KOI CLUB OF SAN DIEGONEWSLETTERSeptember 2026 |
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Looking after the Youngsters….
I hope you have had a lot of time sitting by your pond this summer as I have. Over the spring, I picked up “a few” small fish to grow out for the upcoming auction. I placed them in a soft show tank I purchased many years ago and also, some in my isolation tank on the side of my house. My daily routine is to feed the tank on my driveway first; the main pond next; then lastly the isolation tank. I have been feeding them 4-5 times a day growth food and have seen some good growth in many of them. But also there are some that haven't been growing to my expectations and I mentally analyze what could be factor(s) that are causing this.
One of the biggest things is one of the tanks has double the filtration required, oxygen exchange happening, and much more water movement present. I am working on increasing those things in the lesser of the two tanks and I’ll let you know how it goes. Many of these koi will be going, along with “a few” larger koi from my main pond to the Friends of Koi KCSD Koi Auction on Sunday, September 20th at San Diego Pond and Garden in Poway (See the information page on the club’s webpage). Volunteers are always welcomed. We will be setting up on Saturday the 19th and continue running the event on Sunday the 20th. If you can help on Saturday or Sunday for this event, it will be much appreciated; let me know.
Another note: we had many great entries for the logo contest this year and the group at the August meeting made their choice. The winner of the 2027 Koi Show logo contest is Ben Adams. He will receive a $25 gift card for his creativity. Congrats Ben!
August General Meeting
We had a wonderful time at Claudia’s home. Sorry Jill and I had another function to attend that day, but I understand that Jack Story and others started up a great conversation on pond/koi related things. I continue to encourage everyone who has a question or two about koi related things to bring it to the next meeting to discuss. I believe that the sharing of knowledge helps in fulfilling our mission statement of the club. Plus, it is a great way to break the ice on many of the koi mess-ups (been there, done that - Just not as often with the knowledge, I’ve gained).
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The September General Meeting
The next general meeting is on September13 in La Mesa. Tony Martinez and his lovely family have an impressive pond tucked in their yard. There are many beautiful koi in the collection and a view window to enjoy them from the side. Also, Tony probably has some tosai / nisai koi swimming around in his holding tanks he’d love to talk to you about. I’m looking forward to taking a look.
Wishing you a happy time with your koi,
Matt Rhoades
President
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Members, please know that their will not be a gift table at the September meeting for 2 reasons.
1) I will not be there, as I have a 50th Wedding Celebration to attend.
2) Most importantly, I have NOTHING to give away. I emptied the box of all my goodies at the August meeting. So please take this extra month and check around your house for treasures you no longer want. Other members will be excited to take them home at the October meeting.
Thanks for all you have done in the past, keep up the good work.
Lenore |
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Koi Club of San Diego Meeting
September 13th, 2026
Social hour - 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm
Meeting begins at 1 pm
Potluck, bring your own chair
OUR HOSTS WILL BE
Tony and Janine Martinez
6346 Primrose Drive
La Mesa, CA 91942
The meeting this month will be held in a backyard setting that is flat and accessible for wheelchairs.
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STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
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Wednesday, September 9th 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 Tony Martinez
Tony and Janine Martinez |
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Exactly four years ago, Tony and Janine hosted their first Koi meeting. No Pond profile was written then because they did an emergency fill-in and graciously hosted a meeting. It is lucky for me that I did not write an article then because much has changed. Tony’s dream is to create a product line of quality fish, which is affordable to anyone who want to enjoy Koi as a hobby. (Expensive Koi will always be available!) His backyard has been expanded to accommodate his dream.
When they met and married 31 years ago, they were stationed in Baltimore, Maryland while both were active-duty Hospital Corpsmen in the Navy. Throughout his 23 ½ year career, as an enlisted sailor and then as an officer, they were stationed in many parts of the world including Japan and usually on a Marine base. Janine, originally from Indiana, spent five years in the Navy, and had a 25-year career at Grossmont Hospital. For the past 11 years, Tony has worked at the VA Hospital in La Jolla as head of the sterilization staff making sure all surgical equipment meets the required standards.
Tony is half Japanese and half French/Spanish. He speaks Japanese fluently and feels very comfortable traveling to Japan to check out the Koi. He will go again in November and visit 3 different Koi farms. His backyard has changed much in the last two years as he now has 3 quarantine ponds totaling 1100 gallons in which he keeps the fish he raises and sells. He will explain all the specifics of his venture at the meeting.
When I asked him “Why Koi?”, he said fish had always fascinated him from the time he was in middle school. During the many trips to Japan as a child, he learned to appreciate and love the Koi. He and Janine tried to have a backyard garden, but it didn’t thrive. A friend suggested that he build a water feature and after much reading and studying, he designed his pond which has 2 |
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huge windows so his fish can track his every move. The fish were so welcoming when I went into the yard as they danced in the front window. I am sure they thought I would feed them as everyone in the family does when they walk by. The family dog, Kuma, sits and watches the fish from his very own seat. |
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Tony has many ideas and a variety of smaller fish that he plans to market in unusual ways. In his free time, he loves to go fishing. The family, including the 3 daughters, love to entertain and have an active social life with long-time military friends and neighbors.
Be sure to visit Gilbert when you come to the meeting. In 2009, he joined the family after sitting in a bowl at the Del Mar Fair in a ball toss venue. He is unique in that his bowl is rarely cleaned just surviving with added water. He knocks the pebbles around in the bowl if |
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Tony tries to leave for work without feeding him. He is one happy goldfish!
Tony and Janine live in La Mesa, and it is easily accessible from the freeway. Don’t forget to bring your chairs and a dish to share.
Hope to see you there! Lenore Wade |
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AUGUST MEETING PHOTOS
Claudia Faunt
by Bill Newell
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WELCOME BACK, RENEWING MEMBERS!
Scott Bonelli
Betsy del Pozo
Christian Diaz
Shirley Elswick
Claudia Faunt
Scott Holder and Jeffrey Shuken
Bonnie McIlvaine
Demy and Margo Riley Sherry Tobey
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KHA KORNER
by "Koi Jack" Chapman |
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What to do when autumn arrives?
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Just out of the hospital today and while feeding my koi I had the thought it is close to thinking about fall activities around my pond. Some of the things you might consider doing at this time of year for the San Diego Area would include:
- 1. Remove dying aquatic plant material – especially the plants that will not survive the colder winter months. Clean out any organic debris from your pond and filters. I really like cleaning one half of my large bio- chamber each year at this time, and it’s when we do the biofilter at the Japanese Friendship Gardens including new UV bulbs. WHY – I like doing this in early autumn (SEP/OCT) because our koi’s immune system and the filter system are still on full strength and there’s less chance of having sick koi with less recovery time for the filter system after a serious cleaning event. Plus, we don’t have harsh winters with resulting loss of bio activity in the pond system so autumn is a good time for a good pond cleaning.
- 2. Time to think about some reduction in high protein foods – those above 42% - and keep an eye out for any increased fecal material (poop watch) in the water. This is a key sign that you are overdoing the food and the unused protein in the poop is now in the water column as food for bad bacteria and increased your pond DOC (dissolved organic carbon). I feed 3 to 5 different koi food items daily and if you use a wheat germ food in autumn and parts of winter now’s a good time to start adding it as part of your daily feed. There are several all season koi feeds below 40% protein to choose from and yes in late autumn and early winter I feed some Chogenki Fu (also called Manda Fu). I truly believe koi are a four-season animal and do best when not fed for 4 to 6 weeks during the coldest time of the year – early 15 JAN to 15 FEB. For me, I’m close to no food below 53F and my pond does not normally go below 48/50F during the winter time.
- 3. Examine your koi very closely for injury and disease – you want only healthy koi going into winter time as they will be the ones most susceptible to illness next Spring.
- 4. YES - Time to think about which koi you want to take to the auction this month, to reduce your fish load and make room for any new ones from this year’s crop due at your favorite koi dealer in just a few weeks. How will you deal with quarantine issues for your new koi?
- 5. Now that the rainy season is about to pick up plus the strong prediction of an El Nino, – it’s a good time to make sure you don’t have any run-off water falling into your pond or flowing from the ground puddles into your pond.
- 6. No time to get lazy about your water quality (testing) and weekly water changes. However, I do turn off my added air pump when my pond temp goes below 70F as my oxygen levels are at saturation. I’ll turn off one of my two pumps when my pond temp goes down to 55F as my turnover time will go from every 45 minutes to 1.5 hours and with reduced food I have no resulting ammonia issues for my 12,000 gallon pond system.
- 7. This is the time of the year I like to think about (review) my pond system and the things I might want to do (changes/improvements) for the coming year based on what I have observed in the past year(s). Also, annual review of potential emergencies. Are you ready for some of the problems we have all faced from time to time???? (loss of power – left the chloramines treated water running – test kits over a year old – quarantine system – loss of pump – and so on)
Just a few things for you to think about and I’m sure I forgot a few.
r/koi jack |
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Koi Person of The Year 2026 Cory Burke
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VP-Venue: Jack Jr and Carrie Story |
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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: Jack Jr and Carrie Story |
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To Submit an Article: Linda Pluth |
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Program/Activities Suggestions: Matt Rhoades |
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