KOI CLUB OF SAN DIEGONEWSLETTERApril 2026 |
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A Wonderful Show for Our Koi Community
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This past weekend’s 36th Annual Koi Show was a tremendous success, and I want to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who helped make it possible. From the volunteers who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to the members and guests who brought their beautiful fish to share, the event truly showcased the passion and dedication that makes our club so special.
The quality of the Koi on display was exceptional, and it was inspiring to see both long-time and newer hobbyists presenting their Koi. Our judges had no easy task selecting the top entries, as the overall standard continues to improve each year. Congratulations to Andy Woo, owner of our Grand Champion, a Size 9 Showa, whose beauty and presence captured the attention of judges and attendees alike. I was lucky enough to get to choose the “President’s Award” and I was super excited to do so. After some debate with myself, I went with a Hikari Moyo (I called it a Reverse Tancho with a sweet white circle surrounded by orange on his head). Such a pretty Koi (if you want to see it ask me at the meeting).
Beyond the competition, the show was a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow enthusiasts, exchange ideas, pick up some Koi theme merch, and celebrate our shared appreciation for these remarkable fish. Events like this remind us that our club is not only about Koi—it’s about community.
Looking ahead, our next club meeting will take place in April at the home of Thom and Lynne Fuller of Lakeside. We are excited to visit Thom’s pond once again and learn more about his setup. Details regarding the date, time, and directions will be shared soon, and we encourage everyone to attend.
Thank you again to everyone who contributed to such a successful show. I look forward to seeing you all at our April gathering.
Until next time, keep your ponds clear, your koi happy, and your butt in a chair enjoying both!
Warm regards,
Cory Burke
President, Koi Club of San Diego
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Koi Club of San Diego Meeting
April 12th, 2026
Social hour - 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm
Meeting begins at 1 pm
Potluck, bring your own chair
OUR HOSTS WILL BE
Thom and Lynne Fuller
12466 Yerba Valley Road
Lakeside, CA 92040
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STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
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Wednesday, April 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 Lenore Wade and Bill Newell
Thom and Lynne Fuller |
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This article was previously done for our visit more than 2 1/2 years ago. Thom and Lynn asked me to use it again since not much has changed. I always enjoy doing interviews with the host families. My goal is for you to understand something about our hosts before you invade their yard.|
I am delightfully surprised when learning so much information to share with you. Thom and Lynne live in the Lakeside suburbs…they are away from tract houses, traffic and busy streets. The house was built in 2004 on land that had been destroyed by the Cedar fire. (The former owners did not want to rebuild.) There are beautiful trees, huge rocks, unusual landscaping, and a koi pond all of which survived the fire. Thom designed a new house that would be wheelchair friendly for Lynne, incorporating all their wishes, wants, and dreams.
They are native San Diegans and have lived most of their lives in various areas of the county. For a short period, they lived in Huntington Beach for Thom’s job, but knew they would eventually come back home. Lynne was an elementary school teacher when California had too many teachers (something foreign to us now.) While raising the 2 boys, she worked in an office with convenient hours. Thom worked for Corky McMillan which put him in the world of real estate where he could look for the type of house they wanted for their future.
With the boys off raising their families, Thom and Lynne have a lot to keep them busy. Besides the 2 dogs that have free run over the property, they raise
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chickens which give them a variety of free eggs. Now, Thom stays active as a consultant to land bankers, builders, and developers. Lynne loves to garden and spends much time in the yard with the vegetables and pumpkins. The pumpkin patch has a number of different kinds, shapes, and colors of the Fall treat. I was fascinated by a large pumpkin that is called “Polar Bear White”. They have also planted
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a small grape vineyard with hopes of trading the grapes for bottles of wine from the winery down the road. There are still many fruit trees that also survived the fire.
For a number of years, Lynne knew she had a health problem, but it wasn’t until the age of 30 that she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She has been confined to the |
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wheelchair for close to 20 years, but it doesn’t slow her down. I had a hard time keeping up with her as we roamed around the vast property. She actually has 2 wheelchairs. One she uses in the house, and the other for working outside.
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The fish know the sound of the wheelchair as it crosses the gravel near the pond. They wait anxiously for her to feed them. They have a large variety of koi in the 20,000-gallon pond. The water lilies are to die for in so many colors. There is a huge lotus plant in the pond, also a taro plant, and other interesting “green things.” Thom has recently discovered a leak in the liner which will be a huge undertaking to fix. Their fish seem to love where they are and delight in spawning, which means more babies and more work.
They survived “the storm” with little damage except for things moving around. The 2 very large sycamore trees shade the pond, which is large enough to have its own bridge. Also around the pond area are huge boulders that have been in place for so many years that have started moving and expanding. There is so much to see while just standing in one place, I hope you will come to the April 12th meeting so you can enjoy it all yourself.
Bring your chairs, there is plenty of shade and lots of parking at the end of the driveway.
Now, I offer you a challenge…find what is unusual about one of the sycamore trees. (No, I won’t tell you which one!) |
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WELCOME BACK RENEWING MEMBERS!
Joy Arnswald
Nino Cabigon
Thom & Lynne Fuller
Bruce & Marlene Miller
Raul & Kimberly Padilla
Julia Schriber
Jack & Jeanne Story
Norm & Natasha Turoff
Matt and Jill Rhoades
Maritia & Tom Walper
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KHA KORNER
by "Koi Jack" Chapman |
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Prevention/Treatment options for Ulcers and Fin Rot
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Well, I
spent the last month describing pond conditions/environment that can and do
lead to your koi pets developing skin ulcers and fin rot caused by bacterial
infection most often Aeromonas Hydrophila. As promised this month I will attempt to
deal with the multiple things that you can give attention/consideration to when
dealing with this common koi ailment.
This is an updated article from 2018 and 2021. |
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No one wants to see the above in their koi ponds and the degree with which you practice what I call “healthy pond practices” described below will, in my opinion, have a direct effect on the number of times you will have to deal with the likes of the above pictures. I’ll try to cover most of the main considerations, but by no means is the list complete. The first area of treatment – I want to call prevention.
This list is not in any order of importance, but individually and especially in combination can be expected to greatly reduce and hopefully control/eliminate your incidence of skin ulcers and fin rot.
- 1. Weekly pond maintenance is top of my list to help keep the level (amount) of harmful bacteria under the infection level for the weakest koi’s immune system. This would include but not be limited to recorded weekly water changes something like 10% winter 15% spring and fall and 20% summer. You know one of my favorite statements “The solution to pollution is dilution.” Recorded weekly water parameters measured for pH, temperature, ammonia NH3, nitrite NO2, nitrate NO3, Alkalinity KH for starters as we need to do all we can to reduce koi STRESS as it is vitally important to maintain our koi’s general healthy status.
- 2. Good filter/pond design to remove any detritus and decomposing organic carbons (Docs) from the water column and collection points on the bottom of your pond. Want to reduce the food sources for bacteria to call home and multiply in. Not good when you see your koi resting on the bottom in their favorite spot and you see detritus moving in the water column when they come to rest or especially when they swim away. To make matters worse they will normally choose their resting spot for protection - reduced water movement – deepest available area. This is also the same area where any detritus is most likely to settle and provide home to a growing harmful bacteria colony and increase decomposing ammonia release among other unwanted guests (parasites). These little unwanted guests are looking for the perfect “host” and will penetrate that little ‘nick in the armor’ of your fishes’ slime coat or raised scale and settle in to do their damage.
- 3. I truly believe how you put your pond to bed for winter has a DIRECT effect on the amount of spring disease/illness you may experience come March. Here in Southern California, we have a lot of koi ponds that never get to a temp that eliminates the growth of Aeromonas (39F) so we have the bacteria in our ponds virtually 365 days a year. It is why, for my area, I do my bio chamber annual cleaning in the fall when my koi’s immune system is still on high alert. Providing an especially clean pond going into spring makes it harder for the bacteria to reach infection levels during a time when the koi’s immune system is yet to get back up to speed.
- 4. As much as we love our koi it is not a good idea to over stock our ponds causing added stress and pollution for you and the pond to deal with.
- 5. I recommend a close examination of existing ponds for anything your koi can injure themselves on by hitting and causing injury or disruption to their slime coat, skin or scales. Just like our skin - these 3 items are your koi’s physical defenses against the introduction of bacterial infections.
- 6. Good nutrition is an excellent way to assist your koi’s general health and immune response to illness. But remember “Poop Watch “ in the early AM will tell you if you’re over doing it and the undigested protein resting in visible fish poop deposits on the bottom of your pond is food for the bad guys.
- 7. If you have plants in your pond stay after the removal of dead plant material. If possible, smell your plant containers for that “rotten egg” smell. Dead plant material has turned the aerobic bacteria (oxygen) into anerobic bacteria (no oxygen) that is H2S Hydrogen Sulfide. H2S is extremely toxic and can be fatal to your fish. Never disturb plants while they are in your pond as H2S will be released. Always remove and clean. Some pond maintenance companies will advertise “complete pond cleanout”. This usually applies to ponds that (unfortunately) have rocks in the bottom that tend to catch lots of debris, Doc’s. In this case it is highly recommended to remove the fish and put them in a holding tank as the toxic H2S will be released which is very harmful to the fish.
- 8. When your pond system is otherwise in balance with Mother Nature all is good and you should do all that you can to keep it that way without the assistance of pond water additives but when it is out of balance you may want to consider some of a host of commercially available products to assist with your current issues but do your homework first please. Now most of you are familiar with dechlorination products when conducting pond water changes. When you determine that your existing pond conditions for whatever reason (usually clarity or sick koi) need assistance you can look for guidance from competitive exclusion products – they eat the detritus and do not eat your koi but then there is less food for the bad bugs. There are sludge buster products to assist removal or even a pond vacuum can be a big help. Algae control is another area you can review for chemical assistance. Lastly in this area there are oxidizers and occasionally I use potassium permanganate to assist me with general pond water clean -up but you need to educate yourself about this product before using as you can kill your koi. If you can’t see your koi how can you enjoy them and detect when they are having health issues? Keep in mind that all of these “oxidizers” need lots of oxygen to do their job so play it safe and supplement with additional air pumps when using. On commercial products it is very important to follow the dosing instructions and of course know the volume of your pond system being dosed.
- 9. So, I saved my last prevention consideration for a physiological possibility that may or may not be true but makes sense to me. Availability of OXYGEN produced as close as possible to saturation in your pond water for your koi’s overall health status. Story goes something like this. Koi use a LARGE part of available daily energy to maintain their osmoregulation and meet their oxygen requirements. The gills provide a major part to accomplish this 24/7 task and if they have to use less available energy to acquire the oxygen then that unused energy can be used to accomplish other body functions leading to improved health to ward off illness and disease. A bit out there I guess even for me LOL.
- 10. Only thing left to do is LOOK FOR IT – generally daily usually at feeding time and seriously once a week. Also keep an eye out for individual koi behavior out of the ordinary flashing, breaching the surface (jumping) and or isolating themselves on the bottom of your pond. Keep an eye out for changes in skin color and for areas of redness or pine coning of scales (raised scale). When you see it – treat it – the sooner the better – leading to less mortality, less disfigurement and smaller scarring. While this article is dedicated to bacterial infections from Aeromonas Hydrophila you will need to be on the lookout for associated infestations of koi parasites, anchor worms (Lernaea) and fish lice (Argulus) requiring a suggested scrapping and microscopic exam prior to treatment of an open ulcer on your koi. I’ll leave koi parasite treatment for another time.
So, for those of you still with me, it’s time to list some of the more common and reported successful treatment options for your further research and consideration when you find yourself with a koi with active fin rot or ulcers on their skin. Special Note: I truly believe the first treatment option you should consider for an open ulcer on your koi’s body is a trip to the Veterinarian where the decision will be made whether to prescribe antibiotic injections as part of the total treatment plan. Fact: Most backyard ponders I encounter choose a treatment plan minus the vet visit resulting in selection from the following list which is not in any order of precedence and I’m sure I’ll forget one or more and I love hearing from you all - just a never-ending cool part of this hobby for me anyway.
- 1. Treatment is mostly to first anesthetize (koi sleep, clove oil or MS222) your koi followed by microscope slide scrapping and cleaning infected area followed by topical application of an antimicrobial solution/ointments. Among others - to include hydrogen peroxide followed by povidone-iodine 10% solution using cotton tip swabs. Note: Wear gloves and EYE PROTECTION during any koi treatment procedure. An internet search will provide treatment videos and products like Orahesive, Koi Healing Balm, Propolis Wound Seal, Aquascape ulcer/bacterial infection treatment, Melafix, MinnFinnMax and Tricide-Neo Dip for Koi to name a few and use as directed on product. I need to be careful about endorsing individual products with my limited experience with some treatment options, so I’ll leave it to your research – However I’ll share my experiences with any club member just give me a call and I’ve experienced different degrees of success with most the major product lines for treatment when dealing with koi fin rot and skin ulcers. The best treatment remains a visit to the vet for koi with open ulcers.
- 2. In an ideal situation you would have an isolation quarantine tank to assist with multiple treatments. This is especially true when you have sick koi, and your pond temp is below 70/72F degrees as a koi’s immune system is not fully active the lower you drop pond water temp. Lower mortality and a quicker and improved recovery time will be experienced after moving a sick koi to a quarantine system where the temp is slowly raised to 75/76 degrees during treatment. I’ve been advised, when this is done during wintertime to keep the recovered koi in quarantine at around 70F and not return the recovered koi to your main pond till its temp reaches 68F.
- 3. There are medicated koi foods on the market and you might consider them as some club members, me included, have used them in the past.
- 4. This site is one of the better ones I’ve reviewed on subject matter and hope you find helpful https://hanoverkoifarms.com/koi-wounds .
- 5. Lastly, I use a one-time treatment of potassium permanganate in almost a paste form to treat subject area neutralized with hydrogen peroxide after 1 to 2 min treatment followed by wound sealing. Disclaimer: Please note this is not recommended by some vets with other successful less harmful treatments availability.
A great source of information on this subject and many more is Koi Organisation International, K.O.I. who offer many online courses from Pond 101, Water Quality, Step by Step Diagnosis and Treatment and many more at very reasonable prices. They have been around for years and offer some amazing resources for serious pond keepers.
Check them out! www.koiorganisationinternational.org
Well, I hope you found this informative as I can get a little long in the tooth sometimes LOL. The internet can be a big resource on this subject and I look forward to seeing some of you after my knee replacement surgery. So, I’ll be out of touch for a few weeks - stay safe and healthy.
r/koijack
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PLEASE VISIT OUR APPAREL SHOP!THANK YOU JAMIE KANES FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL DESIGNS! |
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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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