Koi lovers restock Manito Park pond
Three weeks after a virus killed all the colorful fish, new ones grace the garden
Koi can once again call Manito Park home.
Thirteen of the colorful Japanese fish entered the recently disinfected pond in the park’s Japanese Gardens on Friday. They were the first of about 50 donated to replace the fish removed nearly three weeks ago after a koi herpes virus infection spread through the water.
“They are some beauties,” said Margaret Carter, of Spokane, who was visiting the park with her daughter and grandsons when they spotted Margie Luce releasing the koi.
“We came on the perfect day,” Carter said.
Experts believe foreign koi and goldfish released into the pond spread the incurable and nearly always fatal virus that killed many of the pond’s 50 fish, some as old as the park itself, which opened in 1974.
The infection forced the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department to remove all the fish and drain the pond for cleaning.
About 15 more fish will go in this weekend, Luce said, followed by about 25 next year. A member of the Inland Empire Water Garden and Koi Society, Luce owns Something Fishy, a pond and fish health consulting business in Spokane. She spearheaded the effort to find more koi for the pond. The 50 that will enter the pond over the next two years came from private ponds in Spokane, Luce said.
Attendees of a preschool graduation party watched the fish explore their new home as they celebrated their own move to kindergarten next week.
“I like them swimming back and forth,” said Malika Halvorson, 4.
Her friends MaKenna Greasely, 5, and Makalya Bennett, 4, agreed.
“I like all of them,” MaKenna said.
The kids knew the new fish were there for a reason. Their parents told them the old ones had gotten sick.
Some of the koi killed by the virus were more than 30 years old. The biggest were 25 inches long.
Their replacements looked to be adjusting well Friday afternoon in the pond, which holds more than 100,000 gallons of water.
The koi lived together for several weeks in quarantine at Luce’s fish facility.
“I kept telling them, ‘I promise you won’t be in this little tiny tank forever,’ ” Luce said. “I’m really pleased with how calm they are today.”
Parks officials and koi advocates hope the publicity around the infection and the new koi will spread the word that the pond is off limits to people seeking to ditch their pets.
Luce was hopeful the pond’s problems are over.
“They look like they’re settling right in,” she said. “Just as long as we don’t get any mischief, we’ll be good.”