Sep 2002
20th Anniversary Year
Selected Articles
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Sep 2002 20th Anniversary Year Selected Articles |
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What a great turn out for our summer party! Many thanks to JoAnne
Rutherford for finding the Civic Center for us and with the help of Tina Gasson who did
the lucky bamboo centerpieces, decorating...and, of course, to Pat Rutherford for making a
run to the grocery store for plates. The food seemed even better than usual, if that's
possible. It was nice to have air conditioning and a roof over our heads even though, for
once, it didn't rain. Thank you all for your patience with the delay...I like to think of
it as Happy Hour.
Voting for the 2002 Pond of The Year was held. The Eggemeyer pond took third place, Henry and Charlotte Kallina, second place and Dan and Barbara Wehby's pond was first. A stone plaque engraved by Dave Brown was given to the Wehbys. Dave and Sherrie Brown graciously withdrew from competition as they won last year. In the hotly contested "Mud Pond Division," Dave and Linda Hagen were the overwhelming winners. C.R. Carter, club videographer, presented each participant with a copy of the video of the entire tour.
Our guests for the evening, Joe and Sherrie White, brought a slide presentation of their trip to Japan last fall. We all enjoyed the tour of fish breeders and bathrooms. The scenery was wonderful and pictures of the fish even better. So now we know, if you go....take your calculator and snacks. Thanks also, to Shirley Stone for the impromptu screen.
The September meeting will be held at Henry and Charlotte Kallina's. If you missed her
pond on the tour this year, you definitely want to take a look. The landscaping around the
pond is great (you know we plant people stick together) and the setting right on the water
is lovely. Oh yes,
for you non-plant people, there will be a fish auction. A great big thanks to everyone who
pitched in to pick up and clean up the hall. It was a requirement of our contract and we
accomplished it in
record time. It was fun filling in for Tim and a enjoyed everyone's friendship and
cooperation. See you at the Kallina's! Jan Brown
Secretary's Report By Todo Not much to say this month with the last meeting being the summer party. We had a great turn out of 47 members and guests. JoAnne did a fantastic job with setting up the room and we wish to thank the Civic Center for the rent of their hall. It was just the place to hold a big meeting in the hot summer.
The club might like to know that as of the publication of this issue NFKC is up to 144 members. With 35 to 45 members attending each meeting we have 25%-32% of the membership active all the time with another 10%-15% active on a regular basis. A club is as strong as its active members, so we are pretty powerful.
Koi Keeping & Hand Washing By Rich Street
After a presentation on microscopy at our local club meeting, a fellow Koi hobbyist who had just viewed a particularly ugly fluke asked if it was possible to “catch” anything from handling the Koi. While I knew that particular ugly fluke wasn’t going to jump up and attach itself to any club members, I wasn’t sure what else might. Looking for answers to that question led me to research this article.As to “catching” something from your Koi, let me stress that you should always wash your hands thoroughly before and after handling fish. For Koi hobbyists, the potential for human illness can come from the pond water, fish parasites or actual diseases. Infections or infestations of animals that can be transmitted to humans are called zoonosis or zoonotic. Remember the old school nurse who always told you to wash your hands to prevent infections? It is still true, especially when working on or in your pond.
Our pond water is normally not a problem, however, if there is a run off into the pond, the pond is a drinking source for local animals, or if water (in the form of wild water plants) is brought in the form unknown sources, Giardia can become a problem. Giardia (Giardia lamblia) makes its home in the small intestine of mammals (not fish) and the symptoms can range from none in light infections to severe, chronic diarrhea in heavy infections. Don’t drink the pond water.
Many of our fish have parasites, such as crustaceans, flukes, protozoans, roundworms, and tape-worms. Other than the worms, most of these parasites don’t want much to do with us humans. Worms are usually only transmitted by ingestion, so don’t eat your Koi! Most Koi professionals don’t wear gloves when handling fish as they are concerned with dropping the fish, but they all wash their hands frequently after handling a fish and so should you.
Catching a disease from Koi is extremely rare, but possible. One of the most troublesome is the bacteria belonging to genus Mycobacterium. It’s the same type of bacteria that can cause tuberculosis in humans, can be found in fish and in the pond. Affected fish may exhibit several external symptoms such as anorexia, Popeye, skin discoloration and external lesions such as ulcers, nodules and fin rot. Some may exhibit no external symptoms, but upon post mortem, grayish-white lesions may be seen in the kidney, liver and spleen. The usual suspect is a fish that is thin, losing weight and probably older. The bacteria usually prefer the cooler temperatures of fish, but can infect humans through cuts or abrasions or handling infected fish. Such an infection in humans usually shows in the form of an infected nodule in the skin (granulosa), although there is a chance of a more serious internal infection. The other common types of pond or fish bacteria, Aeromonas or Pseudomonas, can also infect humans. Avoid these bacterial diseases by wearing gloves and washing hands thoroughly with antibacterial soap before and after handling the pond water or fish (the before is to protect the fish, the after is to protect the people.)
Do not use this information to avoid touching your fish. There is probably more potential for disease transmission in petting your dog after a romp in the woods or cleaning your cat’s litter box. In disease prevention, like pond keeping, cleanliness is our best tool. Wash your hands after playing in the pond or cleaning filters and wear gloves if working on an obviously infected fish.
Please note that people who have a compromised immune system (from HIV, chemotherapy, organ transplantation, heavy doses of Prednisone or other steroids) should check with their doctor before handling fish, especially sick fish. Thank you to Sandy Yosha, DVM, for her contributions.
Sources: http://www4.nationalacademies.org/cls/ijhomes.nsf/ http://www.biosci.ohio-state.deu/~parasite/giardia.html
http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/Undergrad/Seigel/ http://www.rk2000/cp./rkaquaria/disease.html#Tuberculosis
Our Field Trip to the Koi Farm
Twenty five members gathered at the Sears parking lot early Saturday (Aug 17) morning and off we went to Black Water Creek Fish Farm. It was an easy trip down and we found the farm right away. Joe Pawlak met us in the drive way and made us feel welcome.
We were at his home and the first farm he established 5 years ago. Joe said he had a 20 acre property a mile away where he grows out his fish, but it was too deep in mud for us to see. He also has other acreage near Tallahassee. He came to koi farming through his aquaculturalist and Aquatic Eco-systems background. Joe makes several trips to Japan a year and has worked at farms there to learn their techniques. All his ponds are lined with EPDM or industrial grade polyetheline
Joe imports much of his breed stock from japan and they spawn year round. The eggs are removed from the females and mixed with sperm from the males in a container then the eggs are placed on spawning mats. They hatch in 4 days. Joe says that koi eggs swell to six times their size once outside the female. Black Water Creek has adopted the policy that they will not buy fish for resale. They will only sell fish they have spawned and raised themselves. In these days of one koi disease after another, this policy is very comforting for all fish buyers.
As we entered the farm proper there were two small ponds to our right with a large pond behind. On the left were two other ponds, one with fish he will be shipping out soon and another where he keeps much of his brood stock. He keeps some brood stock in all his ponds so if one pond goes bad Joe will still be in business.
In the middle of the farm is a roofed shack area where all the packing and shipping takes place. There are several more ponds on the property including one that Joe seined out to show us how it is done. He and two helpers stretched a long net across the pond and pulled it slowly towards us. Several times his man Frank had to get in the pond to make sure the bottom of the net did not lift up and let fish escape. As it was many fish managed to avoid the net or jump over it. Connie Langston also got her turn pulling on the lines.
Once the net came in Joe netted out several bowls of fish for us to inspect. He took a long time showing us what he looked for when culling fish and explaining what he expects to get when different varieties of koi are crossed. The fish he had in this pond were diseased with flukes and other common parasites, but not to worry as all ponds have these creatures and he makes sure all his fish are clean before they leave the farm.
He showed us how he bags and boxes fish for shipment. First a measured amount of treated water is shot into the bag. Joe’s shipping water has 0.5% salt and other medications included. After the fish are in he double bags them and closes up the double-walled cardboard box. It is then to the airport and on to the customer. He says shipping is expensive. A box of fish from Japan may cost $300 in shipping alone. This is one reason why Japanese fish are so costly in the USA.
We also visited a screened in building where he quarantines his fish. The space has a cat walk between 6 large round tanks set up in a six-pack arrangement. The filter system for this building is a gravity feed to the filter were the water is forced through a 60 micron screen to remove solids and then through two large vats full of bio-material. When the screen gets clogged a spray cleaning system automatically turns on and knocks all debris off the screen.
Once we had the full tour Joe opened up several tanks with fish to buy. The club bought three fish that will be available for auction in December.
Blower, Air Pump or Compressor
Know the best air compressor for your application?Oil-less Air Compressors The primary difference between the names blowers, air pumps and compressors is the pressure to which they can compress air. All air compressors used for aquaculture purposes should be “oil-less”.
Air Pressure First determine the pressure required. To form bubbles, you must have enough pressure to overcome the water pressure at the diffuser’s depth, the piping friction loss and the diffuser’s resistance to air flow. Here is an example: With a water depth of 36 inches, a low-resistance piping system, say 4 inches H2O and a low-resistance air diffuser, say 10 inches H2O (just prior to cleaning). You will need air pressure of at least 50 inches H2O. This is equal to about 2 PSI. Regenerative blower type compressors are preferred in the aquaculture industry because they are the most reliable and economical in this pressure range.
Air Volume Your next consideration is the volume of the air needed to accomplish the job. If you have only one fish room for example, you may want one linear air pump compressor with ad additional one for emergency backup. In a larger facility, you might want two or more primary blower compressors and one emergency backup.
Air Flow When using low pressure air, it’s important that the air piping system and diffuser offer little resistance to air flow.
Special Situations If you must go deep under the water or use a high-resistance diffuser, you’ll need to look at higher pressure compressors.
Blowers Blowers are designed to provide large volumes of air at low pressures (less than 4 psi) and are most commonly used in conjunction with air diffusers and air lifts. This combination adds oxygen and removes CO2 with low power consumption. Typical applications include recirculating fish systems, bait and lobster holding facilities, and shallow pond aeration using the Fat Cat TM design.
Air Pumps Fractional horsepower linear compressors fill the gap between aquarium air pumps and blowers. Units supply up to 4.8 cfm and can pus down to 10 feet. These fit perfectly in applications such as Koi ponds, bait shop tanks, classrooms, laboratories, etc.
Compressors Oil-less rotary vane and piston compressors are the tool to use where depths are greater than 8 feet such as lake aeration, algae culture and lobster ponds. These compressors allow airlines to be run thousands of feet when electricity is not near the water body. As little as 3/4 hp compressor can be used to aerate and destratify a eutrophic 10 acre lake. Forest City Pond Club Newsletter, March
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