KOI CLUB OF SAN DIEGONEWSLETTERJuly 2026 |
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Voting Results
Office of President: Matt Roades (30 votes)
Office of VP Venue: Jack Jr and Carrie Story (30 votes)
Office of Secretary: Gayle Goerisch
Office of Treasurer: Jill Rhoades
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Koi Club of San Diego Meeting
July 12th, 2026
Social hour - 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm
Meeting begins at 1 pm
Potluck, bring your own chair
OUR HOST WILL BE
Julia Schriber 10696 Vista Del Agua Way San Diego, CA 92121
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STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
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Wednesday, July 8th at 7:00 pm (earlier if you are ordering food) ALL MEMBERS ARE WELCOME!
Dennys
2691 Navajo Road El Cajon, CA 92020
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Koi Club of San Diego Ponder Profile
by Lenore Wade, photography by Bill Newell
Julia Schriber |
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Amazing is an awesome word, it makes the mind think in so many different directions. When you are at the home of our July hostess, Julia Schriber, you will understand the meaning of the word. While been a fairly new member, she jumped in with both feet to help in so many ways. Julia helped to rewrite the club's by-laws, restore club's non-profit status, and make decisions to improve club's financial standing.
On top of this, she is a wife and mother, works part time as a Cardiac Sonographer, and single-handedly built her 3300-gallon pond!
In 1996 when they bought their newly built home in Sorrento Valley, she didn’t want a yard. So, her back yard was done all in purple cement. Then, as Nicole, her 25-year-old daughter was small, she created a kid’s area with some plants.
Julia has always loved ponds…not koi ponds, but just ponds. As a child in her native Belarus, she buried a pot and filled it with water for a tadpole. As years went on, Julia started working to find plants that would work in her yard.
About 8 years ago, during a trip to Underwater Environments to look at nursery plants, she was introduced to Koi while walking around. This single visit and two years of research, and a lot of YouTube watching has transformed her yard into a colorful welcoming area with a beautiful pond with waterfall built into the slope of the yard. The ocean breeze makes it a comfortable place to be. |
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Julia, herself, jack-hammered all that purple cement and with a small back-hoe dug out her pond. (She admits that Rosie the dog helped drive the machine with her.) Her husband Mike, busy with his computer business, encouraged her and, as she says, bank-rolled her endeavor. Julia created her beautiful peaceful pond and surroundings with back-breaking hard work. Her 10 fish are very happy with the floating islands
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that they use for shade and the two aerated bottom drains that bubble up and keep the water moving. Just like the Japanese Friendship Garden, all of the filters and pump are under covered planks which are part of the walk-way.
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Julia, along with her parents and brother emigrated to San Diego in 1991. They were welcomed by her aunt who already lived here. Through her, Julia met her husband-to-be and his family soon after.
Nicole will be graduating with her M.S. degree in Marine Biology from UCSD in the Fall. Rosie, the 8-year-old dog will anxiously welcome you, while Raisin, the aging 13-year-old will just check you from afar. The cats Acorn and Wobbles will probably totally ignore you.
Julia’s home is at the end of an empty cul-de-sac. So, please plan to park heading into the curb and not parallel. That way, there is room for everyone.
The address is 10696 Vista del Aqua Way in Sorrento Valley. If you drive up Sorrento Valley Boulevard from the 5, you will have to make a U-turn to get back to their street.
Thank you, Julia, for sharing your Ponder Profile!
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JULY MEETING PHOTOS
Matt and Jill Rhoades
by Julia Schriber
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WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!
Sean and Melissa Ferrel Jim and Amanda Reaugh
WELCOME BACK, RENEWING MEMBERS!
Deborah Szekely Jain Malkin and Gary Watson Dick Long and Bonita Chamberlin
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KHA KORNER
by "Koi Jack" Chapman |
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At the last club meeting, I got asked twice if koi feel pain and I’ve not written about the subject for a couple years and will update the last article and review for any new available info. I may have bitten off more than I can handle but, as you all know I’m a science-based person on most things and in the past couple years several scientific articles have added to the available data on the subject and yes there are still two camps of thought. I’m going to stay simple in this article and avoid most of the pure technical science. For me I started on the side of no they (bony fish) don’t feel pain due mainly to they lack the required neuro-physiological capacity for a conscious awareness of pain as in humans and lack a spinothalamic tract. The past few years have added data to this area and to a large extent that argument is for some resolved mostly around the subject of cerebral complexity, but not for all. There is a somewhat developing general but contentious belief that fish pain is likely different from what us humans experience, but it is still a kind of sensorial feeling we want to associate to pain. Example that I recently read - Evidence:They love hot water coming through the hose in winter. But a couple of Koi experienced burns by brushing against the brass coupling. After that experience, they stopped getting too close to the hose.
Not the best example, but you get the point.
So, koi have neurons known as nociceptors, which detect potential harm, such as high temperatures, intense pressure, and caustic chemicals. And koi produce the same opioids that mammals do in reacting to pain. When I read they reported finding 5% Group C nerve fibers in koi, I started to question my thoughts on the subject as Group C nerve fibers are the pain receptors for us to keep it simple. I personally still have a problem due to wanting to compare the human body to koi in answering the question and this may be incorrect to what koi experience. Given that Wikipedia under Pain in fish reported “A typical human cutaneous nerve contains 83% Group C nerve fibers,[46] however, the same nerves in humans with congenital insensitivity to pain have only 24–28% C-type fibers.[46 “. This Wikipedia article is an excellent overview on the subject and I encourage you all to review it as it covers several other significant areas I have chosen not to address in this article but could seriously affect your opinions on this subject. There is a growing amount of information you can review to your hearts content from an internet search on the subject. For me today as a koi hobbyist, I practice all things koi from the point of view that koi experience an array of sensorial events that they demonstrate a behavior to avoid and that sensation in some cases may be directly related to what we call or refer to as pain in humans and I try to do no harm. So I ask you why do koi repeatedly breach or jump into the air? This short article does not begin to address the subject but I hope to encourage you to give the subject some thought and further subject review and consider the possibility when you go about doing all things koi.
One such good resource deserving of your review can be found at:
koiorganisationinternational.org/sites/default/files/Do Fish Feel Pain FINAL.pdf
A second excellent informative reference that I’ve requested reprint authority but not heard back yet is from The Institute for Environmental Research and Education:
Https://iere.org > do-koi-feel-pain (two articles Nov 30, 2025 and Dec 5, 2025)
These articles are well worth your time in my opinion. They cover the subject from a hobbyist point of view extremely well and my first exposure to a direct reference to “Ethical Treatment …” how cool is that.
r/koijack
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Koi Person of The Year 2026 Cory Burke
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Newsletter editor/ Webmaster: Julia Schriber |
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Membership Chairman: Jill Leach |
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Koi Health Advisor/
Librarian: Jack Chapman |
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Club Historian: Dr. Galen Hansen |
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Correspondence Secretary: Shirley Elswick |
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Japanese Friendship Garden Liaison: Linda Pluth |
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Koi Health Advisor/
Water Quality: Jack Chapman |
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To Host a Meeting: Tony Martinez |
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To Submit an Article: Linda Pluth |
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Program/Activities Suggestions: Matt Rhoades |
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