Koi Club of San Diego

Volume 25 Issue 07

KOI CLUB OF SAN DIEGO

NEWSLETTER

July 2025

ELECTION RESULTS

Welcome new Board Members!

President:  Cory Burke

VP Program:  Matt Rhoades

VP Venue:  Tony Martinez

Secretary:  Gail Goerisch

Treasurer:  Jill Rhoades

JUNE MEETING PHOTOS

Patrick and Lorelei Kelly

by Bill Newell

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

by Matt Rhoades

President Message

That’s all folks…

Thank you all for the honor of serving as your President for the past year. It has been a truly rewarding experience, and I am grateful for the dedication and hard work of my fellow board members. Together, we've achieved great things for the Koi Club of San Diego. I wish the incoming board, of which I am excited to be a part, the very best and much success in leading our club forward.

Call for Art Entries: 36th Annual Koi Show Logo

We are excited to announce a call for art submissions for the 2026 Koi Show logo! We invite all talented members to submit their creative designs. All entries will be submitted for judging by the July general meeting on July 13th. 2025. The winner will receive a $25 gift certificate.

Submission Guidelines:

     All art submissions should be ready for judging by the July General Meeting on Sunday, July 13th.

     All entries must include the following exact wording:

     "Koi Club of San Diego"

     "36th Annual Koi Show"

     The picture of the 2025 Grand Champion winner.


The June Meeting

Even with my wife Jill and I south of the border we heard the June meeting was a great success. It was held at the beautiful home of Patrick and Lorelei Kelly in Valley Center. Members enjoyed seeing their pond and wonderful koi. The Kellys gave an insightful talk about their pond and beloved pets, which was a highlight for many attendees.

July General Meeting

The July Meeting will be on Sunday, July 13, 2025. 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.

 

It’s been fun,

Matt - Koi Kichi Kid

In memoriam 

Norm Meck 

1940-2023

click her for the OBITUARY

Koi Club of San Diego Meeting


July 13th, 2025 

Social hour - 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm

Meeting begins at 1 pm

Potluck, bring your own chair


OUR HOSTS WILL BE

Rick and Gail Goerisch

22416 Little Klondike Rd

Ramona, CA 92065

VEIW IN GOOGLE MAPS

STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, July 9th

at 7:00 pm (earlier if you are ordering food)

ALL MEMBERS ARE WELCOME!

Dennys

2691 Navajo Road

El Cajon, CA 92020 

View in Google Maps

Koi Club of San Diego Ponder Profile

by Lenore Wade

Rick and Gail Goerisch

It is amazing the things you find when you travel down a country road. First of all, you look for the red barn along the road, turn right and cross over a small bridge. Then you see another even larger red barn and a huge koi pond. On their 2 acres of land, Rick and Gail have created a wonderland and a fun place to visit.

They have lived in their Ramona home for 21 years and the projects have never stopped. They originally had 2 ponds in their back yard, then built another one on the path to the front door. In 2021, Gail made the mistake of leaving Rick home alone when she went to the store. When she returned, he was on his backhoe creating yet another bigger pond on the other side of the yard. The result is a 26 by 32-foot pond that is about 5 feet deep. It has a beautiful waterfall and about 60 koi in a variety of sizes and colors.

The pump house with its porch is a welcoming place where they like to sit or swing on the hammock as they listen to music and look at what they have created. After losing a number of fish to the winged visitors it caused them to put netting around the perimeter of the rock-lined pond. Because they use well water, the PH balance is always perfect. It was fun for me to watch the fish drinking water out of the hose just like kids do.
Their home is far from where they grew up. Gail is from Pennsylvania and Rick is from Alaska. They met while serving on the same ship here in San Diego about 35 years ago. Rick stayed in the Navy for 24 years while Gail stayed home and 

raised their 2 children. In a remarkable turn of events, he spent his entire career here in San Diego on a variety of bases and ships and always close to home.

Both still are attached to the Navy in civilian jobs. He at the Naval Station, and Gail in a huge building near Old Town. At home, Rick is building yet another smaller quarantine pond. Gail has a huge 1000 square foot garden in the back where she raises and cans all of her fruits and vegetables.

They never stop working on the yard, except when they are playing. At times from October to March they enjoy kayaking in search of lobster. When not doing that, they load the RV and attach it to a trailer with all of their desert toys. Their daughter lives a few houses down the road, so the 2 grandkids who are 5 and 7 all get to have fun together.

Living in the country makes it easier to raise the 140 chickens, the 3 Tennessee fainting goats, a turkey, a 40-year-old 100-pound tortoise, and 3 dogs. So, you will have lots of thing to see and look for when you come to the July meeting. There is a lot of shade, but don’t forget to bring your chairs and a dish to share.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!


WELCOME BACK RENEWING MEMBERS!

Lawrence Boetel and Carl Quale

Jain Malkin and Gary Watson

Lorie Mariano and Valerie Kosmicki

Bill and Jeanette Newell

Deborah Szekely

Loni Vogler

KHA KORNER

by "Koi Jack" Chapman

KHA Korner – Lipids – (Fats and Oils)

So, last month I started updating my 2010/14/18/22 koi nutritional series and touched on the number one component of koi food - protein/amino acids.  As a reminder protein provided in the diet is used or excreted from the fish as (NH3) or solid waste and never stored within the koi.   So, to stay with this nutrition theme I figure it’s time to move on to the second most important ingredient in our koi food which are “lipids”, which when ingested and not used can and are stored within our koi in ways that can be harmful to the koi’s overall health and wellness.  You also need to keep water quality first in your mind and nutrition somewhat second, when it comes to your overall responsibility for caring for your koi.  Lipids are considered the most efficient source of energy for fish, period.  Per gram lipids provide a little over twice as much as the energy content of carbohydrates.  Lipids (fats & oils) are an important metabolic component of cell membranes and maintenance, essential to certain metabolic processes (hormones to include reproduction), and play a key role in the assimilation of fat-soluble vitamins (think A, D, E and K).  Studies have shown that carp’s daily dietary requirements are best supported with lipids from the group of triglycerides (fats and oils) and phospholipids that are polyunsaturated in nature and are called Linoleic, Linolenic and the Omega-3’s (EPA & DHA) to support optimum growth and health.  Yes, the spelling of the two fatty acids is correct.  Note: Saturated fats, such as animal fats, have proven not very useful to koi and fish in general.  “Fish oils (e.g., cod liver oil, salmon oil) appear to be the best sources of essential fatty acids, averaging around 25 percent linolenic fatty acids but only around 2.5 percent linoleic fatty acids. In contrast, vegetable oils (e.g., soybean oil and corn oil) are fairly low in linolenic fatty acids (about 4 percent) but high in linoleic fatty acids (52 percent).” Quote from:  http://www.fishchannel.com/freshwater-aquariums/fish-food/feeding-koi-and-goldfish.aspx.  Articles concerning this specific area for koi supports a 4 to 5 to an 8 to 9 percent crude fat content for koi feeds as does most koi food packaging listing for guarantee analysis (crude fat).  Buying commercial brand koi foods that meet the above requirements will certainly meet your koi’s daily dietary needs.  H O W E V E R, as food for thought, I just can’t help myself and I currently employ a couple other concepts from articles I’ve read in the past and practice with my summer daily diet (water temp above 72F) and the second is an augment to the daily diet every 3rd day.  I know you’re asking yourself - What kind of crap is he going to try and sell us now??? LOL   It’s called Protein Sparing (remember last month’s article).  This quote comes from when I use to visit Koiphen, and from my printed copy, “Lipids (fats) are an important energy source in Koi diets. Many research studies emphasize the “protein-sparing” effect of lipid supplementation in carp diets. In order to improve the protein-utilization an optimal protein to lipid ratio is necessary. Good results may be obtained when the lipid content is increased slightly over typical inclusion percentages. A diet with higher energy (lipids) brings about lower nitrogen excretion, which is important for maintenance of water quality.  Conversely low-fat diets force the koi to use some of the protein for energy. Protein used for energy is excreted from the gill as ammonia.  So, to summarize: if lipids (fats) are available in the diet then they are used by the koi to support its energy needs. This spares the protein from energy maintenance allowing it to be used for growth of bones and muscle. Protein used for growth does not leave the body of the koi; hence lower nitrogenous wastes for the bio-filter to process…” (Posted by: Matt Sklar)

So, how have I increased my koi’s daily lipid intake?  My second summer daily diet feeding includes edamame beans or soybeans for Linoleic and Omega 3’s and sinking pellets with spirulina, which has some of all the key lipids for koi.  And, yes the red yams at my second daily feeding are a minor source of omega 3’s.  I augment the daily diet every 3 days to include whole silkworm pupae or Hikari Silkworm Selects for Linolenic and Omega-3’s.

You see there is a sound scientific reason for including silkworm pupae in your koi’s diet.  Oh, if you only knew – For the science nerd in us all:  There are different breeds of silkworm and what they eat is very important to them and our koi.  The larvae of PM and CSR2 breeds when fed on leaves from mulberry trees feed a specific organic based Bio-fertilizer registered higher lipid content 2 and 3 percent respectively.  How about this - they (carp/koi and silkworm) have the same lipid requirement for health and growth. (e journal of Biological Sciences, ISSN 2076-9946)  And, as a plus the nutritional value of silkworm pupae shows a total protein of 55.6% and a total lipid of 32.2% by dry weight. (J Nult Sci Vitaminoi Tokyo 2010;56(6):446-8)  They also are a good source of alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (starch blocker) – if you have type 2 diabetes.   

BIG DISCLAIMER- You must be very careful NOT to overdo this as your water quality will suffer as well as your koi’s health.  What they eat gets metabolized, stored as fat, or eliminated as waste to the water column, and you could have some conformation issues as in a fat koi and a potential for fatty liver disease!!  I will admit I’m happy with my growth and color of most of my koi using the above slightly boosted lipid plan.  However, over the past five years or so I now have 2 or 3 koi that by my standards are just FAT and my pig eaters -LOL.  Unfortunately, they will not be going to any future koi shows unless I can get them into a koi gym and I’ve threatened one she could be going to our next koi auction.  Be safe.     

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: Cory Burke

Mulligrins@gmail.com

VP-Program: Matt Rhoades   

KCSDKoi.Kichi@gmail.com

VP-Venue: Tony Martinez

allinkoi@hotmail.com

Secretary: Gail Goerisch

gailgoerisch@yahoo.com

Treasurer: Jill Rhoades

treasurer.kcsd@gmail.com

 

APPOINTED OFFICERS

EMAIL

Newsletter editor/

Webmaster: Julia Schriber

webmaster.kcsd@gmail.com

Membership Chairman: Jill Leach

jirlthegirl@yahoo.com

Koi Health Advisor/

Librarian: Jack Chapman

jackchapman1@cox.net

Club Historian: Dr. Galen Hansen

galenkoi@aol.com

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: Tony Martinez

allinkoi@hotmail.com

To Submit an Article: Linda Pluth

 lpluth@cox.net

Program/Activities Suggestions: Matt Rhoades 

KCSDKoi.Kichi@gmail.com

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