Koi Club of San Diego

Volume 25 Issue 03

KOI CLUB OF SAN DIEGO

NEWSLETTER

March 2025

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

by Matt Rhoades

We’re starting a new program - Koi 101 (the basics)

The Steering Committee has been discussing different ideas for programs during our club’s general meetings. One thing we settled upon is that many in the club have general questions about koi keeping and ponds, so we are excited to put forth a plan to answer many common questions that come up. If you have a question, please send questions to me at: matrhoa@gmail.com).  I will be working towards making the presentations easy to follow and practical. So get your questions to me in order to be used at future meetings.  The March meeting topic will be “Filtration: Basic Yeses and Nos”.

Oops a little late this year… again

Like Britney Spears sang “Oops; I did it again”. Every year I put in my request to Santa to bring me a replacement bulb/crystal for my pond filtration, and again it slipped my mind to remind him. A good rule of practice is to replace those items after one year. Yes they can usually last a little over a year, but the quality of the unit is diminished and clarity suffers. When the UV bulb goes, you know soon after it does. The turbidity (big word for how clear the visibility in water is) goes from being able to see the bottom of the pond to mere inches to see the heads of your koi on the surface, and this process can take hours if not days (larger the pond, longer the process).  My wife Jill is my canary in the coalmine.

          “Looks like the water is getting cloudy; did you write Santa for that UV unit?”

In my defense, I have been kind of busy (Show, House remodel - not to say Jill hasn’t been busy). I got on the internet and made my request. A week later, the box was sitting on the dining room table; unopened.

          “Aren’t you going to change out the UV bulb?” came the inquiry.

          “I’ll do it after the storms pass…” “I have to be in the right mind-set” (Yes those are cop-out excuse, but they’re mine)

A few days later (a week) the water by this time had gotten to 4-6 inches sight-line from the surface, notices from Jill had piled up, and even I was missing seeing the full length of my koi. So, I got down to work. Twenty minutes later I was cleaning up and here a week later I can see the beauties all the way to the bottom of my pond. I also put TWO reminders to contact the Jolly fellow at the end of November to bring the UV goods. I promise…really.

March General Meeting

The March meeting on Sunday the 9th will be at Ben & Cheryl Adams home in El Cajon. They have a wonderful home and garden pond. We will be doing a pot-luck meal format for the meeting; so bring what you would like to share. Of course, drinks and water will be provided. Please don’t forget to bring a chair. I’m looking forward to having my monthly fix on talking about koi.

See you there,

Matt - Suspect #1 on the Koi Kichi Wanted List.

Koi Club of San Diego Meeting

March 9th, 2025 

STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, March 12th

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 Bill Newell

Ben and Cheryl Adams

When I coordinated my visit with photographer, Bill Newell and the Adams Family (couldn’t resist!) I had a rough Idea of where I was going. I googled the address and set off. In seven minutes, I was parked in front of their house. Poor Bill had an hour’s drive from Escondido.

When entering the front door, I was overwhelmed by the large paintings on the living room walls. They are so big and beautiful and the stories behind them are even more interesting. Cheryl will delight in explaining, if you ask. Inside the house is Cheryl’s world. (I loved the 2 staircases that go to the second level.) 

The backyard is definitely Ben’s world. They have lived in their home for about 18 years and Ben has revised his pond about 3 times. In fact, as he told me, fish and water have been a big part of his life starting in Utah where he was born. He and Cheryl have lived in 4 different properties and all of them had ponds, except the condo. When first moving into the present house, 15 of his fish lived in the swimming pool while he built the first pond. They weren’t thrilled at having to move into a smaller pond.

The backyard is filled with color and cheerful creations, as well as the pond and the pool. He pointed out his garden which runs the length of 

his property. It starts out with cactus and transitions to succulents, to veggies, to flowers as it reaches the street. Their property buts up to a granite mountain which loves sending unwanted stuff into his yard. It is a constant challenge for Ben to outsmart the weather gods.

When first looking into the pond of beautiful fish, the eye notices something unusual running through the middle of it. While trying to make the pond deeper, Ben met up with a very large pipe running through the yard, he couldn’t move it, so just made it one of his creations.

After listening to him explain how it was built, I want to explore it myself.

Cheryl, a native Californian was born in Fullerton, but has been in San Diego since the age of 10. When she first met Ben at a Parents Without Partners Dance, she didn’t like him at all. She said, “He had long hair and a pony tail, and was rude, but was a good dancer!” As we know, first impressions are often misleading, as they have been married for 28 years. As a loving blended family, they share 8 kids, 16 grands and 2 great grands.  They stay active in each other’s lives.

Ben is an avid hunter and fisherman. When pressed for his “favorite”, after much thought, he said “hunting.” He totally enjoys sharing his love of fishing with his 11 year-old grandson who recently caught a “whopper” while out on a boat.

Their Golden Retriever, Roxy, is very much a part of the family and totally enjoys the run of the yard. Cocoa, their beautiful Ragdoll cat, stays inside and welcomes all the rubs and cuddles she can get.

Having a large manicured yard is demanding. It takes both of them to keep it that way. Being a woman, Cheryl notices the little things usually a bit quicker than Ben. He prides himself with keeping up with Cheryl’s “Honey-do list”.

I hope all of you can come to the meeting and see another beautiful pond which makes our club meetings so special.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

Greg Farrar

WELCOME BACK RENEWING MEMBERS!

KHA KORNER

by "Koi Jack" Chapman

KHA Korner –Updated Springtime around Aeromonas Alley and Koi Skin Ulcers

Well spring is just around the corner, and I thought it was time to update and try to combine my past articles from past years on springtime as it relates to Aeromonas and koi skin ulcers.   Little long in the tooth but hope I don’t lose you or you abandon me. LOL    So, time to update my last article about one of the most encountered koi bacterial infections known as Hole in the side (ulcer) or more properly referred to as Aeromonas Hydrophilia.   This bacterium is an opportunist pathogen that usually takes advantage of injured, sick, or otherwise immune weakened koi.  For Aeromonas Alley a key factor about what’s going on in your pond and your koi is what is the pond water TEMPERATURE - and I like to know this both in the early morning and late afternoon.   Just be glad we live here and not where it gets really cold for the winter months – can you imagine having to deal with snow and ice?  However, it is important to know how low your pond temps get and for how long during each of our winter seasons.   One of the things you need to be mindful of is the range of temperatures in which your koi are most vulnerable to what triggers bacterial infections again most often caused by Aeromonas and WHY it’s happening.  Think pond temp and what’s going on in my bio-filter and my koi’s immune system.  Yes, it’s a combination of factors.  First Aeromonas bacteria is inactive at 39F and starts to become active at 40F – with each degree to about 60F it becomes exponentially more active as in reproduction.  While at the same time, our koi only start to improve their immune system after 55F.  For the science nerd in us all, this is measured by the presence of white blood cells (WBC) in a blood sample and there is a reported case study in the literature that showed zero WBC in some koi at below 55F.  So between 40F and 55F, we have the bad bugs multiplying while the koi’s immune system is close to nonexistent.  To make matters worse it has been reported that the bacteria that typically infect our koi thrive in harder water and at higher pH’s (hello southern California).   Before you get upset – this is one of Mother Nature’s ways to weed out the weakest for the survival of the species.  (Ref: MN rule book page 3) LOL.   Additionally, their numbers severely increase with accumulated detritus and mulm on the bottom of your pond to flourish and – in the converse – their numbers are GREATLY reduced in clean ponds with goooooooood water quality and proper circulation!!!  The temperature zone of most volubility to Aeromonas infections is 47F to 62/63F – what we like to call Aeromonas Alley.  Note: At lower pond temps your koi are less active and sit on the bottom more leading to increased contact opportunity for body and fin rot from Aeromonas infections.   Seventy-seven or 78F is generally accepted and been reported as the optimum temperature for koi metabolic efficiency - as well as the temp at which their immune system will be close if not at max.  It is believed that the koi’s immune system is at about 25% efficiency when they emerge from Aeromonas Alley and attain 50% around 70F.  Now at the same time, the bacteria in your biofilter are becoming more active to handle the pond nitrogenous waste that will increase with feeding, decomposing organic matter and increased koi activity.  Nitrosomonas bacteria activity, which converts ammonia NH3 to nitrites NO2, is reported to be at or close to zero at 40F and will reach 50% capacity at 60F and at 100% efficiency at 75F.  At the same time Nitrobacter bacteria converts NO2 to nitrates NO3 (to complete the nitrogen cycle) but at a slower pace being reported as not active till about 60F but also reaching full activity at 75F.   A word of caution for us in southern California -- with us not having to deal with real winter conditions, Aeromonas will most likely continue to populate (be active) in our ponds during the typical winter months (especially this past winter – hell as I up-date this article and look at my pond temp log on Feb 16 at 2PM it is 66F (ambient) and my pond is 58 F and  BEWARE if you start to feed your koi too early and too high in protein – it will exit your koi as undigested fish poop (mulm on bottom of pond) – OTHERWISE known as the best food possible for the bad bacteria at the worst time!!!  Yes – as I like to say POOP WATCH TIME.  All the above is just another good reason to remember to keep your weekly water changes at 10 to 15 percent and periodically check your water quality for NH3, NO2, NO3, KH, and O2.  Spring is the most stressful time of the year for our koi and some pond owners alike.  Got to have a plan and be especially observant of your pond and your koi at this time of year.    

Now to expand on koi skin ulcers to complete a better basic understanding of the kinds of things you need to consider when managing your pond to avoid ulcers.  Also, a good thing to review prior to spring activities or even now with the new koi from Japan available for purchase.   In 2020 and 2023, I had more than the usual pond calls during spring and summer with sick koi and skin (scales)/fin/mouth disorders – a couple dozen over a six-month period – maybe a record for me (2/3 club members) and most with different circumstances.  About every 7 years or so we get an exceptional disease-causing species of Aeromonas.   How bad you ask? well a couple years back - after a needed veterinarian visit to the Japanese Friendship Garden koi pond, which our club volunteers to maintain, we got to catch 24 koi and give two injections every third day for 5 treatments, and we had 18 survivors.   YES, I admit if we had called the vet a week earlier, we most likely would have had less fish loss!!!  As a good general rule, I always do a skin scraping of the ulcer site to rule out parasites (another article not now) and a few flukes (gyrodactylus- skin) parasites were also found upon microscopic examination and appropriate pond treatment completed (Kusuri – Fluke M) X2 along with a couple potassium permanganate treatments a week apart to pond at a rate of 2.4 ppm to acquire a treatment dosage level of 2ppm for several hours – till turns brown.  One level teaspoon (about 6 grams) per 790 gallons for a 2ppm treatment was the formula used for dosing.  Potassium Permanganate usage requires its own article and not at this time LOL.   I’ll also leave doing a Culture and Sensitivity swab at ulcer site for the later treatment article.  

When I get asked the question – What causes ulcers in koi????? - My answer is “just about everything!!”  And yes, I get some funny looks and are you serious expressions.  I follow up with how much time do you have? – and with me that can be a problem as I love talking about koi as you all know LOL.   While external ulcers are a very common issue with koi, to just say it’s a bacterial infection and maybe supported by a culture and sensitivity test and treated with antibiotics is simply not the end of the story!  As a matter of fact, it’s just the beginning if you want to reduce the risk of future body/mouth ulcers and fin issues on your koi.  An understanding of why koi develop ulcers can be a wealth of information and knowledge about your pond’s environmental system and the multitude paths that can lead to your koi’s reduced immune response, which is the leading cause of koi illnesses, only one of which is body ulcers.  When I do a pond call, I bring a collection of reference materials to share with pond owners while exploring the possible problems that they are experiencing with their koi and their pond, one of which is the best pictorial descriptions of the many possible causes leading to body ulcers on your koi.  Also, I believe this pictorial description will provide the observer with the salient key points when thinking about areas of possible concern or better yet areas for future exploration, as we all progress (get smarter) as true koi hobbyists.  As a side note: as we move through winter our koi slow their activity and spend more time on the bottom of our ponds.  And they rest where they feel the safest (warmest) in less turbulence from water pond currents – so if your maintenance schedule or lack thereof has left debris (a buildup of pond waste material) collected on the bottom of your pond and your koi spend more time resting their body and fins within this material you may experience, after having no summer problems, external skin issues at this time of year and for next couple of months and even into summer.  I encourage pond owners every couple of weeks to look closely at each koi for any developing external issues.  Yes, a list of all your koi can be very useful as a check-off when completing this task.  This is the single event in my pond practice that has led to the discovery of most of my koi’s early external issue detection and trust me it’s much easier on me and my koi to deal with these impending problems early on in their development.  It also is the same time that I seem to notice individual changes to my koi that I truly love or not so much with their general overall development.       

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.

I’ve saved my last thoughts for my personal opinion from being around southern California koi ponds for the past 22 years.  I truly believe that putting your koi and pond in the best possible condition prior to winter will directly affect and reduce any spring pond and koi issues.   To include, doing your serious pond and filter cleaning in the fall (pond temp 68 to72F) when your koi’s immune system is better prepared (about 75 to 80%) to deal with the possible after effects from a serious cleaning.  Depending on the amount of detritus to be removed, you can’t help but emulsify to some degree its contents to your pond water column that your koi now must deal with, while your water chemistry and clarity returns to normal (mainly bacterial and parasite levels).  I suggest to my fellow club members and anyone else who will listen here in southern California that if they must do a serious spring cleaning, as suggested in other koi articles, that they postpone it till their pond temp exceeds 70 degrees and their koi immune system goes over 50 percent to deal with the same issues that their koi are better prepared for in the fall.  Why you ask - Over the years I have treated multiple ponds with active springtime bacterial infections only to have several pond owners tell me they just (21 to 45 days earlier) completed a serious pond system cleaning.  Folks, I’m not looking for an argument, but just trying to honestly add some information based on my own experiences here in southern California.  

   Maybe next month we can explore ulcer treatments and kudos to those readers still with me!!  This article was intended to sensitize the reader to the conditions existing within your koi and your pond during early spring as it relates to Aeromonas Alley and subsequent skin ulcers.  Hope this encourages you to learn more leading to no ulcers and fin issues for you and your beloved koi!  Stay safe and healthy!

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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