Dec 2002
20th Anniversary Year
Selected Articles
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Dec 2002 20th Anniversary Year Selected Articles |
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We sure had a great meeting at Jan Brown’s house. I’m glad we had so many attend and sign up for the show. The new faces in the club are great. The club is growing it seems by every meeting. What a great feeling, to know that all that we do to get the word out about our great hobby is working. Thank you Jan!
This board’s goal was to be able to help teach people how to care for their Koi in a healthy manner, and to be better pond keepers. This board had another goal and that was to have the largest NFKC fall show ever. To do this we needed the club to back us. I want to say that with your backing of the 2 day show it was the largest show this club has ever had. Everyone involved said what a well, organized show we had. The rain did dampen things but all the Koi were judged. The Judges did an outstanding job for the show. We felt so bad for them with the way the weather turned out but they were keeping us up beat the whole time.
Todo, Sandee and Sherri White withstood the rain and the fact that there were over 150 Koi to be logged and accounted for. Sherri White helped Todo learn a new state of the art computer program for running the show. It worked great and Todo had no problem catching on. With all that we also had the best Banquet of any show prior to this one. Jan Brown did a wonderful job with finding the caterer and the facility to hold the Banquet. CR’s slide show added so much during the dinner and again during the raffle. What a, sight to finally get to see each winning Koi pictured as the awards were given. Thanks CR Carter.
A very special thanks to JIM ROBERTS and Co-Chairs ROD LAWTON and SHERRI BROWN for pulling all this together. As Jim has said it takes more than one person to put on a show and he sure proved that it takes all of us to make things happen. I want to thank DAVE BROWN for the safe keeping of the Koi while they were in the tanks. We had no water quality problems and even though the rain usually messes up the water Dave was on top of it before it gave our Koi a problem. Thanks Dave Brown. Dan Wehby also had a lot to do with our Koi’s safety because he was our security man. Dan also went around the facility and checked each outlet for ground fault circuit and found some faulty and made the repair as needed. He was there from dusk to dawn and checked each tank often for any problems. Thanks Dan Wehby. I could go on for pages but I don’t have the luxury to do so. I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS with out everyone helping this show could not have been a success.
Lets not forget this next meeting is a party for the club. Though it is not required, all who want to participate in the gift exchange at the party on the 14th of December at 5pm please bring a $10-$15 value gift. For every gift you get one ticket. When your number is called you get your choice of any of the gifts. While pond related is customary it is not required. Please bring a covered dish and your chair. Till we meet again, Tim Gasson
Secretary's Report By Todo 37 Members and Guests
After Tim called the meeting at Jan Brown’s to order, Dan Wehby gave a report on the 2003 Nominating committee. He said that there had been no other nominations than those for the present officers. His call for any nominations from the floor brought no response, so he declared the present board would serve for 2003. (Note that NFKC has term limits after 2 years in an office. All offices will be up for election in 2004)
Several members wanted to have an updated membership list with addresses for Christmas card sending. Those lists were compiled and mailed to them. In the future the club will distribute contact lists with names, phone # and email.
The rest of the meeting was dedicated to the Koi Show. Jim was going to be on Ch. 4 on Thursday (It went very well). Just about every aspect of the show was discussed including a last chance to sign up for volunteer jobs. T-Shirts were ordered and paid for. The shirts were ready for the show.
There was a short discussion on length of time to quarantine fish. Tim mentioned that there was a virus the did not show itself for 3 months. Several months is not too long to quarantine fish.
AMMONIA AS A FRIEND By Alen Howelis, Indigo Ponds, via MAKC Dec. 02
The beneficial and essential bacteria which colonize our bio-filters can take many weeks or months to develop and take hours (or even minutes depending on our level of negligence) to destroy.
First, a brief recap for the beginning koi (or any fish) keeping hobbyist: Koi respire and excrete small amounts of ammonia into their watery world. This byproduct of their life cycle is harmful or fatal to them if not removed in some manner.
Specialized bacteria which develop and inhabit surfaces within the water actually digest and break down this ammonia into nitrite which is further broken down by another type of bacteria into nitrate which is far less harmful to your fish and actually beneficial to the plant life in your pond. We koi keepers usually stock higher densities of fish in our ponds (betcha’ can’t keep just one) than Mother Nature does in a natural pond so we supplement this bacteria’s potential with the surface area provided on the media in our bio-filtration systems. These bacteria need water, oxygen and a source of food (a proper amount of ammonia) to survive.
This year, Barry and Susan Hixson, with the assistance of Indigo Ponds (blatant self-promotion!) Expanded and upgraded their backyard pond. While the fish were temporarily housed in show tanks, Barry cleverly rigged a temporary circulation loop from the tanks through an existing from the tanks through an existing Aquadyne filter and back again. A separate 50 gallon bio-reactor type filter could not easily be incorporated into this temporary life support system. An air supply was kept running in the bio-reactor for oxygen, but without a food supply (the fish’s ammonia) the bacteria in this “off-line” filter would have perished during renovations.
We elected to keep this filter active by ‘feeding’ it. Common household ammonia (without any surfactants or additives) was the food supply. Susan took a one gallon sample of the filter’s water and added enough measured ammonia to bring the percentage of ammonia up to one part per million verified with an ammonia test kit. This amount was multiplied by the number of gallons in the filter and added to the filter (in this case, a total of twelve cubic centimeters of ammonia as measured with a syringe).
We gave the filter 24 hours before retesting. No ammonia was present after 24 hours so we added the same amount again and checked after 12 hours. Again the ammonia had been consumed. We added again and checked after 8 hours and all the ammonia was gone. The filter may have converted the ammonia in a shorter period of time than our monitored results proved but we were very busy working on the pond renovations and were satisfied with our results.
To keep the filter at maximum ammonia breakdown capacity, we would have initially measured ammonia consumption every hour to determine our rate of re-dosage. There was a slight nitrite spike detected in the middle of all this feeding and measuring but not significant enough for concern. This method of keeping a filter alive is only for when there are not fish present and for situations where the bacteria might suffer from extended downtimes such as renovation work, pond medicating (where medication might kill the bacteria), etc. Also, be careful. Too much ammonia added will kill the bacteria as well so measure carefully. Kudos to the Hixson’s for providing an improved home for their beloved koi and data for this article.
TAP WATER KILLS From Pond Droppings Nov. 2002
Every few months we hear of another pond keeper whose fish all died after adding the same water we all drink to a pond, or after putting new fish into a pond the just filled with drinking water from a municipal water source. We repeat this warning to all new pond keepers, bit it remains one of the most common reasons why our fish die.
All water you purchase from a municipal water source contains chloramine. Chloramine is a mixture of chlorine and ammonia that is designed not to break down with time and sunlight, as many of you are used to with chlorine-only water systems. So when you fill the pond with water, wait a couple of days, and throw in your fish, they have to contend with residual chlorine and as much as 4.0 PPM of ammonia as well, either of which can be deadly to any of your finny friends. Even if they live, you have probably friend their gills.
The solution to this problem is to develop a routine that won’t allow you to forget the running water, or that won’t allow the chlorine and ammonia to harm your fish. Tossing in the hose and then saying I’ll be back in ten minutes won’t do the job any longer.
* Use an automatic shut-off meter on your hose + a chloramine treatment
* Use an automatic shut-off timer on the hose + a chloramine treatment
* Carry a timer in your pocket, or in some other place where you can’t miss the timer’s sound
* Use a reminder (the old string around the finger trick)
* Install a whole-house filter on the hose you use to fill the pond
* Add water to a barrel, add a chloramine treatment, and then add the treated water the pond
First, I would like to say thank you to the North Florida Koi Club members for their support of the 16th Annual Fall Koi Show. Even with a weekend of wet and cold weather we pulled it off. There were both existing members and new members pulling together to overcome the adverse weather. The help we received putting up and taking down the tanks and working on the new computer program was terrific. It was quite a challenge for those members who had to follow the three judges around, holding umbrellas over them, as well as for those who kept up with the results at each tank. I won't name each person individually because I'd surely forget someone, but you know who you are, and I can't thank each of you enough for this effort.
It was fortunate we decided to put up tents because our vendors were able to stay somewhat dry. We had more vendors than ever before, giving club members a chance to purchase koi and koi supplies. We hope they did well despite the rain.
On Saturday evening at our banquet we handed out some beautiful crystal trophies, engraved with the club logo and category. C.R. Carter supplied us with a digital picture show, which was a first for our club and definitely something we will do in the future. It was wonderful to see pictures, so large and clear on the wall, as the judges talked about each winning fish.
I am so proud of the way this year's show turned out. It was nerve-wracking and exhausting but very satisfying to see it all come together, in spite of the weather. We had our first taste of a two day show and now realize what a big undertaking it is. Next year we will need twice the volunteers and more cooperation from Mother Nature.
Jim Roberts, Co-Chairperson