Aug 1999
Selected Articles
|
Aug 1999 Selected Articles |
With excitement in the air we voted on the Pond of the year. The winner was Ken May with his gorgeous Pond. Ken received a beautiful Ginger jar handcrafted by Charlie. Congratulations to Ken. Ken Moran, our Photographer, did a superb job on the Pond photos. If anyone would like a copy enlarged, get in contact with Ken.
A small filter was raffled off after a presentation on bio-filters and the winner was Betty Lutcher.
To show, or not to show was the question, at the AFKAP 2000 show in Orlando. Eleven members decided to show koi English style. No one was willing to enter koi in a Japanese style show.
I am pleased to announce that Tina Stogsdill was appointed to Club historian. Tina shows great interest in the club and its activities. She also attends all meetings and events. Linda O’Steen became our third AFKAPS rep.
The next meeting will be held at Ken May’s. Let’s hope for a little less heat than we had last meeting. Fred a
Secretary's Report By By Charlie Meeting Date: July 11, 1999, Meeting Attendance: 50
Fred opened the meeting with information regarding AFKAPS. Each club will receive in excess of $500.00 from the March show, which is above the amount withheld for the deposit on next year’s show. We requested a commitment from those that would be interested in showing in Orlando if next year’s show is an English Style. There were 11 members that signed up which represents approx. 50 fish. If you would be interested in showing in Orlando please contact one of the board members or one of the AFKAPS Representatives to add your name to the list.
Don’t forget the Atlanta Koi Show, which will be held at Stone Mountain late September, please let me know if you would like information about this event.
The presentation for this meeting was a demonstration on building a filter. Fred did an excellent job on this and had blue prints available afterwards. I will have extra copies
at the next meeting let me know if you would like to have a set. The filter was raffled at the end of the meeting.
I gave a brief update on some of the information that I got from the AKCA Seminar in California. Unfortunately I was unable to get everything written up for this issue. I will provide more detailed information in next month’s newsletter.
aHaiku : Jewels in Words by Todo
Part II Writing Haiku in English: It is the assumption of educators that haiku in English should, at least in the beginning, conform to the standards of haiku in Japanese as far as practical. Complete adherence to Japanese standards is, as has been shown, impossible. However, experience has proved that beginners, unless they know at least something about Japanese standards and conventions, are apt to produce poems that have no relation whatever to haiku except in form. Remember, haiku must deal with nature and emotion.The most general area of agreement is on form. It is generally taught that form should be 17 English syllables divided into three lines of 5, 7 and 5. A few modify this by adding "about" or "approximately." Almost all specify that haiku should be unrhymed.
One danger of insisting on a strict 5-7-5 form is that a beginner may get the idea that form is all important -that any conglomeration of words in 5-7-5 is a haiku, and that every haiku must have that form exactly. It is a real danger, as this idea is already too prevalent.
Another danger is that an English verse can have a strict 5-7-5 syllable count and still not sound right. However, such verses seem to occur rather rarely in actual practice. When they do, they can usually be quite easily corrected.
One set of guidelines: A haiku has 3 lines ( 5 -7 -5 syllables ). We can define the rule that each line has one definite element as follows:
Line 1: where the event happens ( 5 syllables )
Line 2: what is happening ( 7 syllables )
Line 3: when it occurs ( 5 syllables ) ... Better to include seasonable phrases
And the steps to follow are:
1. Decide on your topic. (Much better to use a picture or an object.)
2. Make a list of phrases that tells where the action is occurring.
3. Make a list of phrases that tells what is happening.
4. Make a list of phrases that tells when the action is taking place.
5. Write a haiku using your favorite phrase from each list.
6. Make changes until you have your 17 syllables.
Suggestions For Beginners And Others: J. W. Hacket, who represents what may loosely be called the Basho school, and who is the author of Haiku Poetry (Tokyo, Hokuseido Press, 1964), has this to say:
1. Life is the fount of the haiku experience. so take note of this present moment.
2. Remember that haiku is a poetry of everyday life, and that the commonplace is it province.
3. Contemplate natural objects closely . . . unseen wonders will reveal themselves.
4. Identify with your subject, whatever it may be: "That art Thou."
5. Reflect in solitude and quiet, upon the notes of nature.
6. Do not forsake the Suchness of things -nature should be reflected just as it is.
7. Express your experience in syntax natural to English. Don't write everything in the Japanese 5,7,5, form, since in English this often causes padding and contrivance.
8. Try to write in three lines, of approximately 17 syllables.
9. Use only common language.
10. Suggest, but make sure you give the reader enough, for the haiku that confuses, fails.
11. Mention season when possible, as this adds dimensions. Remember that the season can be implied by the poem's subject and modifiers.
12. Never use obscure allusions: haiku are intuitive, not intellectual.
13. Don't overlook humor, but avoid mere wit.
14. Rhyme and other poetic devices should never be so obvious that they detract from the content.
15. Lifefulness, not beauty, is the real quality of haiku.
16. Never sacrifice the clarity of your intuition to artifice: word choice should be governed by meaning.
17. Read each verse aloud, for unseen contrivance is usually heard.
18. Bear in mind Thoreau's advice to "simplify! simplify! simplify!
19. Stay with each verse until it renders exactly what you wish to convey.
20. Remember R. H. Blyth's admonition that haiku is a finger pointing at the moon, and if the hand is bejeweled, we no longer see that to which it points.
Sources: http://www.taoismandpoetry.org/school2.htm http://www.vcnet.toyama.toyama.jp/~nabe/Haiku.htm
Ed: Personally I read and write (haltingly at nest) haiku and have started slipping in one here or there when I have space. Barbels hopes that everyone who sees this newsletter will feel inspired to write some haiku of your own. If you do, then send me your offerings and I’ll try to work some into the newsletter.a
These words are not mine, they appeared as an editorial in Pond Droppings, newsletter of Florida West Coast Koi & Water Garden Club
“Our club is one of the more successful ones in water gardening circles. We have a large membership, regular social gatherings with interesting programs, a 10 page newsletter with full advertising support, a great library, and efficient business meetings. But under this smooth exterior, our club has fallen into the same routine as many other organizations---the vast majority of work is being done by a very small minority of our members. The solution to this problem is simple. This is your club, and your club needs your help.”
Set up meeting sites and speakers
Set up and run a field trip
Establish and update a club web site
Host a meeting
Obtain publicity for club events
Carry tables and chairs to meetings
Provide storage for club equipment
Run for a club office
As I read this I knew only too well what the editor was talking about. Change a few details and the same things can be said about our club. Members want an active club, but too many don’t want to be active in the club. The club is as good as its members. What kind of club do you want?
Potasium Permanganate and Dr. Johnson's Fish Loss
Dr. Johnson is a controversial figure in koi circles. Some see him as a guru of koi health and others disagree with his views. The NFKC takes no position either way. What follows is presented for its information and as a causionary tale about mixing chemicals and koi.
Koivet's Update List - http://www.koivet.com Tonight I overdosed my koi on potassium by ten fold. I used four pounds in twenty two thousand gallons....I knew something was wrong within ten minutes but there was no way to undo the mistake...
If you've ever wished me some evil, today is your lucky day because I am a ruined man. I lost 'Oro', 'Stormy', and everyone dear to me, and a host of new, smaller fish I'd been picking up this spring to stock my 22,000 "pool to pond" experiment.
I did the math in my head, converting grams to pounds, and somehow figured 22,000 gallons was 2200 grams and 4.4 pounds of potassium. There was not enough peroxide to reverse it. Just about everyone has died.
I am stopping the "pool to pond experiment". I learned you should never keep your beloved fish in so much water that you cannot catch them for biopsy, thereby avoiding "shotgun" therapies. You should be able to dump your whole pond in an hour and do a massive water change when necessary. You should always have ample dechlor on hand.... I learned you should always do your 'dosing-math' on paper and run it by at least two or three math "noodlers".
It's funny, just before I added the potassium I thought, 'I wonder if I should call "Roark" in California and see if he agrees with this dose. 4.4 pounds in 22,000 gallons.....'
Tonight I shall have nightmares....of fish swirling around upside-down in the emergency triage, gasping, dying before my eyes. Betty is gone, Inky is dead, Jerry is dead, my new goldwing is gone. Tequiza, "the bastard", the bronze, I never even found my goromo to move him to quarantine.
The reason I am sending this message is to let you know a few of the things I have suddenly learned....After all, isn't that why I *always* write to you?
First: Never do dosing math in your head. Especially if you SUCK at math, like I do.
Second: I got a priorities-reality-check: I humbly thank God nothing is wrong with my *real* children. They are all so healthy and adorable, I hold them tonight at an emergency slumber party....I move their mattresses into my room so I can enjoy their stupid "farty" jokes and noises, while my fish expire in the triage... I imagine, God said to me, "Erik, your priorities are not right. Perhaps you are becoming vain about your collection. You are over-confident. You are materialistic."
Thirdly: The *most* important thing I learned is this: It's not WHAT you have in a collection...(The fancy Kujakus and leather platinums...) It's really about the *WHO* you have....Your personal friends, your "Oros", your "Stormies"...Your "Blancos"...your "Inkies"...
For those of you who *ever* lost a fish, or *will* lose a fish, I have become a better fish vet. I will better understand when you tell me that the loss of a particular fish broke your heart. I've been there, got the tee-shirt.
I most probably will *not* give up treating fish...I will not give up finding out better ways to care for them or to treat them. I will not stop sharing experiences if they may help someone somewhere, eventually....Even my screw-ups.
I *will* stop collecting fish....I cannot replace the "WHOS" in my collection even though the *whats* might be replaced easily.... I cannot be forgiven for killing my pets of so many years.
Please do not do this to your fish. Make sure your *math* is right every single time you use a medicine like potassium, or formalin, or chloramine. Anything where an overdose could be deadly. Don't get cocky like me and do it in your head and dose it like it was candy.
There are people who will read this and shake their heads without understanding. God bless you. There are people who have felt this same way at the loss of their fish. God bless you.
There are people who have expected me to be "perfect" in the treatment of fish. This is not true...God bless you. I recall the story of David H., a dear person to me, who lost all his fish one winter when his pond was pumped dry under the ice. I never really could understand a complete, or "total" loss. I recall the horror of his story to this day, frantically moving his few survivors to triage, etc....but nothing like that had ever happened to me before...
God has given me everything money cannot buy. My health, my family, my kids, and my career....but sometimes, he doesn't think twice about shaking up your priorities when they get skewed does he? Funny I just put six hundred bucks on my credit card for some fish I just "had to have"....I even promised Cecil I'd keep them alive....
If only I had.... Best wishes, Doc Johnson
Fish Math by TodoA few days ago I was teaching a lesson on volume and what happens to objects when they grow. I used an example of a koi in a pond. Perhaps you’d like to hear some of it.
You get a new fish and introduce it to your pond. For argument and to make the math simple, let the fish be 5 inches long, 2 inches deep and ½ inch wide. (5x2x½). This fish takes up 5 cubic inches. It eats, breaths, evacuates waste and generally does fish stuff. Its impact on your pond’s system is rather small.
Fast forward a year and after good care our koi is now twice its size (10x4x1). It now takes up 40 cubic inches. The ratio of its volume from one year to the next is 5 to 40, or 1:8. It is still doing fish stuff, but at 8 times the rate.
Another year and it is 15 inches long (15x6x1½). The volume is now 135 cubic inches, a ratio of 1:27 from when it was introduced to the pond.
If you have five or six of these fish growing and living in your pond, it doesn’t take a mathematician to see how these fish can quickly overcome a pond or its filter system’s ability to support a quality environment. So, when stocking a new pond or adding fish to an existing pond remember that fish don’t just grow in length, but in all directions.
Koi Information Central On Total Pond Kills
Ponds Are Being Wiped Out Since late June of this year, over 15 cases of near total pond kills have been reported, with no apparent common denominator as to the source of this gill epezoid. These epidzoid are not isolated to any one area. Reports of large fish kills have come in from Illinois, Oregon, California, Colorado and Georgia.
It is very likely that there is more than one disease and possibly several parasites involved in these problems i.e. Initial reports submitted by various Veterinarians across the country indicate every thing from a herpes virus, Trichodina, flukes, Ich, chilodinella, costia, and a bacteria, of the Aeromonas class.
What's being done. reported by Jeanenne Pershing of the Camellia Koi Club. The Northern Calif. folks have contacted Ron Hedrick at UC Davis. He has said this is likely the virus he found six months or so ago (originally seen in September of '98). The No. Cal. folks have arranged to get him infected fish next week and he has agreed to look at them to determine what's wrong. He says it will take two weeks from the time he receives the fish.
Reported in the AKCA Minutes of July 1999 Spike Cover went to the AKCA board meeting in July and made a (successful) pitch to have AKCA fund a "search for the cure." This project relates specifically to the gill disease that seems to be infecting many ponds. The AKCA approved $6,000 with the possibility to come back for more if needed. Spike envisions the following scenario: A selected researcher eventually isolates the bug or bugs causing the current gill disease problem. The Researcher grows the pathogen(s) and infects healthy fish, confirms they are sick as a result of the pathogen and then tests various treatments which are thought to possibly cure the disease. If a cure or cures is/are found, the results will immediately be posted on the AKCA and other web sites. Also, the information will be published in KOI USA.
Al Dentone is now financing an investigation to isolate the pathogen for a possible vaccine.
Report by Dr Eric Johnson Fish sent to UGA with gill disease symptoms and which were completely non responsive to antibiotics DID NOT HAVE viruses. This only refers to the fish sent to UGA and does not intend to reflect on what others may be seeing. Shoot this thing with all the drugs you want and it marches on. Interestingly, survivors are immune to future outbreaks. They can carry this pathogen and not be clinically affected for months. It does not require a parasite host. I am still convinced it's a bacteria, of the Aeromonas class
What I am doing Due to these recent fish kills in the koi hobby, it has been proposed, that a central data gathering area be set up to collect input and post output concerning any information pertaining to the recent fish kills. To that end, I have consented to tackle this job.
I intend to set up a newsletter containing recently released information. It is my intention to show no bias as to the source of the information - all researches/researchers that care to submit their results will be included. This newsletter will originally be sent to all AKCA Reps of record and E Mailed to anyone listed in the "Great Koi People" on the AKCA Web Site.
All of the information, except survey results, will be posted at www.koiusa.com/research/index.htm.
An open forum/bulletin board has been set up at www.koiusa.com/research/gills.htm
You can contact me at 520 682-7697 or 520 616-7822 between 1:00 PM and 9:30 PM PST or FAX 520-623-6188 E mail gills@koiinfocentral.8m.com
What can you do? Enclosed is a copy of a survey that has been prepared to help isolate a common denominator. It is very long and involved; and no one is expected to know, or fill in all of the questions. Please give a copy of this survey to anyone that you know who has had a large fish kill in the past year. The survey is also available on line a www.koiusa.com/infocentral/survey.htm Please note that the surveys will be strictly confidential and shared ONLY with the three Veterinarians noted below (if they so choose to participate)
Monetary, as well as equipment and man hour donations are needed. There are 3 investigators at present. Dr Ron Hedrick of UC Davis, Dr Joe Groff (N California) and Dr Eric Johnson (Atlanta Georgia). Their proposals, needs, etc are listed on this web site. Your donations will be channeled directly to the Investigator of your choice.
Fish: Ideally, it is best to examine live fish with the condition but that this is not always practical or desirable. However, with high losses, I would strongly encourage shipment of live sick fish. Fish that are well-packaged (double-bagged with minimal clean water and lots of oxygen; placed in a Styrofoam container with blue ice packs) generally do well using direct overnight shipment (UPS only) or airline courier service such as Delta Dash or Southwest. Otherwise, overnite express shipment of frozen fish packed on ice or dry ice would also be useful but is less than ideal since a complete examination on frozen fish is impossible. These fish can be used for bacterial and viral isolation although there is no guarantee that the pathogen will be isolated and a histopathological examination on frozen fish is impossible. Tissues (especially the gills but also the internal organs) should be fixed in 10% buffered formalin (available at your local friendly vet or lab, this prevents the isolation of pathogens but can at least provide a diagnosis; that is, if the condition is this particular gill problem or a separate problem.
Get the word out there. Please let everyone you can think of know about this potential pathogen. If you are responsible for a koi newsletter or web site, please include as much of the information enclosed here as you can afford. Please do not cause a panic. These pathogens have NOT been traced to any particular source or geological area. At present, advise Koi Keepers to quarantine all new fish. Stress that they maintain excellent water quality and practice good nutrition for their pets.