Koi Club of San Diego

Volume 24 Issue 5

KOI CLUB OF SAN DIEGO

NEWSLETTER

MAY 2024

ATTENTION!!! Week change of Koi Club Meeting for the month of May

COMBINED MEETING WITH INLAND KOI SOCIETY

OUR HOST WILL BE

Loni Vogler

Social hour - 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm

Meeting begins at 1 pm

7866 Hagen Circle, Hemet, CA

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

by Lenore Wade

No one could have asked for a more perfect day for our Koi Club meeting last Sunday. The weather forecasters predicted “rain” (remember, it is only a bad word when it interferes with a koi event!). It wasn’t hot, nor was it cool, but delightful for all the members who ventured to the home of Gale and Bob Moriarity in Chula Vista.

An egret perched in the tree above the pond and listened intently but knew better than to make a move. Matt brought his newly acquired fish that has a tumor. It was show and tell time with great explanations given and questions answered. Koi Jack did a presentation on fish classification featuring the Sanke. He also brought fish to help us understand the importance of coloring and positioning of it on a fish. His fish got so excited that it jumped out of the container and landed at Linda’s feet. Without a second thought, she bent down and scooped him up and Cory placed him in his temporary home…weeds and all.  

Matt explained in detail about the upcoming Koi Show which is scheduled for January 25 and 26, 2025 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. He assured us that even though we will be in a different building, he expects no real problems. Everything is dependent on the membership to step up and get involved in all the phases of the show. Most important is the need for enough members to help on Sunday afternoon to take everything apart. The whole operation goes up slowly over the 2 days leading up to the show, but needs to come down and put on the truck quickly, before nighttime sets in. I was taught by my Grammy that “Many hands make light work”. Please plan to be actively involved.

Last month, I mentioned that elections were coming soon. Sadly, my phone has been silent. Again, a successful club needs the input of many people with new ideas who want to keep us “alive”.

Friendly reminder, our meeting on June 9^th, will be at 1:00 in the Japanese Friendship Garden. There will be NO potluck at the meeting. Cold water will be provided by club.

Our upcoming May meeting on May 19, is a joint meeting with Inland Koi, at the home of Loni Vogler in Hemet. She lives in a gated community at 7866 Hagen Circle. Beware, all the streets are named after golfers, so there is a 7866 Hogan Circle just one block away. Bill, our photographer and I got caught in the mistake. Thankfully, a very nice lady also lives at the wrong address.

I live in El Cajon, and it was an 87-mile drive. It can be easily driven in less than 2 hours, especially on a Sunday. It is a nice drive on I-15 through open lands on I-79, then a 2-mile drive on Hwy 74 and a direct turn into the housing complex.

Koi Show 2025 Logo Contest 

Are you artistic? Want to be a part of the marketing success of the next Koi Show?

The Club is holding a Koi Show Logo contest! Deadline: June General Meeting.

The contest is open to KCSD members to draw/design a graphic to be used for all show marketing, show shirts, and pins. The entry just needs to be a rough draft concept drawing on 8-½” x 11” paper.  No worries.  The logo will have a professional clean it up for the final logo.

The design MUST have these items:

ADDITIONAL UPCOMING EVENTS

STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, May 8th

at 7:00 pm

(earlier if you are ordering food)

ALL MEMBERS WELCOME!

Dennys

2691 Navajo Road

El Cajon, CA 92020 

PONDER PROFILE

Loni Vogler

We have all gotten into the Koi hobby for various reasons. Loni, a real estate agent, sold a house which had a koi pond and the new owners didn’t want the fish, so she and her kids caught them, took them home and put them in a kiddie pool. That was 25 years ago and much has changed. During those years, Loni has had six different ponds in various homes.

She stays more than busy, and is an amazing woman who has taught herself everything she can find about koi. This past October, she went to Japan and came home with 5 new fish for her beautiful pond system which she also designed.

When you look at the pictures, you can see there are 2 levels to her main pond. The lower level is 5000 gallons and the upper one which will soon house more fish is presently a bog filter. Both have beautifully flowing waterfalls.

Her fish are like children and readily come to her even when she isn’t feeding them. She rubs them, talks to them and cuddles them.

Being self-taught was somewhat thrust upon her by the different spawning she has had to deal with. The last spawning gifted her with about 500 babies.  As of now, she has 2 portable-eight-foot round ponds on her patio with an elaborate system of filters and pumps. They each contain different sized fish which she hopes to find homes for.  

In her spare time, Loni loves to travel. The Yucatan area of Mexico is a favorite place for her. But she smiles when she talks about her time in French Polynesia.

She is blessed with 2 sons and a daughter who often step up to help mom when they can.

Her oldest son recently divulged a secret he had held for many years. As a teenager, when mom wasn’t at home, he and his buddies used to take some big koi from the pond and put them in the swimming pool so they could all “play” together.

I hope many of you will make the trip to Hemet to see all that Loni has created. You will also be able to enjoy the company of Inland Koi Society during our joint meeting. Remember to bring your chairs.

The house is in a gated community, but there should be no problems gaining access. She has told them that she is hosting members of the koi club at her home. At this time, we are hoping to have a pass that you can show at the gate. More on that will follow soon.

ALL AMERICAN KOI SHOW

By Matt Rhoades

Lim Corp., and Bass Pro Shops.  The event hotel was the Silverton Hotel, which is connected to a Bass Pro Shop and their massive parking lot. The show hosted 70 display tanks,  26 vendor booths, a pair of food trucks, and two massive photo event signs for the koi show which took up just a quarter of the available parking.

The event arena was buzzing with activity with the set-up. The main work party in the set-up was Shinkokai USA (more on that later).  They used an interesting way to supply air to the individual tanks (which I noted to possibly use for our upcoming koi show).  I watched as koi were unloaded and vendor booths came to life with products to display and sell.  Around midday Scotty Yee, Jefferey Duncan, and Andy Woo showed up and unloaded their bagged koi into their exhibitor tanks. Around 2 PM, Koi Jack and his son Frank Painter arrived with Jack’s Koi Transport Tank in tow and I assisted in placing the eight koi Jack brought to show (along with three more brought by Mystic Koi and Barstow Koi for Jack). More hobbyists arrived and filled their tanks with koi. Then, because this was an open show, the dealers and breeders moved their koi into the display tanks to be also judged.

Judging for the All American Koi Show was taken on by Shinkokai (Japan), Shinkokai is an organization of koi breeders and dealers who promote the koi industry; so many of the judges are breeders from Japan and are members of Shinkokai.

It was quite an accomplishment for them to judge while maneuvering around the public taking in the show (OK I was slightly amused standing back from this “minor mess” as Shawn McHenry did his best on crowd control). You could always know where the judges were from the herding masses that followed them - from a small distance - per Shawn’s instructions.

Kikokuryu that took home KCSD’s Friendship Award from the show. Funny story forthcoming.

When members of the club go to other koi shows, we bring along a friendship award to give out. There are two criteria that are followed: 1.) The koi selected is unique and usually not up for a major award, 2.) The koi selected are not owned by a member of KCSD; Easily said. Saturday mid-morning, the members there go a-hunting for their selection. When my wife Jill had come back from talking to vendors (and dropping cards) about KCSD upcoming show in January 2025; we went looking for our pick. We walked around, saw many lovely unique koi, discussed the positives on any, then chose one in tank 19.

Koi Jack argued for a Tancho Sanke in tank 13. We went and looked at his candidate. “And”, Koi Jack says “the person who owns this koi is presently not a member of the club.” I asked who this is? “Really !” I say, “nah…”  Up walks the person in question, Fred Sanford (AKA Jefferey Duncan). I say :Aren’t you a member of…” He says “I believe I am a member of …; aren’t I?” I say “In good standing”. Koi Jack was crestfallen. That is a great looking tancho showa I admit; but rules ARE rules….

And on top of that, Cory Burke (a new member of KCSD and he knows a great looking koi when he sees one) had taken a picture of his choice for the award. Koi Jack told him to show that picture to me when he sees me. He had an image of that beni kikokuryu in tank 19.

The selection for Grand Champion was announced around two. It was a 35+ inch Dainichi Kohaku named (I heard) Jennifer Aniston. Very nice conformation, whites, reds, and pattern. Funny thing was I had seen this fish on a YouTube video posting that morning (“We’re taking these fish to the All American Koi Show…”). Ask me the whispered price of this koi when you see me.

A little later on, after the hubbub of the GC had settled down; I noticed the judges loitering around one of Koi Jacks tanks, I took a picture and texted it to him. He texted me back from the hotel where he was resting his knees, He wrote: “Don’t get my hopes up”. I wrote back “Positive thoughts”. The day moved on, I talked koi to many other koi geeks there and of course went to the koi vendors booths and looked over their selection. I got much better at not impulse buying (plus I don’t think it would go over well as a carry-on).

The Awards Banquet was all Vegas Baby - The venue entrance had 4-foot-tall pictures of wide varieties of koi, loud audio, and flashy visuals; dancers

busting moves, high-heeled showgirls strutting around the stage; and the Master of Ceremonies, Shawn McHenry looking stylish in a  bright green Elvis 

Photos from the April Club meeting at the home of Gale and Robert Moriarity

by Bill Newell

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

Nino Cabigon
Derrick & Laura Martin

WELCOME BACK RENEWING MEMBERS!

KHA KORNER

by "Koi Jack" Chapman

Reference:  Koi Health Quarterly (Magazine of the Koi Health Group) United Kingdom – Issue 12 – Autumn 96:  Article Titled “Ulcers at a Glance” by Tony Roberts – pages 40 and 41.  I have acquired author approval to publish with proper credit.

OXYGEN

So what’s the big deal about oxygen???  You have all seen many ponds and just about nobody ever says anything about oxygen or having oxygen problems – just that you need to have a waterfall or fountain or tower filter or air pump and run it 24/7.  So get over it Koi Jack and move on – Well no, I just can’t and it is a significant issue in regards to your koi’s general health and development – BIG TIME.  Yes, almost all ponds out there have sufficient oxygen levels to support koi survivability!!!  They can live a few days in the 5ppm range and require at least 6ppm to maintain life sustaining functions.  So you need to be at 6ppm or above or your koi would be dying.  Again, what’s the big deal?  Well to quote Recirculating Aquaculture Systems “Of all the water quality parameters, dissolved oxygen is the most important and most critical parameter…”  Now before you jump all over me for quoting the bible for raising fish for food and/or sale – their goal is to get the most growth and have the healthiest fish with the highest possible metabolism of food.  If you want to achieve the best that your koi have to offer – then I say the above quote is very relevant.  To quote Christopher Neaves, L.R.S.M.  “It is an undisputed fact that koi have better growth and better color in oxygen-rich environments.”  I know I’m just a name dropper LOL. 

Some of the general informational facts affecting the available oxygen in your pond include:

• 1.     As the temperature of the water goes up the water capability to hold oxygen goes down.  Your koi’s requirement for oxygen is just the opposite – needing more oxygen as temp goes up to support koi increased physiological demands.  Translation – higher metabolism and larger food consumption.
• 2.     At sea level dissolved oxygen in ppm at saturation are:

                    50F = 11.29ppm

                    59F = 10.1

                    68F = 9.11

                    77F = 8.27

                    86F = 7.56    

• 3.     You need 5 milligrams of oxygen for every milligram of ammonia converted to nitrate.  (Chris Neaves)  You also have the oxygen requirements for all the other living matter (plant, animal and all the other microbes) in your pond.  So a lot of oxygen can and is required on any given day – even more is needed with a heavy fish load and summer feeding schedules – but nobody has too many koi, right?
• 4.     Algae makes a lot of oxygen during the day but just turns around at night and consumes a lot of oxygen.
• 5.     Decomposing organic matter in your pond require oxygen in the process of rotting.
• 6.     Your koi need oxygen to convert food into energy, growth, color and general health to include their immune system.
• 7.     Don’t forget the difference between 7% oxygen and 8% oxygen is a whopping 12% more oxygen. (Chris Neaves)
• 8.     Ammonia is more toxic with reduced oxygen levels.
• 9.     Salt in the pond will reduce the capacity of the water to hold oxygen.
• 10.                         More oxygen in the water means less carbon dioxide CO2 (a good thing). It will also raise the pH slightly (another good thing).  The opposite is true for lower levels of oxygen due to the synergistic effects leading to increased incidents of illness, reduced growth, reduced color, languid behavior, resting behavior after eating and hanging out at the surface and at the waterfalls.
• 11.                        Super saturation of oxygen can lead to gas bubbles seen in the fins.  Very dangerous to koi but I’ve never encountered it nor have I met anyone who said they have seen a case of it.  Yes, just like humans – if one of these air bubbles gets to the heart or lungs it can and does cause death.
• 12.                         It is recommended for ponds below 8ppm of dissolved oxygen that the water be enriched with oxygen.  To quote Dr. Johnson DMV “Levels over 8 ppm are desired, but 11 or better (up to 14 ppm) are glorious.”

I better close the above list before I lose everyone, but for those of you that are still with me let’s move on to my way of boiling down all the above.  The hardest thing a koi does every day is osmoregulation mostly done by the gills.  Put another way, this body function consumes more energy each day than any other function by far.  Add to that my experiences pond side over the past 19 years in southern California have shown gill snips under a microscope to almost uniformly demonstrate a general low grade hyperplasia.  To quote Dr. Saint-Erne, DVM “Hyperplasia, or thickening of the cell layers on the gill lamellae, often occurs secondarily to toxins in the water or pathogens on the gills.  This results in decreased respiratory efficiency and can even cause death from hypoxia.”  Or as I like to say, from an anthropomorphic point of view, it’s like the koi has pneumonia – it’s got this extra buildup of crud covering the gill tissue or put more professionally, from Dr. Saint-Erne, excessive epithelial cells, white blood cells and “MUCUS” covering the pink gill tissue.   Back to my way – It’s harder to breathe and get the bad stuff out (ammonia and carbon dioxide) and the good stuff (oxygen) into the red blood cells that make up about 35% of total blood volume.

To my way of thinking –A koi’s normal daily breathing activities plus any additional gill action required to meet oxygen demand caused by low to mild effects of hyperplasia adds up to a tremendous amount of energy expended by the koi on a daily basis.  That’s energy it CAN NOT use for other body processes – which is why I’m writing this article.

So what’s a koi pond owner to do?      

• 1.     After reading this and the disclaimer at the end of this article, you can choose to do nothing and most likely not much will happen and your koi will continue to survive.
• 2.     You could read up some more on this subject from a web search or review any of several basic books available on koi husbandry. 
• 3.     You could observe your koi for any of the signs of oxygen insufficiency.
• 4.     You could get an oxygen test kit (titrate) low cost and see what your oxygen levels are (early AM and just before dark) and decide just how far you want to go to improve your pond’s dissolved oxygen content.  A more serious approach would be to purchase an oxygen meter.  There are many to choose from – I currently use a Pinpoint Oxygen Monitor and really like it. 
• 5.     Now to the secondary list which holds a symposium of possibilities that individually or collectively can help improve oxygen levels in your pond:
• a.     Reduce your fish load.
• b.     Don’t over feed.
• c.      Reduce your turnover rate.  (less time to cycle total pond volume through filter system and over the waterfalls)
• d.     Add shade to your pond.  (lower water temp increases oxygen-carrying capacity)  
• e.     Add fountain(s).  Even a water spitter will stir up the water at the surface.
• f.       Add air pump(s). (this can be a big help when done right)  If possible, air pumps should be plugged in to a separate circuit so if your water pump fails or circuit trips, your air pump can save your fish!
• g.     Clean your prefilter more often. (reduce oxygen demand of decomposing organic matter) (maybe add a sludge buster)
• h.     Good UV system. (eliminate algae bloom)  
• i.        Improve pond water circulation system.  (Get the low oxygen water at the bottom of the pond to the filter or moved to the top of the water column by air column, venturi or mixing eductor.  The more water atoms that come in contact with the surface – the more gas exchange and increased O2 level.  No dead areas in pond circulation.
• j.       Increase the width of your waterfall weir.  Or add a waterfall.
• k.     Consider a filter change or addition of a tower system.  (Major improvement)
• l.        Any prefilter system that improves your particulate matter removal.  (Think sieve or barrel system)
• m.  Add an oxygen difusser to your barrel or other gravity system to stimulate nitrifying bacteria growth
• n.     I’ll end with R/O system and or Ozone.

Off the top of my head that about covers it – I know I forgot something for sure.

Only got two more things.

First:  Why do this – I truly believe the less energy my koi expend meeting their daily oxygen demand the more energy they will have available to grow (length, girth and repair of body tissue), improve color and have a decreased incidence of illness and disease (healthier with less stress). 

Last is sort of a disclaimer to keep in mind.  As in most cases you can overdo it and be paying money for increased dissolved oxygen that is of NO consequence to the koi and at worst leads to gas bubbles.  Other environmental conditions aside, oxygen levels above saturation in fresh water fish do not result in any additional oxygen carried by the blood.  The gills can only transfer so much oxygen to the blood and each red blood cell can carry only so much oxygen.

My hypothesis is if they use less energy to get that max oxygen they are capable of carrying in their blood system then there is more energy available to fulfill to the maximum of what’s in their gene pool in association with the environment you provide for them to achieve that big smile on your face and pride in your heart when you look at or show your koi to friends or other koi hobbyists or, better yet, bring them to the next koi show.  See ya there!!!  To close, yes this is an updated 2015/18/21 articles for those of you with long memories LOL.

r/koi jack

PLEASE VISIT OUR APPAREL SHOP!

THANK YOU JAMIE KANES FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL DESIGNS!

Koi Person of The Year 2024 Dean Strasser

OFFICERS

EMAIL

President: Lenore Wade   

lenorewade@yahoo.com

First VP-Program: Matt Rhoades

KCSDKoi.Kichi@gmail.com

Second VP-Venue: Ben Adams

iblitlrock5@yahoo.com

Secretary: Tamsie Pierce

tamsie@cox.net

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: Matt Rhoades

This message was sent to you by {Organization_Name}

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe at any time