[schildkoi]

Mark,
Let me kind of explain. The "Alley" is NOT simply a temperature range in and of itself. There are other conditions that come into play for this "perceived" condition to come to fruition. First, the Koi themsleves must be exposed to colder water temperatures (40s and below). Second, the water condition itself matters in that once the aforementioned occurrs (duration of such also comes into play) then the worse the water quality, the more likely that one could experience "Areomonous Alley".

The extremely cold water temps that knock the filter back to about nil, also adversely affect the Koi's immune response. While the water temps rise, there is a lag in the koi's immune response, behind the Growth (measured in cfu count) for bacteria, Thus, the koi can become overwelmed so to speak by higher bacteria counts than the redeveloping immune response can handle.

Now, for those that maintain their Koi in "Aeromonous Alley" through the winter, they typically do NOT experience such since the koi is not subjected to the adversities of the colder water along with the lagging behind effect. In addition, once again, water quality itself also comes into play.

Make sense?

Steve