Join Us for a Group Trip to Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery!

Transcription

1 October 2010 Issue Editor: Carol Mathis From the Oval Pond: Lot s of Upcoming PKWS Events By: Mary Ellen McClain October proves to have 3 active KOI related weekends. Hopefully you ll be able to take part in one or all of these. Jeff Reiter is planning a fish sale, Terry McClain is planning a field trip to Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery and the third is our monthly social. I hope to see some old familiar or new faces over these next few weeks! Regards, Me Join Us for a Group Trip to Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery! On Saturday September 18, 2010, Cecelia Smith and Wayne Pritchett came to assist with ticket sales on our Pond Tour. One topic of conversation during the day was the delicious food that Eleanor Ubry had prepared and served at last month s social at her home in Gastonia. Those of us who did not attend missed a very nice social, a lovely pond, good company and exceptional food. Attendance for the Pond Tour was very low. We only had 10 visitors, and 5 of these were club members. The cost of insurance was $400, and due to a compatibility issue with printing of the brochures, some driving directions were incorrect. Friday night, I printed a MapQuest directory, and cost for printing was $ The next PKWS membership group that plans a Pond Tour needs to take into consideration that this event did not turn out as successful as hoped. I personally believe the minimal advertising conducted was the cause for this financial loss. We will discuss the details at our October social. Incidentally, the location for the next social has been changed due to health reasons for one of our club members. The Horn-Stead s, in Concord, volunteered to host the October meeting. Be sure to check the newsletter for directions. On Saturday, October 16 th, we will be traveling as a group to The Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery in Kernersville, NC. We will meet at the McDonald s on Bruton Smith Boulevard and I-85 in Concord, and will depart promptly at 12:30 PM. Our tour at the Hatchery begins at 2:00 PM. We have been asked to arrive as a group, as they are normally closed on Saturdays, so if you plan on attending, you must meet us at McDonalds. The Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery was started in 1958 and is a nationwide supplier of Koi and Goldfish. We met Rick Brown over 20 years ago, and he was very instrumental in getting us hooked on koi and in organizing the inaugural meeting of a small group of enthusiasts that evolved into PKWS.

2 PKWS OCTOBER 2010 ISSUE PAGE 2 such as an Aqua Forte Sieve that keeps fish poop out of THE LILY PAD: MEET OUR MEMBERS the water column. My 150 gallon Rubbermaid bio filter has worked like a charm in keeping the water clear coupled By Lisa Freeman with the Emperor 40 watt UV light. The pond is in full sunlight 10 hours per day, so the UV has really helped to keep green water at bay. We have two 3 aerated bottom drains that have kept the pond floor ultra clean and a Savio skimmer that keeps the leaves and any other floating debris in this heavily wooded property free from the surface. I d love to build a DIY sand and gravel filter to polish the water even further next year and a foam fractionators to rid the pond of DOC s. Unfortunately, I have very little space to add another piece of equipment! I ve had a lifelong obsession with animals, and not just fish. As a child in NYC, I nursed pigeons with damaged feet back to health, had stray dogs follow me home (even though my mother noticed they had name tags) and spent summers with family in Galicia, Spain, milking cows and pitching hay. I ve owned rats, cats, gerbils, a 165 pound English Mastiff, and even made some cash hand-taming parrots as an entrepreneurial teen. I ve had every sort of tropical fish you can image since childhood from African Cichlids to Zebra Danio s and I worked through high school and college at a family-owned tropical fish shop in Manhattan. It wasn t until I bought a home with a pond that my obsession with koi began. That pond was 20 years old and around 1,500 gallons, but the owner had never built it with filtration in mind. Twenty odd comet goldfish lived in despicable pea-green soup water with overgrown plantings, no filter, a foot of muck on the pond floor, no water changes ever occurred and the home owner smugly said that he never even fed them. Gosh, I thought, I ve got to save these fish! After purchasing the house, which needed a complete overhaul itself, I set upon retro fitting the pond. My hubby, Matt, was scratching his head at the effort, but I just kept saying, I can t let these poor 29 cent comet goldfish suffer like this! I built a 55 gallon filter out of a barrel and added a retro bottom drain. I added a small UV and quickly did much needed water changes, and within a week the water miraculously turned clear. I could finally see these little feeder goldfish! Of course, that s when the bug bit hard and I got a few koi. Eventually, I re-homed the original goldfish, which had grown quite large after the improved conditions and feedings and set upon collecting koi. Early this year I decided to ditch the old pond and build a 5,000 gallon semi-raised pond that was done right from the beginning and not a retro-fit. It sports a mix of DIY plumbing and filtration combined with some high tech equipment Weekly water changes of at least 30% are a religious norm, but thanks to our fantastically nutrient rich well water, I ve been exploring an ongoing trickle system where pond water is replaced daily. I m probably doing an % water change weekly now with just natural water flow, and the fish are happy, the water quality is outstanding and the maintenance of water changes has been eliminated. I ve had next to no issues this pond season. Knock on wood! Our 15 koi are from Lotus Land Koi Farm, Blue Ridge Hatchery and Tarheel Koi all native North Carolinians. I confess, that I saved a winning Sanke (Big Alice) and Matsuba (Goldie Hawn) from Petsmart three years ago that cost a mere $7.99, which have turned out to be gems and I will never part with them--both are about 15 inches now. We have three Watonai goldfish from Raingarden Farms in Hawaii, which are pretty rare in the USA and an old breed in Japan. They are bred by crossing a ryunkin and wakin goldfish and have fantastically long fins. We also had four 8 Sarassa goldfish that were adopted by PKWS members Larry and Phyllis Rosen as we move to a strictly koi only pond. I ve spent a few years as moderator of a koi forum that was riddled with lots of politics, so a partner and I decided to start a new forum named last summer. We have quite a group of expert and noob pond aficionados who are eager to do right by their fish and improve their ponds. It s a terrific social community with folks from around the world that is steadily growing. We sport members that have everything from tiny 80 gallon preformed watergardens to others who have 50,000 gallon mud ponds. We have a deep passion for DIY ing filtration and other contraptions, and we post lots of detailed ideas and plans for building all sorts of pond gadgets. If you decide to join us, I m known as koikeepr on the site, so please do introduce yourself and the fact that you re a PKWS member. Though my new pond is essentially complete, I have a bunch of tweaks that still need to happen this fall. I need to put an overflow into the 150 gallon filter that leads back to the pond in case of an emergency; and I need to spruce up my little filter pit a bit. A pond is truly never done, and always a work in progress indeed!

3 PKWS October 2010 ISSUE PAGE 3 PKWS Members Enjoying the Lotus Land Koi Farm Fall Harvest on September 25 th! Larry Rosen with his armload of new fish is ready to go. Mike Long and his daughter Laurel with some new fish for their pond. Here s Phyllis Rosen with Lotus Land s owner Brady Brandwood, who has already got a sweat going bagging fish. This 12 Kohaku went home by Lisa Freeman

4 PKWS October 2010 ISSUE PAGE 4 imitation crab meat, yum, yum, or the totally irresistible boiled shrimp. Hand Feeding Your Koi by: Brady Brandwood Lotus Land Koi Farm Monroe, NC Getting your Koi or Goldfish to eat out of your hand has got to be one of the most entertaining and fulfilling aspects of pond keeping. It really makes you think Oh, yeah, this is why I put all of this time and effort into my pond! Hand feeding your fish is a great way to interact and become friends with them. As enjoyable as it is, it s also a very helpful and, I believe, necessary trick. Fish that are hand fed are generally more tame and at ease and aren t easily stressed when you re hovering over their pond, or when you have family, friends, and children over. You can net leaves out of the pond and do other chores without your fish scattering frantically across the bottom. In fact, if your Koi are tame they will eagerly follow you around the pond. This one brave fish will usually be at the front of the tight circle of scaredy-cats, about to wet its pants, the one that lurches forward, then backs up, lurches forward, then slowly backs up again. Drop a piece of the treat right in front of the group and let this daring fish taste it. Drop another piece as you are lowering your hand into the water, then slowly open your hand and let the other treats roll off of your palm and slowly sink. Leave your hand in the water, very still, as the bravest of the fish scramble to pick up the treats. Continue to leave your hand dangling in the water for a little bit to help your Koi understand that your hand in the water means FOOD. Repeat this enjoyable process for a few days and you ll soon have the whole pack rushing up to greet you at the surface every time you visit the pond. If you don t have a tame fish anywhere in the pond, buy one, and in time it will convince your other fish that you are a friend! One of Brady s Chagoi koi In Koi life, as in Human life, less stress equals fewer diseases, better colors, and longer life--things we all strive for. This leads us to another of the benefits of hand feeding, distributing medication. For instance, if you have a pond with 20 fish and 3 of them are sick or in need of medication, you can easily offer the 3 sick fish medicated food without having to feed it to the whole pond. This helps prevent the disease causing organisms from becoming immune to the medications. This does happen when medicated foods are fed too often. Also, if you show your fish and feel bad about stopping their feeding a week before the show you can hand feed only the fish that are not going to the show, rather than purging all of the fish in the pond. Koi and Goldfish are followers and, like many of us, enjoy socializing. They generally stay in a pack or group and do what the group does. All it takes is that one brave, outgoing, or tame fish to come up and take a treat from your hand and the whole group is now thinking about it. With this in mind, look into your pond and choose that one fish that you know is just itching to come up and visit you, but is being pulled down by the pessimistic pack. Concentrate on this one fish. Offer it a tasty incentive, (tastier than fish pellets), such as canned green peas, yum, brown bread, PKWS Fish Sale October 2nd! 1pm Come sell or buy fish! We can t have a fish sale without fish so bring some over! Perhaps you ve got an unwanted fish that can be loved by someone else. We need to know by 9/28/10 if you are attending and need tank space. The event is advertised in the local newspapers and it would be a shame if we have people show up and we have no fish to sell. It s a Koi and Goldfish sale, so we ll take both. Please call Carol Mathis at to let her know if you plan to attend. Address: 1284 Biltmore Drive, Concord, NC Directions: From Albemarle Road, turn onto Lower Rocky River Ch Road. Go 5 miles and turn left onto Biltmore Drive. Third house on right in bend of road. From Rocky River Road, turn onto Lower Rocky River Road. Go 1.5 miles and turn right into Biltmore Drive. Third house on right in bend of road.

5 PKWS OCTOBER 2010 ISSUE PAGE 5 Date of Sale October 2, 2010 at 1:00 PM. PIEDMONT KOI AND WATER GARDEN SOCIETY Minutes of September 9, 2010 meeting Location of Sale Leo Bollinger and Carol Mathis home. The September 9, 2010 meeting was held at the home of Eleanor Ubry. There were eighteen (18) members present. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Secretary Mary Ann Penix. Old Business: Pond Tour Mike Long reported. Sample pond tour brochures were passed out. Only two advertisements sold so far. Notify Mike by Wednesday, September 15 th if any new advertisements obtained. Pond Tour participants need to pick up signs from Tracy McCorkle. Printing Mike Long and Jeff Reiter will print the brochures. Ads are $5.00 for ¼ page and $10.00 for ½ page. Membership applications will be in the brochure. Marcia Theroux requested newsletter be mailed to her. October 9 th meeting cancelled at Dale Richardson and Coy Gardner home. The meeting will be held instead at the home of Ken and Barbara Horn-Stead. Fall fish sale Jeff Reiter. Two vendors thus far. Notify Carol Mathis if you intend to sell fish. Vendors are required to help set-up tanks on Friday, October 1, 2010 at 5:00 PM Fish for sale must be in tanks by 12:00 Noon. Motion to Adjourn by Carol Mathis. Seconded by Tracy McCorkle. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 6:55 PM. WANT to Advertise? Do you have something to sell or advertise? It doesn t have to be pond related! Reach PKWS members by posting an inexpensive advert for only $5 per 20 words. Submit your ad by the 15 th of the month and be sure to include your address and phone number. Checks should be made payable to PKWS. Contact Carol Mathis, or caomah@aol.com. Disclaimer: PKWS assumes no responsibility to claims of advertising or quality of goods/services offered. OCTOBER SOCIAL MEETING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9 th at 5:00 pm At Home of Ken and Barbara Horne-Stead Address: 643 Hyde Park Dr NE Concord NC Telephone: Barbara's cell # Ken's cell # DIRECTIONS: From I85-N, coming from Charlotte, take exit 60 and turn right at the end of the exit ramp. From I85-S, coming from Greensboro, take exit 60 and turn left at the end of the ramp. Follow Lake Concord Road to Branchview (Rte 3), and take a left. Follow Branchview to Brookwood (second light) and take a right. Follow Brookwood past light at Camrose and take NEXT right onto Hillandale (street sign is hidden in tree limbs on the left - you may have to take my word for it). Follow Hillandale to end - you are looking at our driveway across the street from the stop sign. Ours is the brick house with the white shutters and trim and 5 huge pin oaks in the front yard. The numbers 643 nailed onto one of the trees may give it away SOCIAL MEETING CALENDAR: October 9 : November 13 : December 11 : Barbara & Ken Horne-Stead Mike & Heather Long Terry & Mary Ellen McClain Got questions? Call or Mary Ellen McClain

6 PKWS OCTOBER 2010 ISSUE PAGE 6 Frequent Water Changes are Key to Healthy Fish and Pond By: Lisa Freeman Let me ask you all a question: how often do you really do water changes? If the answer is every week, then I salute your efforts. And if you do less then this, let me push you to take up the ritual. Water exchanges of at least 20-25% weekly are key to pond care and help ward off a multitude of health issues facing our fish. Fish deplete valuable minerals and nutrients in water that need to be continually replaced, plus the pheromones that fish naturally release need to be removed from the water column so that our fish can grow. Water changes help replenish oxygen levels into the water, remove nasty poop, ammonia (the #1 killer of fish) and detritus and get rid of parasites and bacteria that lurk in the water as well. There s a lot to love about water changes. Many folks seem to think that their ponds are natural bodies of water. Sure we use fool-the-eye trickery to have our family and friends believe that our ponds are a natural part of the landscape so that they think it s the real deal. We use rocks, lilies and lush plantings that give the appearance of a spring fed pond. However, unless you actually do have a pond that is spring fed our ponds are truly unnatural and captured bodies of water. It s basically no different than an indoor fish tank that happens to be sitting in your backyard and you certainly wouldn t consider that natural, would you? So, imagine a household toilet bowl believe it or not, it s pretty similar to a pond. Your family is utilizing that toilet daily to expel all sorts of bodily waste and then (hopefully) they re hitting the lever to flush out the mess and bring fresh water into the bowl. Imagine what would happen if your darling family continued to use the bathroom, but never flushed? It would stink, people would likely get sick, and it would be a downright unhealthy situation. So, a pond is no different the fish are eating, pooping and peeing (thus creating ammonia). To boot, you ve probably got some plant material that is decaying, leaves that fly about and sink to the bottom and gosh knows what else?! It s your job as your finny friend s caretaker to flush the pond--and that is done with a simple water change! If you have natural evaporation that happens and you just top off the pond, that is NOT considered a water exchange. A true water exchange is physically removing at least 20-25% of existing water and replacing it with fresh, properly dechlorinated water. For such little effort, you get a lot of upside. Every week I would religiously do formal water exchanges I d open up the filter waste valve to release the water and then refill the pond to the brim. Then I hit upon the idea of a modified continuous flow. Continuous flow means that water is dripped into the pond on an ongoing basis, so that fresh water is being introduced in small amounts 24/7. I decided on a variation of this idea that I could do several times per week. Since we re blessed with marvelous well water that is pond-perfect, I don t need to use a dechlorinating product and I simply stick the hose in the pond and walk away for hours. As the pond overfills, water is being expelled out the overflow in my skimmer (which ends up on my happy lawn and garden). I m probably doing in the neighborhood of 80% water changes per week now with little effort. And I can see the fish are thrilled with this and that they are healthier for it. If you ve got municipal water, it s important to test it for levels of chlorine, chloramines, metals and other things that are not only negative for our fish, but can darn well kill them. In this case, you need a top quality dechlorinating product such as Seachem Pond Prime. This product is my hands down favorite, and you can buy a 2-liter container for around $43. Though that may sound expensive, the stuff is very concentrated and actually treats around 40,000 gallons of water so you can use one bottle for years depending on your pond size. It gives you great bang for the buck and ends up being very economical in the long run. You don t need to treat all the pond water; you re just using enough dechlor for the amount of water you are replacing into the pond. So, if you ve got a 1,000 gallon pond and you do a 25% water change, you remove 250 gallons of water. When you put back in a fresh batch of 250 gallons of water you simply use enough dechlor for 250 gallons. In the case of Seachem Pond Prime, two tablespoons treats around 600 gallons of water so you Continued on page 7

7 PKWS OCTOBER 2010 ISSUE PAGE 7 continued from page 6 can see how little you need to use. Are you still following me, people? Koi are far more sensitive to poor quality water than goldfish are, so water changes are super critical with koi. If you ve got fish that seem to die for no explained reason or don t look their best lack of ritual water changes is likely the culprit. If your water is not clear, again, water changes can help solve the issue. The amazing thing about a water change is that it s the cheapest thing you can do to keep great water quality. I always shake my head when folks will run out to buy a $20 chemical product to solve a pond problem, when truly a good water change would do wonders at virtually no cost. If you re plying your pond with meds and off-the-shelf products, you re truly wasting your money. And just because your goldfish appear to survive perfectly fine in water that s been sitting around for eons, you could truly do better for your goldies by doing some good housekeeping. Yes, goldfish are sturdy, but would you let your cat use a waste-ridden litter box for weeks on end? Do your fish a favor, and think of them as no different than the household cat or dog. Hopefully, I ve convinced you about the importance of water exchanges. Truly once it becomes a weekly habit (or at worst every other week), it doesn t take terribly long to do. So, go grab that garden hose and get to refilling! PKWS 2010 OFFICERS: President: Mary Ellen McClain [ ] Vice President: Rebecca Trull [ ] Secretary: Mary Ann Penix [ ] Treasurer: Allen Lee [ ] APPOINTED OFFICES: Show Chairs: Rebecca & Russell Trull [ ] Membership: Allen Lee [ ] Newsletter: Carol Mathis [ ] Property Manager: Tracy McCorkle [ ] Webmaster: Mike Long [ ] PKWS TREASURER s REPORT: Total Balance: $ Fintastic offers PKWS members 20% discount! Simply visit the shop and tell them you re a PKWS member and you ll instantly get 20% off of all purchases (except for fish tanks, furniture, and items already on sale). If there are any products, plants or fish that you would like for Fintastic to carry, they ve advised us that they d be happy to start offering them. Fintastic is winding down their pond season now, so the selection is limited at this time of year, but they are selling their remaining koi and marginal plants at greatly reduced prices. Visit the folks at Fintastic and take advantage of the 20% discount! They are at 2135 Ayrsley Town Blvd, Charlotte, The store is open 11-8 on Mon-Sat and 1-6 on Sunday. The phone number is

8 PKWS OCTOBER 2010 ISSUE PAGE 8 Winterizing Your Pond: Part I (The Net) By: Lisa Freeman Fall is here, and it s time to think about protecting your pond. In a few weeks the trees will start their gorgeous fall color and the leaves will drop unfortunately, many of them will land in our ponds. Leaves may seem innocuous enough, but when they get into the pond and decay, they poison the water column and can lead to poor water quality which can kill our beloved fish. So, be sure to remove leaves as you see them in the water. Better yet, it s the perfect time to net your pond to prevent leaves from ever getting inside and making cleaning up easy. You can cut down on the work of spring cleaning if you don t have wet leaves to haul out. Cruise your local home improvement store and head to the lawn and garden area where you will find bird netting for fruit trees for around $6. This black plastic netting is perfect to prevent leaves, twigs and other flying debris that occurs this time of year from getting into your pond. Simply throw it over your pond and leave it in place until all the leaves have fallen. The beauty of this netting is that the holes are big enough that you can continue to feed the fish until water temps hit 55 degrees. Fish food and pellets is small enough to fit right through the weave. It s important to build a little bit of a frame for the netting, as accumulating leaves (especially wet ones) can weigh down the netting and it will end up in your pond. This can simply be done with a few 2x4 s or PVC pipes that you then lay the net on top of. On my old pond, which was a ground level free form pond, I simply connected a few pieces of ½ PVC pipe with the proper fittings to form an igloo or tent frame. I simply zip-tie the net to the frame to keep it from flying off and weigh the whole thing down with a few rocks on the perimeter. It looked like the photo at the right here. I didn t glue my PVC together, so every spring I could take it apart and store it in the shed for next fall. If the white PVC bothers you, you can certainly spray paint them black using Krylon plastic paint. I leave my net on through spring, until all the trees finish dropping all their little new leaf hulls and those pesky little flying helicopter seed pods quit falling. If you ve got a bigger budget or live in a heavily wooded area, I suggest smaller weave netting than the bird netting. There are wonderful nets used for pools in very large sizes that you can find on Ebay for around $40-$60 that have 1/4 inch weave that prevents even small debris from getting into the pond. If you ve got a formal pond that is rectangular in shape, you can still do the netting idea or you can get a tad more elaborate with polycarbonate roofing panels. You normally see these panels in your local home improvement store in 12 foot or longer lengths. Stay tuned for Part II (The Cover) of Winterizing Your Pond in the November 2010 issue of the PKWS Newsletter New Member Alert! Welcome to our newest member David Weekley, who happens to own Waterscapes Pro.

9 PKWS OCTOBER 2010 ISSUE PAGE 9 Be Careful of the Plants You Plant Near Your Pond I just thought it might be worth mentioning to your readers. I planted a variegated water reed grass (Variegated Phragmites) in my pond a few years ago (obtained from a pond supply place near us). I had it in a submerged pot. It seeded at the edge of my pond, and not knowing any better, thinking it looked great, I left it alone. After about four years, I decided to clean out the pond and completely drained it. To my dismay I found several holes with sharp points protruding through the liner (30 mil EDPM). After determining that it was some kind of plant, I pulled up the liner and discovered large (pencil diameter size) runners going completely from one side to the other side of the pond underneath the liner, with these needle sharp protrusions (much like a sharp pencil and just as hard) coming from the runners, pushing up against and through the underside of the liner. I ve had to remove all these roots (hope I ve gotten them all) and replaced the liner. Needless to say I won t allow this in my pond anymore or anywhere around the edge of the pond. You might want to caution your readers about using this grass (or at least find some way of controlling it as I should have). The cost of liner replacement, as well as having to remove and replace the border rock, was high and shouldn t have been needed. Source: Letter to the Editor from Pond Trade Magazine submitted by Chuck Baldwin

10 PKWS M E M B E R S H I P F O R M The Piedmont Koi and Watergarden Society (PKWS) is a not for profit organization. The membership year runs from January 1st through December 31st. Annual Membership Dues for a family for the first year are $55.00 AND INCLUDES UP TO TWO (2) NAME BADGES. Additional nametags may be purchased at a cost of $15.00 each. For renewing members the dues are $24.00 Please complete the following form and return it with your membership dues to: ALLEN LEE 900 Club Drive Monroe, NC Please print clearly (this information will only be used for club records). Please print your names) as you would like them to appear on your name tag(s). You can also find an electronic copy of this form on our website. Last Name: First Name(s): Address: City: State: Zip: Signature: Date: Address: Telephone # Membership Dues: (New member) $55.00 or (Renewal) $24.00 (Circle One) Additional Name tags ($15.00) TOTAL ENCLOSED: Visit us on the web at Newsletter layout & Design: Lisa Freeman