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Sep 2000 Selected Articles |
President's Corner - President |
Office of Sec. - Anne |
Caught In The Net by Todo |
The year is passing quickly; it will soon be time for our 14th Annual Fall Show. If you have not submitted your tank reservation but would like to reserve a space please feel free to call me. Remember to get your banquet reservation in early, you do not have to show fish to attend the banquet. This is a fun evening packed with door prize and raffle items.
I hope everyone enjoyed the summer cookout. Everyone seemed to have a good time with the fish auction! I especially want to Thank Shirley Stone, Fred & Teresa Leib, and Todo & Sandee Todorsky for donating fish to the club for the event. Shirley Stone donated a large number of fish in assorted sizes. We would also like to Thank Fred Leib, Jan Brown, and Tim and Tina Gasson for helping Shirley catch and transport the fish to the meeting, and Rod Lawton for bags and Oxygen to help prepare them for the trip to their new home. I really appreciate Gordon and Connie Hall for bringing their show tank, and they also brought a huge fan to try to help beat the summer heat.
Once again Jim Roberts has made a sizeable contribution to the club through the donation of a very nice metal outdoor lighting kit for the raffle which was won by Tracy Jackson. Door prizes included Koi candle holders made by Terri Carter, and several bags of Koi food.
If you plan to attend the Atlanta Koi Show and can't attend the next meeting to get your name badge, please look for Jim Roberts or myself at the show and we will get your name badge to you.
I have received the AKCA publications for this yearand will have them at the next meeting. This year's booklet is on pond filtration, and is free to the club members.
The board members strive to make the meetings interesting and informative for our members, if you have a subject you would like to see covered with a presentation please let me know. I want to Thank Joe & Sherri White for attending the cookout and his presentation on Water Quality, I've gotten a lot of good feed back from his presentation and we had several members who participated in bringing water to be tested.
The bylaw committee has completed their review of the club's bylaws and you will receive a copy by special mailing for review. Thanks goes out to the committee members Todo Todorsky, Jan Brown, David Abraham, Dave & Sherri Brown, Tim Gasson and Jim Roberts for a job well done.
Please remember to return any library items that you may have checked out so that they are available to other club members. I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting!
Charlie.Office of the Secretary by: Anne
The August cook out at Charles Gardner and Pete Akers was a great day and a great time. We had a big turn out with 47 of our members attending. Thanks to all who brought the delicious food, a special thanks for Charlie and Pete for hosting the meeting and all their hard work getting everything ready.
A motion was made and passed at the meeting to appoint a committee of five members of the Club to do some updating of our by laws. The committee will be CO-chaired by Jan Brown and Todo Todorsky; other members are David Abraham, Tim Gasson, and Sherri Brown. The amendments the committee makes will be voted on at our next meeting. Seems our Club was "dissolved" by the state of Florida, therefore we will have to pay a fine and reinstatement fee.
Joe White came up from Daytona; he was our speaker at the meeting. He gave an excellent talk on water quality. Joe not only showed us the different test kits we should all have, but how to use, store and where to buy the various kits. Joe, very graciously, tested some of our club member's pond water after the meeting.
Shirley Stone & Fred Leib brought and donated more than a dozen Koi of various sizes that were auctioned off during the meeting for the benefit of the club. Todo and Sandee Todorsky donated a large Ginrin Bekko. These were all very nice fish and bidding was lively, as Jim Roberts hoisted each bagged fish up for viewing time after time. The club treasury netted $264, and some of our members gained lovely new Koi for their ponds.Our club received a very generous gift of $100 from members Barry and Brad Reed of Reeds and Rocks.
Koi Chat with Sandee Gene & Tina Stogsdill have been members of the NFKC since the Pond Tour of 1995. Tina was the driving force since she had fish in her classroom when she taught. She realized then how soothing it could be to sit back and watch the fish in the aquarium. Then when she gave up teaching, she wanted to have fish again. But she wanted them in a pond.The Stogsdill’s started with a small prefab that was first by the greenhouse on the other side of the swimming pool. But the birds were getting the fish and Gene was assigned the project of building a cover. But when the cover couldn’t keep the Blue Heron out, Gene was assigned the project of moving the prefab inside the gazebo. Since the gazebo was already built, that was no simple task. But, alas, the pond was moved and the fish were protected.
After collecting fish, the pond became too small. And like so many of us, the Stogsdill’s needed a larger pond. Now there is a rectangular pond with cover at the back of the yard behind the swimming pool and beyond the gazebo. And there is also a quarantine pond near the house.
Tina was already aware of the questions on the member profile, so she had stories ready! For a funny story she told of the time she was balancing on the side of the small pond when she started to fall. She grabbed the lattice work that was around the pond, but it broke. Fearing that she was about to fall directly onto her favorite fish, she lunged across the pond and landed face down. She got up with a mouth full of dirt. Tina’s sister told Tina she was the only person she knew who could walk on water!
As far a tragic story, Tina tells of the time when the original pond was covered and she had ferns hanging around the pond. She noticed that one of the ferns was partially in the pond. When she went out to see about it, she found that a Blue Heron was making lunch of her favorite fish (the very one she walked on water to keep from falling on). The pond was covered with a seigning net to keep the birds out. But the Blue Heron tore through the net. Fortunately, the net protected the fish from the Heron until the pond could be moved inside the gazebo.
For the last year the Stogsdill’s have battled fish diseases that have taken many of their fish. They have saved some by injecting them and Tina has become quite expert at injecting them. But that would not have been necessary if they had quarantined a new fish. They learned a very tragic lesson. But the answer to the final question of "what advice would you give a new koi keeper" is: ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS QUARANTINE YOUR NEW FISH! But don’t forget to have fun with your pond and you fish.
Caught In The Net ByTodo
In my on going effort to idenify and recommend koi web sites, I have a great on for you this month. http://www.coloradokoi.com
This site has no less that 44 individual articles and points of interest. It has a clean look and a hardy sense of humor. Some of their articles are complete with charts and graphs, detailed and interesting. Articles I could not include here cover koi growth, weight, taxonomy and shows. Give them a look. Meanwhile here is a sample of what you’ll find there.
Domestic vs Japanese Koi: We are often asked, "Is there is a difference between Japanese and Domestic Koi"? Let's imagine a Japanese family from Japan. They move to the U.S. for business reasons. Are they still Japanese? Let's say they have a child born in the U.S. Is the child still Japanese? Now they raise the child in the U.S., and the child learns to speak English fluently. Is the child still Japanese? The analogy to Koi fish is the same. Domestic Koi are still Japanese Koi, but they have grown up hearing English instead of Japanese. Their gene pool is composed of the same DNA as in the Koi born in Japan. However, they may be more acclimated to the viral, bacterial and parasitic environment found in the U.S.
Koi Age: Many of us wonder, "how old is our favorite Koi"? One way to guess at the answer is to measure how long they are, and then check the Koi Growth Charts. However, most Koi have scales; thin, overlapping plates of bone that continue to grow throughout life. As they grow they do not increase in number, but rather increase in size. The growth of the scales is proportional to the Koi's growth, and annual marks are formed on the scales at the same time every year, along the outer edges. So if you look at a Koi scale, it turns out that just like trees in cross-section, they have annular rings. If your Koi has lost a scale, look at it closely, even under a microscope. Then count the number of annular rings, and your Koi is at least that old, but it maybe even older. This is more accurate for younger Koi, i.e., less than 5 years old. However, if a Koi looses a scale, and then grows it back, the new scale will not have any of the older rings. Also females may not add growth rings when they are reproducing, or grow some more after reproducing, causing 1 growth ring to look like 2. A more accurate way to judge a Koi's age is to examine the cross-section of a fin spine, which also has annular rings. The second anal fin spine is oftenused. This can be done without doing permanent damage, since the fin will grow back. The most accurate way to determine a dead Koi's age is to examine the Otolith (Williams and Bedford 1974). The Otolith is the Koi's "ear bone". Otoliths are part of Koi's vestibular apparatus, and reside in the cranial cavity. They are composed of calcium carbonate and protein. They function as sound receptors and are also used for balance and orientation. There are 3 pairs of otoliths or ear stones in the inner ear of a Koi. The largest pair of Otoliths, the sagittae, are routinely used for aging. So Otolith is synonymous with sagitta. Again you count the number of annular rings under a microscope. White bands are formed during the spring and summer months, while darker bands are formed during winter. The Koi's age can be approximated by counting the light and dark bands as one year.
Koi Can Taste: They have taste buds almost everywhere: On their lips Within their mouth cavity Their fleshy barbels (2 in each corner of the mouth) bear numerous taste buds and are highly sensitive to touch Most of their bodies are covered with innumerable taste buds, including their fins and tail
Koi Can Smell: The lining of the olfactory or nasal organ in Koi has special sensory cells to function as smell receptors.
Koi Can Blush: Koi show stress by blushing red in their fins and on their bodies. When they are handled in a net you can see the red in their fins, between the spines. Also when they are in a stressful environment, such as bad water, they will often show a red blush on their bodies under the scales. Sometimes they almost look like they have varicose veins. Often seen as red in the front spines of the dorsal fin, and on the caudal fin. If you see this they are trying to tell you something is causing them stress. Take measures to relieve the stress or you will start to lose Koi. This is similar to when we blush from embarrassment or stress.
How Do Fish Feel Pain? by Dean J. Earlix, Ph.D. <earlix.html> Revised from Water Gardening Magazine, Jan/Feb 1997
Reprinted from Oasis of The Santa Fe Pond Society and Koi Appreciation Club
Priscilla Winn posed the most difficult question I have yet received at my Internet Web site. She told of her fantail goldfish, badly injured by an animal attack three years ago, and asked me if it feels pain like we do.
The short answer is no. Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (recommended for translating biological science writing) defines pain as "A sensation in which a person experiences discomfort, distress, or suffering due to irritation or stimulation of sensory nerves, especially pain sensors." In other words, only humans feel pain. Human awareness of pain itself may add a whole new dimension to the experience, but we can also safely presume the Dictionary's editorial board was staffed by only one species. Rather than try to change the English language, permit me to reword the inquiry: do animals experience hurt-pain without intellectual awareness-like we do? This question is not so easily answered. Comprehending what is felt by a goldfish (with its specialized pain sensors, nervous system, and advanced brain) may best begin with insights into what simpler creatures feel when lacking one or more of "feeling" components.
Bacteria have receptors to many environmental stimuli. If exposed to a noxious chemical, mobile varieties will use hair-like cilia or whip-like flagellae to escape the irritation. This feature is a prerequisite to the definition of life; a reaction more basic than reflex since there is no awareness or even nerves for the signal to travel through. Single-celled creatures detect rather than feel stimuli; therefore, they can detect but not feel hurt. Single-celled pond creatures such as bacteria, algae, and protozoa are like responsive but unfeeling aquatic automatons. There are multiple-celled animals with specialized pain sensors and nerves, yet no detectable central nervous system. Can a mindless animal feel anything, or is it a case of no brain, no pain? About fifteen years ago, researchers presented cotton-wrapped electrodes, soaked in the juices of marine mussels, to hungry starfish. Each time a starfish reached for the experimental morsel, an electrical zap was administered and the creature drew away... then mindlessly reached again. After several hundred repeats, about a third of the starfish lost their taste for mussels. Despite the lack of a brain to accumulate and process memories, shocks penetrated beyond the moment of experience and triggered learning. It is possible that starfish, as well as worms, leaches, and other mindless pond denizens may, in a nebulous manner, experience hurt.
Laboratory studies have shown animals with a totally alien brain anatomy to be capable of experimenting and learning how to manipulate environment in order to obtain food. A moluskan cousin to the snail, the octopus, lacks a spinal cord or anything resembling the sort of brain that humans and goldfish evolved. Nevertheless, this creature betrays revealing glimpses of a mind as nimble as those of our more "intelligent" domesticated pets. The animal has senses to pick up stimuli, nerves to conduct them, and a brain capable of processing these inputs and directing behavioral changes. All parts are present to "feel" hurt, though how the mollusk mind handles this process and colors the experience is any human's guess.
Compared to these creatures, fish are close cousins to human beings. They have brains that very closely resemble ours, even featuring a telencephalon, the region of the cerebrum we humans use for "higher" thought. Of all the animals discussed, fish nerves and brains are most likely to interpret hurt the same way we do.
For example, just as you and I would feel the pierce of a needle more intensely in the skin of the face (with a high density of nerve endings) compared to an arm (with a low density), Priscilla's goldfish probably felt far more hurt from the damaged eye relative to body scratches or split fins. The fish brain may also function to tune out persisting hurt in a manner similar to the human brain. People become partially accustomed to multiple and long term discomfort, persevering with chronic pain that might stagger them if appearing out of the blue. I think it likely that fish become similarly inured; that ache from the injured eye is a constant companion to Priscilla's fantail, but that this chronic discomfort is below the surface of immediate awareness. Empathy with your pet does not have to be a negative experience. If it is tempered with an understanding of what the animal really does feel, as opposed to anthropomorphizing (projecting our human characteristics) empathy can enrich the pond keeping experienc. Imagine the alluring perfume of oxygen-rich water near the waterfall or air stone (studies show that fish can not only detect small elevations of dissolved oxygen, but are attracted to them). Imagine the water-borne equivalent of a latrine reek if you don't feel motivated to make a water change to remedy high concentrations of metabolic waste. Perhaps, though it might be stretching things, an occasional blood worm or frozen cube of brine shrimp can even distract a goldfish from aching war wounds.
By definition fish won't experience pleasure from any more than they experience pain; but if they can feel hurt, why not comfort? As you sit by the pond and watch your aquatic charges, contemplating different aquatic equivalents to pleasure might not just bring real empathy with the underwater world, but add a new dimension to the rewards of pond keeping. www.waterscapes.com/science/fishpain
President's Corner - President |
Office of Sec. - Anne |
#Caught In The Net by Todo |