Koi Club of San Diego

Volume 25 Issue 06

KOI CLUB OF SAN DIEGO

NEWSLETTER

June 2025

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

by Matt Rhoades

Koi Club Board of Directors - Call for Volunteers

We are currently seeking enthusiastic and dedicated individuals to join the Koi Club Board of Directors. Serving on the board is a fantastic opportunity to contribute to our club's growth, engage with fellow koi enthusiasts, and make a real impact on our activities and events.

If you have a passion for koi and a desire to help lead our club, we encourage you to consider volunteering for one of our open officer positions.

Here are the current open positions:

●     President: Leads the club's overall direction and meetings.

●     Vice President - Program: Supports the President and coordinates the program/ talks for the club's monthly general meetings.

●     Vice President - Venue: coordinates locations for club’s monthly general meetings.

●     Secretary: Manages club records and communications.

●     Treasurer: Oversees the club's finances and budget.

We believe that diversity of thought and experience strengthens our board. All members in good standing are welcome to apply for any position.

Interested individuals should reach out to the current club treasurer at treasurer.kcsd@gmail.com  to express your interest.

The election for board positions will be held at our June meeting on June 8, 2025. There will be an electronic ballot on-line also.

We are looking forward to your participation and thank you for your continued support of the Koi Club!

The May Meeting

Being the first time to see Jill and Rick Leach's house and backyard the song by Crosby, Stills, and Nash  Our House came to my head.  The garden area was quiet and inviting. Their pond was well designed and well stocked with many colorful koi.   I observed their mischievous turtle swimming around in his private pool area. Her routine was to swim to one end, climb out, and plop right back into her aquatic home; over and over again, I caught the audible sounds of her doing this several times during the meetings program.

We had a good turnout for the meeting with many asking questions of Koi Jack and myself on the meeting topic (Friendliest koi for your pond) and nutrition. There was a good conversation on pond issues and potential solutions to said issues. The spread and selection of food was amazing (tri-tip and ribs, along with great sides and desserts). This month's quiz show game was won by a newbie to the club, who came up with a great answer when having doubts in purchasing suspect koi “Don’t” . A peaceful and entertaining time had by all. Thank you again Jill and Rick for opening your home to the club.

June General Meeting

The June meeting will be on Sunday, June 8, 2025. It will be happening at the home of Patrick and Lorelei Kelly in Valley Center. This is a new venue for the club, so I hope you are able to come and see their pond. Unfortunately, Jill and I won’t be able to attend because of family commitments. Ben and Corey will be leading the meeting.

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.

 Until then,

.  Matt - Koi Kichi Khronicler

Koi Club of San Diego Meeting

June 8th, 2025 

STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, June 11th

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 Pat Kelly

Patrick and Lorelei Kelly

We will all have wonderful surprises when we visit the home of Pat and Lorelei Kelly on June 8^th.  Hopefully, we will see some of their 150 exotic birds, the 15 small tortoises, the 30 chickens and a beautiful pond filled with koi.

In an unusual situation because of the holidays and former commitments, I have not visited their home yet. I am retelling you things I learned in a phone interview. (Not at all the way I like to write.) It is important to me that you know a little about where you are going!

Pat retired only 6 months ago from a career as a service manager with Toyota of Escondido, so he has lists of wants and projects he will enjoy pursuing. He takes great pride in the pond he built with the help of one of his boys. It is a ground level, kidney-shaped pond, which holds 10,000 gallons and has a waterfall. They have had ponds before, but without koi. He enjoys water features and landscaping.

Originally from Brooklyn (not a Dodger fan!), he has lived in the county for about 50 years. Lorelei, his wife of 40 years, is a transplant from Oregon. Together they have 4 grown children.

They have been club members for about 1 ½ years and their first meeting was in April at Dean’s house. They look forward to seeing all of you at their home in Valley Center on June 8^th. I forgot to ask, but I will interject to please don’t forget your chair and a dish to share.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

Nora and Ed Simon

John Stump and Elizabeth Stump Moore

WELCOME BACK RENEWING MEMBERS!

Sharon Zelin

John Svelan

Afshin and Jamie Karimi

Tim Cooke

Lawrence and Carl Boetel

KHA KORNER

by "Koi Jack" Chapman

KOI NUTRITION – PROTEIN/AMINO ACIDS

Well, there has been more than the usual interest over the past couple months about feeding your koi so when I looked at past KHA Korner articles, I did a nutrition series in 2010/14/18/22 so must be time to review/update and do a 2025 nutrition series which consist of three basic areas with the first being on protein and amino acids.  So, without further introduction welcome to an overview of protein and associated amino acid requirements in a koi’s diet. Protein is an essential element in koi food.  I think Duncan Griffiths explained it best when he compared koi key nutritional elements to a car’s engine when he wrote “Generally protein is for building cells and growth, whereas carbohydrate and in particular lipids are the energy to drive the engine and vitamins can be viewed as the spark plugs in the process.  Look at it this way ‘protein’ is the mechanical metal lump of a car engine and all what goes to maintain it.  The carbohydrate and lipids are the fuel it burns to make it function. Last but not least vitamins are the spark plugs and injectors that make the whole process take place.”  There has been a lot of science and research into fish nutritional needs as they are raised as a food source for us humans.  From that research fish meal has proven to be the best available and usable protein source in koi processed foods – period.  For the science nerds – koi can break down fish meal into smaller amino acid chains than other animal sources of protein – so bottom line look for fish meal in your processed koi food.  It’s been said that below 25% protein in your koi’s diet will result in reduced growth potential AND yes you can overdue protein with the non-metabolized protein going out the vent and reducing your water quality and wasting your money.  Younger koi during the summer feeding can and do utilize up to say 55% protein, while adult koi are said to be able to process up to 40% protein and mature koi will only need 32 to 35% protein.  Yes, this will make you scratch your head for the average back yard koi hobbyist has a mix of aged koi in their pond.  I feed to the requirements of my younger koi and deal with the water quality issues appropriately and waste some money.   Fish meal also provides all the required 10 essential amino acids (arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine) and another10 or so that are broken down during metabolism by enzymes in the koi digestive track which is about 3.5 times as long as the koi, but no stomach.  If any of the 10 essential amino acids are missing in your koi’s (protein) diet then growth/reproduction will suffer and overall health status more than likely will be reduced.  Koi cannot synthesize any of their essential required amino acids.  Most plant sources of protein are missing one or more of the required 10 amino acids.  I’m cutting the science nerd part short in this area as most hobbyists are interested in the basics, but I can’t help myself and will cover protein-sparing as it can affect ammonia production within your koi based on the koi diet.  DVM Nicholas Saint-Erne explains it quickly as “Excessive proteins not needed for growth or reproduction are utilized as an energy source instead of fats or carbohydrates.  However, because proteins average 16% nitrogen, the breakdown products of protein metabolism are ammonia (NH3) and a small amount, less than 2%, of urea…  The ammonia is passively released into the water through the fish’s gills and can lead to toxicity if levels increase.  Non-protein energy metabolism does not cause ammonia production.  Fats and simple carbohydrates added to the diet have a protein-sparing effect in that they can be used for energy instead of protein, without increasing ammonia production.”  This is a subject for a later article.  Also, appetite and efficiency of digestion depend on water temperature.  They increase proportionally with water temperatures until water temps reach the 80’s.  Growth rate, however, increases at a faster rate because koi eat more as temps increase and what they eat is converted into tissue growth more rapidly at higher temps.  Please don’t forget to keep your opened koi food in an airtight container at room temp as air, sunlight, moisture and high temps all degrade the nutritional value of your stored koi food over time.  I suggest all your koi processed food purchases be consumed in 90 days if possible.  Well, hope this is helpful the next time you look at the label on your next koi food purchase or even better if it encourages you to review any of the plethora of available info on this subject.  AKCA bookstore USE TO SELL  (no longer open) a couple small pamphlets covering koi nutrition and you can borrow mine if you like.   There is a wealth of koi nutrition info available on the web.  

r/koi jack

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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