begin with (saturate with large amounts of water as you backfill). Or it may have been all organic matter, which burns away in time. Use mineral soil with some organic matter added; don't set your plants in shrinking muck. --Set the graft slightly below grade level and be sure it is covered when winter sets in. --Potted roses need some winter protection against sustained temperatures below 20. Keep the rootball soil warmer than 20. For example, pile leaves around the pot.

Great horned owls can attack and take small (very small) dogs. Saw one do it ... it was in the habit of stopping in the parking lot where I worked, perched on a light post. hoping for one more bunny or mouse. We were admiring it when a man came jogging through the industrial park, preceded by a very small dog running off leash about 50 feet in front of him ... end of dog. The owl swooped, snatched, and kept going, with a very dead (limp,not moving) dangling from its talons. If the idiot owner had followed the leash laws, the dog would have been

Thanks. Decided to rake up with a regular garden rake (not my dethatching rake). I would say at least 60-70% of it came up. I then went over the debris several times with a mulching mower (bag attached). Sucked up some of it, finely mulched the rest. Seems good to me, lots of exposed soil. With aeration I think I will be fine. Thanks again!