Genesee Valley

Pond & Koi Club Newsletter

 Volume 7 Issue 3                                                                                                             March 2003

Koi from The San Diego Show

Doistu Yamabuki Harawake  

Doitsu - Koi with no scales other than enlarged scales along the lateral line and two lines running either side of the dorsal fin.

Yamabuki - Yellow - gold color .

Harawake - A two- colored koi with platinum base overlaid with orange or gold.

 Take note of the bright, clean metallic head of this koi..

Orenjii Matsuba Butterfly

Butterfly - Longfin form of koi, dragonfin is another name.

Matsuba - Black center to the scale, giving a pinecone appearance.

Butterfly - Longfin form of koi, dragonfin is another name.

Take note of rich orange color of this koi, especially its "clean" head. Also the deep, symmetrical color in pectoral fins.

Note: these pictures were taken with a Canon Power Shot S30 digital camera. Koi are always extremely difficult to photograph due to overhead lighting and sun glare. Ripples from the wind or bubbles from airstones also cause frustration! Of course, the fish never stay still or are at the correct angle or by themselves! I hope you enjoy these glittering jewels! Larry            PS: These were not the winners!

Nau Hear This!

I hope that you enjoyed the video on constructing a dedicated Koi pond. There were a few general points of interest, but the biggest difference to me was the highly labor intensive methods that were used to construct this modern pond. While it is interesting to check out alternate concepts, I'm sure that as one of our members said, if this was the only presentation and information that a potential pond builder might have, they could easily be discouraged from trying to build or have a pond. Fortunately, we have far more options and construction styles that made it possible for all of us to have our own style and personality ponds.

I wart to thank Larry Nau for his comments regarding some of the new materials that should be available this year as well as some potential plant shortages that may occur due to the unusual weather in the southern states where they are grown. He reminded me that I had overlooked the MAKC show in our calendar. It will be August 5-10, 2003 at the Dulles Expo and Conference Center, Chantilly, Va.. He also indicated that he would check into the cost of tours that might be available in case our members or neighboring clubs are interested. We will have more details in future newsletters on the show programs and tour status.

As you can see from the calendar on the cover page, March will be a very active month. There are too many events to detail each one. The many garden shows and presentations not only offer us a break from the winter blues but can be a source of ideas and creative combinations for use in our own gardens. I'm sure that you will enjoy any of them that you car, work into your schedule. I hope that our presentation on pumps, plumbing and repairing pond leaks will be timely and get everyone into the spirit of THINK SPRING.

However, before we leave winter behind us, did you ever wonder "What Goes On Under The Ice?" Maureen Lynch brought this article by Ed Kanze in Adirondack Explorer to my attention. While he refers to natural ponds some o the highlights that 1 will present here apply to our garden ponds and our collection of plants and creatures as well. Northern winters pose many difficult challenges for all the things trial live in fresh water. They fine themselves spending several months trapped in a wet, dimly lit world between muck, a hard bottom of various materials and the hard face of the ice on the surface above them. Here, the temperature almost everywhere is a steady but chilly 39 degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts. This, as we all know, is the temperature at which water is at it's maximum density. Cooling it beyond this point, causes it to expand making it less dense, allowing it to float to the top and eventually become more ice.

The cold drives most aquatic animals into hibernation or a rasher sluggish state staying just above, on or nestled within the muck bottom. At this point the main obstacle to their survival is finding sufficient oxygen. Natural ponds and lakes go through a cyclical process called a fall turnover that churns and oxygenates the water as the temperatures change. But with the coming of the ice and snow cover, there is little or no opportunity for additional oxygen to find it's way into the water from above.

The result is tae oxygen levels decrease continually as the winter goes on. It is not only the fish but aerobic bacteria, aquatic insects; other creatures and decaying materials that consume this vital element. Even the plants play a role in using up oxygen since in the dim light they use more than they produce. For comparison purposes the water beneath the ice becomes somewhat like .a giant scuba tank that is filled with dissolved oxygen in the fall turnover. The living things then tap into this supply throughout the winter but by spring ice-out time, the tank may be nearly empty.

Here are a few of the possible survival techniques used by some of the creatures that may have found a home in and around our ponds.

Turtles may burrow into the muck and lying still absorb "small amounts of oxygen through their bladder and the walls of its bowel." They also use a metabolic process called glycosis, which is breaking down of glycogen into lactic acid without the use of oxygen. to gain additional energy. As for the fish, they keep active to varying; degrees. Some tend to lie torpid on or near the bottom while others may be quite active moving about and even feeding and as deep waters lose oxygen, they may shift their base of operation to shallower waters.

Most amphibians hibernate in winter but some newts move around under the ice. They do not require a large amount of oxygen and may acquire it with occasional gulps from air pockets under the ice or perhaps by diffusion through the skin. The green frog makes ready for winter by storing high concentrations of glucose in it's cells. This Sugar acts like antifreeze and possibly an energy source to help the frog to survive until spring.

This is but a brief glimpse of some of what going on under the ice. There are also aquatic mammals that stay active and around the pond throughout the winter. Since most of them would not be desirable in our situation, I have not included them in this summary. But the author concludes his presentation and sums it up well by using a quote from Thoreau after he peered through a hole in the ice... "Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." food container. We knew that they could sense these things and considered it to be a form of hearing or response to pressure changes and vibrations detected by their bodies. A short item in Aquascape Lifestyles magazine "Did You Know...?" column shed some additional light on this in particular for koi. Koi have a natural type of amplifying system called the Weberian Apparatus which other fish do not posses. It consists of four pairs of bones known as ossicies that form a linkage from the inner ear to the swim bladder. This connection greatly improves the koi's ability to hear.

From the same column a discussion on frogs croaking indicates that :n most species it is only the male that croaks to attract females and to establish their territory. This was fairly common knowledge I’m sure for all of us. But many frogs puff themselves up enormously with air, not just to be able to croak but to amplify the sounds made by it's vocal cords. This is similar to the way the stretched membrane of a drum works and that is why a little critter like a frog, can generate such loud sounds that can travel longer distances.

We have talked many times about our fish in general but especially the koi responding to our approach as well as our presence once we have arrived They can be trained to come for feeding by various sounds even the shaking of their.

"Understanding Pathogenic Bacteria" was an article in the Mid-Atlantic Koi magazine by Tom Holder. He claims that understanding pathogenic bacteria can be one of the most important things in keeping your pond and fish healthy.

The two most common ones are Aeromonas and Pseudomonas. These two bacteria probably kill more koi each year than all the other pathogens combined. Understanding how they live, eat and attack your fish could be vital toward controlling them. Aeromonas and Pseudomonas can cause  ulcers and fin, mouth and tail rot. If these diseases are left untreated, the damage they cause could eventually kill the fish. Unfortunately these bacteria exist in almost every pond in the world even though the fish may not exhibit any of the symptoms mentioned. The fishes primary defense mechanism against these bacteria are their slime coat and their natural immune system.

The big question is: how much of these bacteria can fish be exposed to without getting sick'? Unfortunately field testing has revealed that there is no set level that will cause problems. The overall health of the fish will significantly affect their response to the bacteria. Therefore; each fish will have it's own individual tolerance level based on the condition of it's slime coat and the strength of it's immune system.

You can now see that you must fight this battle on two fronts. First you want to reduce the pathogenic bacteria level as low as possible. You can do this by focusing on improved mechanical filtration to remove the fish waste as quickly and thoroughly as possible. You can also add commercial products to combat the proliferation of the Aeromonas and Pseudomonas bacteria.

On the second front, you want improve the ability of the fish to tolerate or ward off these bacteria. This means raising the overall health of the fish and strengthening their immune system. This can be accomplished by keeping water quality as high as possible with ammonia nitrite, nitrate pH arid other parameters within optimum acceptable limits. Do periodic water changes and feed with quality staple foods and a variety of acceptable fresh foods There are two additional factors that roust also be considered in this battle Parasites can bore holes through the protective slime coat creating an opening for the bacteria to penetrate and start to cause ulcers or other symptoms. Keeping the pond as parasite free as practical is also critical to maintaining healthy fish. Finally stress, seasonal changes and water temperature fluctuations can have an adverse affect on the fishes immune system.

You car. win these battles against pathogenic bacteria if you fight the battle on both fronts and your fish can continue to entertain you for a longer period of time.

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