Koi Club of San Diego

Volume 23 Issue 8

KOI CLUB OF SAN DIEGO

NEWSLETTER

August 2023

Photos from July Club meeting by Bill Newell

Social hour - 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm

Meeting begins at 1 pm

Potluck, bring your own chair

OUR HOST WILL BE

PONDER PROFILE

by John Svelan, photography by Bill Newell

Augusto and Colleen Angelucci

Overlooking the blue Pacific, high above the La Jolla coastline you will find the elegant yet cozy home of Augusto and Colleen Angelucci.  As you can see from the accompanying Bill Newell photographs, views of Scripps Pier to the North and La Jolla Shores to the South are simply breathtaking!

Augusto and Colleen’s home definitely has the “wow” factor both inside and out and we are very lucky to have them as long time club members of the Koi Club of San Diego.  This generous couple has no problem inviting the entire club to meetings at their home at least every other year and this is one meeting that no one wants to miss!

The 14,000 gallon koi pond with natural filtration is home to more than 50 beautiful koi and 3 huge catfish.  The double pond was personally designed by Augusto who just happens to be one of the most prestigious Architects and Builders in San Diego today!  With the help of his lovely spouse Colleen, he still maintains a thriving business while enjoying the good life of Italian cooking, dancing, world travel and of course hosting parties at their home.  Born in Rome, educated in Italy, France and the United States, Augusto says that designing and building an office complex right here in Mission Beach was the most exciting.   Why?  Because that’s where he met the love of his life Colleen who had moved to San Diego from Chicago and was working for the Social Security Administration.  I think that she may be responsible for the permanent ‘gleam’ in his eyes as he tells the love story. 

In addition to koi, their one of a kind paradise is home to a very large tortoise named “Bud” who roams the grounds at will and has his own condo near the pool.  They also have a cat and really cool aviary that is home to around 20 doves and other exotic birds who liven the place up with beautiful song. 

In closing Augusto asked that special recognition go out to Scott Mojo of Underwater Environments in Encinitas who does an outstanding job maintaining the pond and taking good care of his fish.

Thank you so much for sharing your home and your Ponder Profile!

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

by Lenore Wade

We had a great turnout for the meeting on July 9^th at the home of Julia Schriber.  I feel that everyone who came was impressed by Julia and her pond.  I have been a club member now for over 8 years, and this was the first time that I have seen a woman show off her pump and filters and explain everything to all the men.  It was refreshing and I certainly enjoyed the interactions.

The quilt that I made from 16 years of Koi Club T-shirts was given away to one of the club members who signed the list at our meetings each month. I offered the quilt as a “Thank You” to the members who openly support the club. When the drawing was made, I think we were all happy that Cheryl Adams won the quilt.  I hope you enjoy the photos that are in this newsletter.

The treasurer, Jill Rhoades, and paper-work specialist, Julia Schriber, shared some exciting news with all of us at the meeting.  After years of hard work sorting forms and papers and filing appeals, the Koi Club of San Diego has been re-instated with its non-profit status. The club is now once again in good standing with the government, as our status was retro-activated to 2015. This is a blessing, because we can now file for some grants that will help us to put on our Koi Shows and our generous vendors can once again deduct “donations made to a non-profit”.    

There were several new club members who attended the meeting.  One lady, in particular, came all the way from Hemet to meet the members and tell us about her pond.  We are trying to convince her to host a meeting in the future.  It will be a drive, but everyone should love an adventure.

For those of you who do not know, Koi Jack is in the hospital recovering from an extensive surgery.  Koi Jack is the master who we all call when our pond has a problem.  He was missed at the meeting, as he was supposed to do the program.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  ALSO, if any of you have a little free time, once a week, and can lift about 40 pounds, your help is needed so we can continue to fulfill our obligations at the Japanese Friendship Garden.  It is a job that Jack and Linda Pluth have been doing for years and Linda cannot do it alone.

Our hostess, Julia, and Matt Rhoades carried on with the program without missing a beat.  They expertly demonstrated the procedures involved in scraping and identifying health issues with koi.  Slides were made of the scraping and results shown using a microscope to detect nasty parasites on fish.  We are trying to inform and educate our members with special programs at the monthly meetings.  Please let us know if there is something that you would like addressed.

Don’t forget, the club’s fish auction will be on Saturday, September 23^rd at San Diego Pond and Garden.  It is yet another way you can support the club by volunteering, attending, bringing and selling fish.

Sorry, this is such a short message this month, but the meeting was yesterday and I leave tomorrow morning for a month-long trip. So, I will not be able to share information from this Wednesday’s Steering Committee meeting. That is where I usually find out what is going on to share with you.

Hope to see all of you at our August meeting at the home of Augusto and Colleen Angelucci in La Jolla. They are long time members who have a beautiful home and pond overlooking the ocean…they also have a giant tortoise which is fun to watch!!!

CLASSIFIEDS

Top left image: Sanke about 22-24 . No gin rin. More black is coming up.

Top right image: Kohaku has some gin rin and about 18 inches.

Top right image: Kigoi (?yellow and white) is mostly scaleless and has a little gin run.

Bottom image: Black and white (Kin Matsuba ?) is the largest at 25-26 inches.  

PLEASE VISIT OUR NEW APPAREL SHOP!

THANK YOU JAMIE KANES FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL DESIGNS!

  SHOP 

Japanese Friendship Garden Summer Camp

ADDITIONAL UPCOMING EVENTS

STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA KOI RESCUE

Wednesday, August 9th

at 7:00 pm

(earlier if you are ordering food)

Dennys

2691 Navajo Road

El Cajon, CA 92020 

Jain Malkin
Deborah Szekely
Bruce Miller
Bill Newell
Vince Hernandez
Paul Weiss

KHA KORNER

by "Koi Jack" Chapman

WHY CHECK POND WATER ALKALINITY LEVELS?

So for today I want you to consider a single piece of the GOOD water quality parameters (ALKALINITY) and what’s happening to it at this time of year.  If you don’t have an alkalinity measuring kit (about 10 dollars) go buy one – if your existing kit is over one year old, go buy a new one.  We affect our pond’s alkalinity levels in two major ways: downward by feeding our koi and upwards with water changes that has NOT gone through a water softener system, adding baking soda or adding other forms of alkalinity (crushed oysters shells – blocks of plaster of paris).  During our winter and early spring periods some of you may have reduced your water changes and have fed your koi little to none.  But now with warmer pond temps you have started to feed your koi more and depending on your water change-out maintenance schedule you are directly affecting your pond’s alkalinity level.  From the science side of the house put simply:

feed more koi food = koi produce more ammonia

the biofilter consumes alkalinity to convert ammonia to nitrite

the biofilter consumes alkalinity to convert nitrite to nitrate

this conversion process produces acid which lowers the pH

if alkalinity is not replenished – you can/will have a pH crash

resulting in loss of koi 

For the science nerds out there, I apologize for this over simplistic explanation.

Roddy Conrad has stated “Each pound of koi pellets added to the pond water causes the biofilter to consume a half-pound of baking soda equivalence in pond water alkalinity.”

In your pond, buffers assist to reduce or abrupt radical changes in water chemistry that can be harmful or even lethal to your koi.  When you measure your ponds water buffering capability you test for alkalinity.  The higher the range of your result provides more stability capability for your ponds pH and that’s a big deal for koi general health.  Put simply alkalinity is a measure of the dissolved mineral anions mainly carbonate CO3 – bicarbonate HCO3 and hydroxide OH plus a few others in minimal amounts.  Koi can tolerate an alkalinity range of 20 to 300 mg/l -- HOWEVER when it goes below 40mg/l then the bacteria in your filter will not have sufficient quantity of alkalinity to continue the nitrification cycle resulting in pH crashes and increased ammonia NH3 levels.   Time to add sodium bicarbonate otherwise known as and sold as baking soda.  From: “Advanced Koi Care by Nicholas Saint-Erne, DVM page 100”

You want your alkalinity reading to stay above 80 ppm and with our local municipal water treatment systems all being above 100 ppm – then you should have no problems keeping your alkalinity at sufficient levels through regular scheduled water changes.  If you are on well water and having issues with low alkalinity levels, a pound of baking soda will raise the alkalinity level by 70 ppm per 1000 gallons of water. 

SO WHAT’S YOUR ALKALINITY LEVEL????

Good water quality parameters are the best thing you can do to ensure your koi’s health and wellbeing.

Notes from Koi Club of San Diego Steering Committee Meeting

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023 by Tamsie Pierce

Members Present in person:

Matt Rhoades

Jill Leach

Rick Leach

Jill Rhoades

Will Vukmanic

Julia Schriber

Linda Pluth

Al Pierce

Tamsie Pierce

Dorene Dias

Tony Martinez

Janine Martinez

Sophia Martinez

Called to Order by Matt Rhoades at 7:02 PM

MSAP to approve minutes as amended.

A question was raised on the price of a bid paddle for the auction, to raise the price to $10.00 per as it includes a lunch. Item will be discussed later in the meeting.

Treasurer report - The Club needs a set budget. Please forward suggestions on this to Jill Rhoades.

Some concerns on the facebook page. we need to set a list of “chain of command”, as well as a list of passwords for officers, and the website itself.

VP of Venue - what are the items a host needs to supply for a meeting? Plates, napkins, tables, drinks (water/sodas) and the number of shade covers necessary at that location.  When completed the list needs to be posted on line.

VP Program - August meeting will be at the home of Augusto and Colleen Angelucci.  Matt will figure out something for the program.

Membership - Namify needs a debit card for charges. Currently Greg Ruth has one of the KCSD cards.  There is a $7.00 flat rate for shipping no matter the number of name tags ordered.

Newsletter needs a link to KoiFin. articles for the newsletter are due now.

JFG- construction is continuing on the new deck by the pond. The fence is up. Seining the pond could be done in the next couple of weeks.  Usually we do a filter cleaning each September. It may be skipped this year.
KHA - No report.  Jack still in hospital.

Old Business-
Non Profit status has been approved, retroactive to May 2015.  Julia is going to look into event grants.

Auction - Julia will generate fliers. There was some discussion on the price for a bid paddle. MSAP to raise the price to $15.00 to cover lunch. Additional lunches - $10.00, and a drink (water or soda) $3.00. Jill Rhoades will be the chairman. Contact info will be to Matt Rhoades.

Show - It was suggested we investigate Liberty Station as a site for the next show. There is a building #619, approximately 20,000 square feet, with an adjacent parking lot.

There was some discussion as to whether return to Del Mar Fairgrounds Activity Center if the costs are lower than Liberty Station.

Another possibility of using a shopping center was raised. We will be checking prices, locations and availability.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:40

Koi Person of The Year 2023 Julia Schriber

OFFICERS

EMAIL

President: Lenore Wade   

lenorewade@yahoo.com

First VP-Program: Matt Rhoades

matrhoa@gmail.com

Second VP-Venue: Dorene Dias

capeverdeshades@gmail.com

Secretary: Tamsie Pierce

tamsie@cox.net

Treasurer: Jill Rhoades

treasurer.kcsd@gmail.com

APPOINTED OFFICERS

EMAIL

Newsletter editor/

Webmaster: Julia Schriber

julia.schriber@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: Dorene Dias

capeverdeshades@gmail.com

To Submit an Article: Linda Pluth

 lpluth@cox.net

Program/Activities Suggestions: Matt Roades

matrhoa@gmail.com

WATER QUALITY REPORT

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