Koi: Gone but never forgotten

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If any fish could be said to have a constituency, it would be the jumbo koi in the Japanese Friendship Pond at San Diego’s Balboa Park.

The brightly-colored koi, some weighing up to 18 pounds, have made the pond one of the park’s most popular attractions.

But this week, 22 of 23 koi died overnight when a filtration malfunction pumped too much chlorine into the pond.

Transferring adult koi from another pond apparently is not an option. Different ponds have different aquatic characteristics.

The Japanese Friendship Garden Society of San Diego plans a fundraiser.

-- Tony Perry, San Diego