mid atlantic pond life - Mid Atlantic Koi Club

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Mid Atlantic Pond Life
Issue No. 4, July
2016
MID ATLANTIC POND LIFE
The MAKC Newsletter
Published by The Hudson Valley Koi and Water Garden Club
Winning A Pond Queen
By Ray Kelly
I am not a gambler. I rarely
go to casinos. My hobbies
are having a koi pond and
kayaking.
My wife, Cheryl and I have
purchased most of our koi
at Kodama Koi Garden in
Patchogue, NY. Kodama has
beautiful koi with an assortment of sizes and types
in their many ponds. Kodama's Koi come from Japan
and are raised on their farm
in Mililani, Hawaii. I hope to
visit the farm one day.
I have learned a lot about
koi on their website kodamakoifarm.com.
I also follow the koi auctions
on the website. The prices
can be high in these auctions
but Kodama has inexpensive
auctions as well. In May, I
gave it a try and made some
bids in their Treasure Hunt
Auction.
The bids started at $1. I bid
on five koi but did not win. I
was surprised to see some of
the 12 in. koi were auctioned
off for $7-$10. I was disappointed I did not watch the
auction closer. I knew another
Treasure Hunt Auction would
come but to my surprise it
was two weeks later.
In This Issue
Hudson Valley
chapter welcomes new
members
Members flock to
Quality Koi for Central chapter’s first
meeting of the season
Light of Knowledge Illuminates Hudson Valley
The recent survey of Hudson Valley chapter members showed that education was among the most
valued benefits of chapter meetings. In response,
under Herb Ehrich’s leadership, several dedicated
members have begun building a practical learning
segment into each chapter meeting. The new emphasis on sharing and building knowledge begins at
the July 17 meeting. See page 8 for details of upcoming plans.
What in the world are Herb and
Skeeter up to? Find out on page six.
Mid Atlantic Pond Life
Issue No. 4, July 2016
Winning a Queen (cont.)
I tried my luck again in this new Treasure
Hunt auction. I remembered that on Ebay
it is the last few minutes that really count. I
selected my five favorite koi, which included Kohaku, Tancho, Showa, Gin Rin and a
Hariwake. All were in the 11-14 inch
range. The auction was fun. Many bidders
had automatic bids going in. It was hard to
keep track and bid on these five koi. With
ten seconds left, I had the high bid on only
looked up at me. I was very happy. She is
the Queen of our pond now and seems to
love her new home.
two of the koi. The auction ended. I was
nervous as I checked the final results. I
missed bidding on the Kohaku, which auctioned off for $27. Another koi went for
$7. To my surprise, I won the Hariwake.
She was 12.4 inches. I thought she was
beautiful. My winning bid was $62.
Next Day Delivery
Kodama Koi Farm ships the koi via UPS
next day air. I could not wait for our new
koi to arrive. I met our UPS driver, Paul, as
soon as he pulled up. I only hoped the koi
survived her long trip. I opened the box
and triple bags and she was swimming and
About the Author: Ray Kelly has had his pond since 2010. A retired Detective with the Suffolk
County, NY Police Department, he founded America's Finest Foundation, which supports children and law enforcement.
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Mid Atlantic Pond Life
Issue No. 4, July 2016
Hudson Valley Membership Event Exceeds Expectations
by Ken Dreyfack
Upcoming Events
The emails following the event were peppered with such phrases as “an awesome event expanding
the ranks,” “a huge success,” “great job,” “great success” and “a great time was had by all.” The
event in question was the Hudson Valley chapter’s first annual new member reception.
Sixteen potential new members joined roughly as many existing chapter members for the byinvitation-only get-together on Saturday June, hosted by Frank and Peggy Almquist. After a few
choice welcoming remarks by Outreach Committee head John Remington, the new members heard
several existing chapter members describe their ponds and their fish tales, before getting a chance
to introduce themselves and to describe their own ponds and/or plans.
Threatening Weather
The thunderstorms that threatened the event during the morning hours disappeared by noon, leaving clear weather for the gathering. In addition to lots of talk of ponds, fish, plants and other clubrelated subjects, all of the attendees had the pleasure of strolling through the Almquist’s superb
gardens and admiring the colorful variety of koi, large and small, in their well-tendered pond.
During his remarks, Chapter Vice President Herb Ehrich underlined the importance of education to
MAKC. Outreach Committee member Cheryl Benken, who contributed considerable
and care
Long time
Island
in organizing the smoothly run event along with John, made a particularly gracious effort to make
everyone feel welcome. Along, of course, with hosts Frank and Peggy.
Visitors traded fish stories at they sampled assorted hors d’oeuvres & goodies.
John Remington opened the formal part of the session
with brief welcoming remarks.
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Mid Atlantic Pond Life
Issue No. 4, July 2016
MAKC 2015 Koi Grow Out Results
by Jo Mead
The MAKC held the 2015 Koi Grow Out Event
at Quality Koi in Carneys Point, NJ on Saturday May 9, 2015.
The main purpose of a Grow Out Event is
to learn more about tosai selection and
share tosai grow out experiences. It’s also
a chance to purchase high quality tosai
from a top breeder/pedigree line at a
special discounted price. After a growing
season, hobbyists will compare and share
their growth and development against
event siblings.
On June 11, 2016, the members received their
results of the 2015 Grow Out at the MAKC
Central Meeting on June 11, 2016. The three
fish that were purchased did not meet the
standards of a show koi. Those fish are going
to be replaced by the breeder and we will have
future updates on these tosai.
At that time Quality Koi set aside a small
number of fish for our members to purchase and three fish where purchased at
the meeting for the Grow Out.
As koi will change in size, color, shape
and—in some instances—pattern over the
course of their lives, the basic judging criteria is adjusted or weighted to account
for the particular traits that are more
prevalent during the koi’s particular stage
of development.
Where do all the hippist meet?
Where the dancin’ is elite?
Facebook, Facebook
What? You haven’t been hangin’ at the
Hudson Valley Chapter’s own Facebook
page? You’d better click below right
now!
https://www.facebook.com/hvkoiclub/
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A Word of Thanks from Paul Tomasko
Unable to attend the membership event following
a health issue, Paul asked us to relay a message:
I would like to thank our Hudson Valley chapter
for the lovely gift basket from Adams. Specialthanks (particularly from Harriet) to Skeeter and
Herb for coming by to take care of pond chores.
Thanks for calls of support from Jo, and for all the
offers of help from so many friends. It warmed
my heart.
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Mid Atlantic Pond Life
Issue No. 4, July 2016
MAKC is Busting Out All Over
A Message from MAKC Vice President Herb Ehrich
June turned out to be a very busy
month for MAKC members. The
month was filled with many koi
activities. Many thanks to the
HVKWG Chapter members for
their efforts in finding ways to
share their knowledge with others. In doing so, they have
helped MAKC to grow as a club.
Thank you to all who helped with
the trailer inventory.
Jo Mead and I truly appreciate
your assistance in organizing the
many items in our MAKC trailer.
Although not completed, we have
come a long way in assessing the
contents and its value.
Thank you to the members involved in
planning the Invitational Pond Event
which took place on June 11, at the
pond of Frank and Peggy, in Kingston.
This event gave those who are interested in koi keeping the opportunity to
see an established pond and hear first
hand from MAKC koi keepers. There
were questions asked and lots of valuable information shared. At the end of
the afternoon, MAKC had 6 new members.
While the Pond Event was taking
place, our president, Jo Mead was attending the Central Chapter meeting
at Quality Koi in Carney, NJ. Vice
President Bruce Damme and 25
members heard Mat McCann’s
presentation and were able to tour the
premises. At the end of this day’s event,
MAKC welcomed 2 new members into the
club.
Year’s 1st Central Chapter meeting at Quality Koi in Carneys Point, NJ
By Bruce Damme
Nearly 30 members attended the
June 10 meeting. It was a beautiful
day, and we enjoyed viewing the
beautiful koi on display, catching up
with old and new members and listening to a very informative talk by
Mat McCann of Quality Koi on general koi topics of interest.
The next Central Chapter meeting is
a BBQ in Newark, Delaware July 10.
All Chapters are invited. The Central
Chapter is also still seeking meeting
hosts for Sept. & Oct. Contact Bruce
Damme
[[email protected]]
or (302) 598-8431.
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Mid Atlantic Pond Life
Issue No. 4, July 2016
Pond Rescue and Wet Lab
By Paul Tomasko
After his pond suffered severe ice damage, a local pond owner decided a new kitchen was
more needed than an expensive pond reconstruction. So after years of koi keeping he decided to close the pond. This gave Hudson Valley members a chance to do a pond rescue.
We showed up one day in May with pumps,
tanks and nets. Herb, Skeeter and I drained
down this very murky pond in order to sock-net
the fish. We were told it was a koi pond but as
we were harvesting we realized it was mostly
goldfish. Herb and I were both in the water and
put the netted fish into a tub which Skeeter carried to the truck’s holding tanks.
Once back at my house we had to lift out each
fish individually and rinse it in a clean bath of
flowing water in order to identify and transfer it to a
larger holding tank. This tank had two filters a large
aerator and a heater. During this process we discovered we had only five koi, about two feet long,
and around 70 goldfish. It was too large a population for the tank so I called a neighbor who has an
enclosed natural pond with no outlet. We loaded
the goldfish back onto the truck and brought them
to their new home.
Goldfish Warning
This is a gentle warning about goldfish. If you have
two you will have a hundred. Be careful what you
put in your pond. Your filter has to do the work no
matter who or what is making the mess. In addition
as fish grow the load on your filter is increased.
That’s why even after years of keeping a clean
pond, things change. Fish size is one of the many
variables. In fact I purchased the bubble bead filter
Jo cuts the gill as Skeeter holds the gill plate
open
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Doing a scraping
Mid Atlantic Pond Life
Issue No. 4, July 2016
Pond Rescue and Wet Lab (cont.)
that the owner had for these very reasons and
plan to add it to my filters (I’ll do an article on
that when we finally find time to install it).
Experience Rated GP
0ur plan was to raise the water temp and then
check for disease. When water temperature is
raised, it allows it allows dormant bugs and illness to manifest themselves, especially Koi
Herpes Virus (KHV), which is temperature dependent. This can save you from putting a sick
fish, that “looks perfectly healthy,” into your
pond and risking your whole population. This
time, unlike the spawn and wrong decision to
place unchecked fish in ponds described in the
June issue, it all went well.
MAKC President Jo Mead and John Remington
came by a few days later when the water temp-
was around 75 degrees. Jo brought a microscope
and Tricaine-S topical anesthesia (MS-222). We decided to use one fish as our representative patient.
(If one fish is sick the others almost always have
the same thing - very similar to a kindergarten
class).
Anesthesia & Microscope
We wanted to do body scrapings in several places
and to take a small clipping of the large gill. To accomplish all this and not stress the fish, we added
MS-222 to the water. Jo handled this beautifully,
anesthetizing this large koi and taking scrapings to
view under the microscope. Next with the help of
Skeeter the large front gill plate was gently lifted
and a very small piece of the gill was cut with a
scissors to examine. There will be blood when you
do this, but if you have only taken a small cut, it
stops fairly quickly.
Drunken friend
As we were checking
the samples under
the scope, Herb lifted
the fish into a waiting
tank of fresh water
and walked it around
the circle. It’s sort of
like walking a friend
around who has had
too much to drink.
This gets water and
air flowing over the
gills and helps the
fish to come back to
normal.
Jo looks up a pathogen on a fish vet site as John
describes what he just saw and Herb supervises
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Mid Atlantic Pond Life
Issue No. 4, July 2016
Upcoming Events
Hudson Valley Chapter
July 17: 3-5 pm - Paul & Harriet Tomasko home, Saugerties - Paul will
talk about filters and pump systems
for various ponds, including his own.
August 21: 3-5 pm - John & Jan Remington home, Saugerties - New
member Jennifer Hauer will speak
about recognizing disease and illness
in your fish.
Sept. 18: -3-5 pm - Betsy Moore and
Jim Pellicone home, Kingston - The
Cary Institute will talk about invasive
plants and fish.
Oct. 16: - Henry and Cherie Rua
home, Saugerties - Lecture on JapaneseTea Gardens and Landscaping
Nov. 2016: No meeting but the
Event/Program committee is researching possible day trips. Stay
tuned.
Dec. 18: Holiday dinner at an outside
venue tbd. Watch this space.
July 11: Summer BBQ in Newark, Delaware – contact Bruce Damme
([email protected])
August 21: Meeting in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania. Marry Hixson
We are still looking for meeting hosts
for pond meetings in September and
October - contact Bruce Damme
([email protected])
Long Island Chapter
July 17: Pond Tour
South Chapter
Oct. 15: Japanese festival at the National Arboretum for reopening of the
pond
Tell Us What You Think
Albany Region Pond Tour
This is YOUR newsletter. One key goal is to
provide a forum for everyone in the MAKC
community to express themselves. Let us
know what you think about our articles or any
issue concerning MAKC. We want to publish
your comments, letters or suggestions. Send
them to Ken Dreyfack or Paul Tomasko at pon-
Visit water features in the NY State Capital
Region on Sat., July 16, 10 am – 4 pm.
Tickets are $10 per car with all proceeds
benefiting the Ronald McDonald House of
Albany. Tickets & maps are available at
Decker’s Landscape & Aquatics, 1632 Main
St., Pattersonville, NY (518) 887-5552
[email protected].
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Central Chapter