Something went very wrong today. This morning my fish were energetic and seemed perfectly healthy. I fed them, checked their water and treated it for ammonia and algae; pruned the water lilies. By this evening half of them were dead—including my prized giant black one—and I fear some, possibly all, of the others will be dead by morning.

I’m really sad. The loss of these little lives and the pleasure of seeing them in my garden. The feeling of disappointment and setback after having thought I’d figured out how to make a fish pond work. I’ll start over again and try to understand the mistake and see if I can’t get it right in the future.