Koi Club of San Diego

Volume 25 Issue 04

KOI CLUB OF SAN DIEGO

NEWSLETTER

April 2025

In Memoriam

With heavy hearts, we mourn the passing of our long time member, Ken Sinclair. Our deepest sympathies to Sharon.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to Jack Chapman and his family on the passing of his beloved wife Frances Chapman.

Heartfelt condolences to Ginger’s family and friends. Koi Club of San Diego Founding Member Ginger Herlihy entered fish in over 30 koi shows!  

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

by Matt Rhoades

Spring is Here!

I really enjoy dropping the winter blahs and getting back to spring-like conditions. My pond water has gotten above 60 degrees, and my fish are feasting on 2 meals a day: usually midday. My wife Jill and I are taking time away from our remodel to sit by the pond more and observe our fish. The koi don’t know it; but they are being evaluated for the future. Some of these fish will be going to the auction in September. I need to make room for my futures that I picked up at the recent koi show (went there with 4 koi; came home with 11) back in January. Then there is Moo-cow. I got a call back in mid-February from Jamie Kanes, a longtime member of our club. She is downsizing her koi herd and remembered how I had gushed over this koi. I made arrangements to stop by her house on a Saturday and bag up this prize. When I got there, I found that Jamie had removed all the fish from her pond and placed them in an above ground swimming pool with a giant bead filter providing filtration. We corralled Moo-Cow out and double-bagged her for the trip to her new home. I floated her in the pond, then did a procedure (which will be discussed at April's meeting) to acclimate her to new surroundings. Before putting her into her new home, I measured Moo-Cow; she stretched out as a 84 cm; or 33 inches Kumonryu. She is a very friendly fish.

Great March Meeting

left up his Q-Tank set up for people to ask questions about. Thanks Cheryl and Ben for opening up your home and pond to the masses.

This Month’s Koi 101 Topic

The topic for this month, The Different Ways to Introduce Fish to a Pond, was put forth by one of our members.  So, my title for this talk will be “New Koi on the Block”. Also, during this discussion, we will discuss the need for reasons and ways to quarantine. Of course, this will be preceded by a game show review of last month's topic (there’s treats involved; so be ready to jump in and answer a question).  If you have a question, please send questions to me at: matrhoa@gmail.com.

April General Meeting

The April meeting on Sunday the 13th will be at Dean Strasser’s house in the Eucalyptus Hills neighborhood of Lakeside.  His ranch-style home and property contain a massive pond designed and built by Dean many years ago. It is going strong with many massive koi gliding through the water. As always, a pot-luck meal will be going on; so, bring what you would like to share. Of course, drinks and water will be provided. Please don’t forget to bring a chair.

See you there! 

Matt - Koi Kichi - All the way.

Koi Club of San Diego Meeting

April 13th, 2025 

STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, April 9th

at 7:00 pm (earlier if you are ordering food)

ALL MEMBERS ARE WELCOME!

Dennys

2691 Navajo Road

El Cajon, CA 92020 

Koi Club of San Diego Ponder Profile

by Lenore Wade, photography by Bill Newell

Dean Strasser

Many of you have been to Dean’s to pick up and return club supplies for our events which he generously stores at his home. But not many have seen his house.

He lives in the Eucalyptus Hills section of Lakeside in an adobe home that he built. 

Literally, one that he built brick by brick with occasional help from a high school kid who helped him mold each brick. Starting in 1962, “paid as he went or could 

afford” while working for Rohr Aviation. Take time to look at the huge beams and the intricate work that he created.

Then after you ooh and awe over what you have seen take the time to look at all the American Indian artistry hanging on the walls and sitting on tables and shelves. Many pieces were inherited from his grandparents. Don’t forget to look at the 5-foot-stained glass windowof a Cochina harvest dancer in the main bathroom.

Dean was born in El Paso to a very young mother almost 95 years ago. He was raised by his grandparents on the federal government agricultural research station on the Pima Indian Reservation in Arizona. (This was where Pima cotton originated.) His grandparents were not native American but ran the general store on the reservation. He grew up under sparse conditions, and a great amount of love. They lived in a 12 x 24 storage shed and made it a home.

When he was 10, he moved with his grandparents to San Diego so his grandfather could work on the B-24 aircraft. He graduated from Hoover High School and started at San Diego State College (now SDSU). When the Korean war broke out, he left school and served in the Navy for 4 years.

Upon his return, he finished college with an engineering degree and went to work for Rohr in Chula Vista, where he stayed for 15 years. From there, until his retirement, he worked for Teledyne-Ryan.

Dean is a “Jack of all trades”. There is nothing he cannot create, invent, or fix depending on the need. Coming home from the Korean War, his mother introduced Dean to his little brother. They became great companions, and it kept Dean young! He built dune buggies, and a ski boat among other “toys”. He has never stopped living a full and adventurous life.

Having such a huge piece of property, he decided he wanted a water feature off the side of the house. So, in 1992, he built a complex waterfall which flowed into a two-foot pond. Still, Dean was not happy! Then friends introduced him to Koi. He built an 8000-gallon pond which is 8 feet deep and 22 x 24 feet. It is the home to 24 happy fish. Dean learned from trial and error to defeat the ever-present raccoons. He has devised ways to automatically feed the fish, although his greatest pleasure is sitting and talking to the fish while he slowly feeds them.

Dean introduced me to the Koi Club when he helped design and build my pond. He taught my two sons-in-law how to create a workable pond with a waterfall. Most members build two or three ponds before they are happy. Thanks to Dean, I only needed one, because with hands on, he taught the boys the right way to do everything.

Dean has been a member of the club for over 30 years. He has never wanted to be an officer, but Dean has given his time and talents to anyone who needs help or advice. He has lived a long and rich life for which we are all thankful.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

Raul and Kimberly Padilla

WELCOME BACK RENEWING MEMBERS!

KHA KORNER

by "Koi Jack" Chapman

KHA Korner:  Ammonia NH3 & Ammonium NH4

We had a couple ponds in the past year with different levels of ammonia issues and I can never go wrong with water quality articles.   Ammonia is one of my favorites to try and keep fresh on your mind and I’ve not written about it since 2019/21 so this is an update of that article.  The most important aspect in maintaining your koi’s health is proper water quality.  All koi hobbyists need a rudimentary understanding of NH3 and NH4.  Ammonia NH3 is toxic to koi which can and will cause additional stress, a reduction in growth, drab coloration, increased illness with extended healing times due to depressed immune system, reduced life span via gill hyperplasia (reduces oxygen absorption and waste excretion ability of gill tissue) leading to loss of koi.  Ammonia is a by-product of protein metabolism from utilization of ingested food and is excreted from the gills (reported to be 75 to 80%) or as urea for the remainder.  So by feeding more during summer with higher protein foods you will have increased your koi’s NH3 production – BIG TIME!   Also don’t forget that koi are NOT the only source of ammonia in your pond – as the decomposition of all organic material produces ammonia.  Think all plant material, uneaten food and oh yes undigested/non-assimilated food ingredients expelled as fish poop.  If your pond water source has chloramines, ammonia will be released when you dechlorinate the water with chemicals.  So, no article trying to do justice on this subject can escape the science/chemistry to provide the reader a basic understanding of the constant moving target of the level of toxicity of ammonia given a range of pH and temp.  Most articles on this subject are complete with charts and I would encourage you to review them for a better understanding.    Put as simply as I can:

           Ammonia NH3          Ammonium NH4 

               Un-ionized                       Ionized

                   Toxic                   Mostly Non-toxic

In water the reaction can and does go both directions NH3 to NH4 & NH4 back to NH3.

Most test kits measure total ammonia and yes it’s a total of un-ionized and ionized.

pH is the key player as to the toxicity level and as pH rises so does the percentage of toxic un-ionized NH3.

Temperature is a secondary factor and as water temp rises so does the toxicity level of a given pH level.  This effect is not as significant as the pH changes.

Ammonia has proven to be even more toxic in the presence of low oxygen levels.

In my opinion and to cut to the chase, any test kit measurable amount of ammonia is undesirable and in need of corrective action.  All the charts do is help with the degree of urgency at hand, which is why I kept the science to a minimum.  Yes, 0.1ppm should make you want to reduce it!!  It has been my KHA experience that the long term low level exposure to ammonia is discovered when I make a pond call for sick koi (parasites and bacteria) and find the additional problem of low to moderate levels of ammonia. Your koi suffering from the effects of ammonia poisoning can isolate themselves, stay on the bottom with clamped fins, and upon examination be very slimy.  They can develop a general pink to red hue on the body with small red lines and red lines in the fins and red at the edges of fins.  We call it ammonia burn.  Believe it or not a pond or show tank can even produce an identifiable smell to it – learned from experience.    

So what’s a pond owner to do???

Foremost have an ammonia test kit that’s less than a year old and test your water weekly – before your weekly water change and pre-filter cleaning and record the results.

The following list is not in order of precedence but the first few are more significant in reducing ammonia levels.  And I’m sure I’ve missed some.

• 1.      Daily water changes – The solution to pollution is dilution!!
• 2.    Reduce feeding (low level 0.5ppm) to spot feeding (1.0 or higher). Koi do just fine for a couple of weeks and longer without being fed.
• 3.    Reduce fish load.
• 4.    Reduce your water turn over time – get the water with NH3 to the filter faster.
• 5.     Increase bio capacity – part of a long-term plan.
• 6.    Use chemicals (ClorAm-X or Ultimate) to bind the ammonia into a non-toxic form and best if done in connection with a large water change.
• 7.     Clean pre-filter more often and keep bottom of pond clean and free of visible particulate matter.  
• 8.    Look into activated carbon – good for pollutants to include ammonia and good for 3 to 4 months.
• 9.    Look into sludge buster and bio boosters – to each his own.
• 10.                        Add salt – suggest 1 pound per 100 gallons for a reading of 0.1% to increase ionization of ammonia making ammonia less toxic – per Nicholas Saint-Erne, DVM.  (Caution – salt will release the ammonia from your Zeolite bag so remove the bag before adding salt).
• 11.   If oxygen levels are low then add oxygen as the closer you get to oxygen saturation in your pond water the better.
• 12.  Rechargeable Zeolites – old school but could help in short run till other changes catch-up but not in combination with salt.
• 13. Additional shade to help lower pond temp.
• 14.  On short temp bases for higher pH’s with higher ammonia levels you can look into reducing the pH, but you want to avoid wide daily pH changes OR go back to number 1 on this list.
• 15.  SPECIAL NOTE OF CAUTION:  In the event of a pH crash in your pond with fish loss you may be so concerned about raising the pH you just forget to check your NH3 levels that will become more poisonous to your koi when you elevate your pH which could lead to additional koi losses.  You would need to bind the NH3 with the chemicals listed in number 6 above before or in connection with a large water change.

That about covers it for me and hopefully gives you reason to explore more info on your own as it is not hard to find a ton of info on the subject.  Just maybe you will even find time to test your pond water for ammonia. LOL

PLEASE VISIT OUR APPAREL SHOP!

THANK YOU JAMIE KANES FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL DESIGNS!

Koi Person of The Year 2025 Jill Rhoades

OFFICERS

EMAIL

President: Matt Rhoades   

KCSDKoi.Kichi@gmail.com

First VP-Program: Cory Burke

Mulligrins@gmail.com

Second VP-Venue: Ben Adams

iblitlrock5@yahoo.com

Secretary: Open

Treasurer: Jill Rhoades

treasurer.kcsd@gmail.com

APPOINTED OFFICERS

EMAIL

Newsletter editor/

Webmaster: Julia Schriber

webmaster.kcsd@gmail.com

Membership Chairman: Jill Leach

Koi Health Advisor/

Librarian: Jack Chapman

jackchapman1@cox.net

Club Historian: Dr. Galen Hansen

galenkoi@aol.com

Property Manager: Al Pierce

alpierce@cox.net

Correspondence Secretary: Shirley Elswick

 sfelswick@cox.net

Japanese Friendship Garden Liaison: Linda Pluth

 lpluth@cox.net

HELPING HANDS

Koi Health Advisor/

Water Quality: Jack Chapman

jackchapman1@cox.net

To Host a Meeting: Ben Adams

iblitlrock5@yahoo.com

To Submit an Article: Linda Pluth

 lpluth@cox.net

Program/Activities Suggestions: Cory Burke

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