Koi Morphology Relative to Feeding Study

Hobbyists enjoy feeding their koi all sorts of food matter and while this can be an enjoyable exploratory aspect of the hobby, determining what a fish will consume everything your fish is willing to consume is necessarily going to be appropriate. The following study abstract is from the late 1980s and addresses some of these issues and why.

Specializations and limitations in the utilization of food resources by the carp, Cyprinus carpio: a study of oral food processing

Journal Environmental Biology of Fishes

Department of Experimental Animal Morphology and Cell Biology, Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Study Synopsis: The wide variety of aquatic food is considered to be instrumental for the diversification in fish species. Yet their abilities and inabilities of handling food are poorly known.

For these reasons the food processing and feeding repertoire of the adult carp, Cyprinus carpio, fed on a variety of food types, were analyzed by light and X-ray cinematography of the head parts and by electromyography of the head and body muscles during feeding. Nine stereotyped movement patterns (particulate intake, gulping, rinsing, spitting, selective retention of food, transport, crushing, grinding and deglutition) compose the feeding process, their sequence and frequency were adjusted to the type of food.

Following quantitative morphological analysis at macroscopic, light- and electronmicroscopical level, the relations between the functioning and architecture of the feeding apparatus were established. The structure and dimensions of the mouth opening, the protrusible upper jaw, the slit-shaped pharyngeal cavity, the palatal and postlingual organ, the branchial sieve, the pharyngeal masticatory apparatus and the distribution of taste buds, mucous cells and muscle fibers along the oropharyngeal surface were the directive structural characters used for estimating the abilities in food processing.

The specializations for utilizing food items and its limitations, derived from structural and functional data, are compared with diet data found in the literature in order to evaluate the relative position of the carp in competition for food in the aquatic environment.

It is established that the ‘omnivorous’ carp is specialized in effective handling of several categories of aquatic food, even when these are mixed with non-food (bottom invertebrates <4% SL in diameter) since the palatal organ enables the carp to separate food from non-food. This includes very hard-skinned food items, processed with the powerful pharyngeal jaws of the fish, and to a lesser extent zooplankton (>250 μm).

The carp is at the same time very limited in processing long and struggling prey (e.g. fish) as well as vegetable matter, due to the lack of oral teeth and the specialized morphology of its pharyngeal chewing apparatus.

These feeding abilities agree with diet data from literature. The reported herbivorism of carp illustrates its opportunism in feeding behaviour. Specialization in feeding is discussed and the necessity to take into account the total series of post-capture feeding actions for a more complete view on trophic specialization.

Food intake and the intra-oral food processing of carp are bound to the structures of its sensory, central processing and effector apparatus and to the plasticity in their functioning. These together determine its feeding efficiency in exploiting the available aquatic food resources. Next to ethological and ecological studies functional morphology is another important tool to explain the trophic interactions of fish.

Koi Surgery Promotion In KOI USA Magazine

QUOTE (schildkoi @ Jan 10 2007, 05:05 AM)
KCOTA,
I brought up your concerns on this subject last night during the KOI USA board meeting. Present were 2 former editors (Ed Salinas and Joyce Glenn) along with the rest of the board. The overwelmng consensus was one of disbelief that you or anyone else would take exception to this common and accepted practice.

As I previously stated above, shimi removal has been going on for well over 20 years and has NOT been considered as surgically altering koi. Thus, no need to go into any “moral issues.” As you gain experience and common knowledge of showing koi, perhaps you will come to a better understanding of these types of issues. As stated, shimi removal is akin to “grooming.”

Steve Childers
Editor
KOI USA
Steve . . .

Don Chandler a Southern California hobbyist wrote this about the KoiNewsNetwork blogger, “Hot Air Hawgwash stated “As Childers wrote it and is the editor-in-chief I believe he just changed KOI USA policy by printing that piece.”

Should you ever be unfortunate enough to run into him (or one of his 2 or 3 acolytes), here’s a piece of trivia you can shove where the sun don’t shine — Pam Spindola beat you to it by 25 years!

Q: What causes black dots on Kohaku? What can be done to prevent them? Can they be removed?
A: This problem is found mainly in the United States due to the hard water conditions. It seems to happen where major water turnovers are made and the pH is very high. In Japan the water is soft and the problem is not as prevalent. When in competition small black spots are often overlooked. However, there are some hobbyists that like to remove the spots. In order to do so the fish must be sedated and an extremely sharp instrument must be used. There are three ways. One is to scrape the black off the scale. This only works if the color is on the suraface, and not deep. A second way is to carefully cut away a portion of the scale where the black is. Lastly, the scale may be removed. Be careful to pull the scale without lifting it so as not to disturb the surrounding scales. Remember to disinfect the area after removal. It is a drastic measure to remove a scale as it takes a long time for a scale to grow back.
Source: Questions & Answers by Jayne Cuny
KoiUSA Magazine, Mar/Apr 1982, Volume 6, Issue 5, p. 8
Editor-in-Chief: Pamela Spindola

******************************************
Yepper Don,
As you and I know, HAH rarely does any research before making his “claims.” That may be a good reason why many have kind of tossed him aside?

Steve Childers, editor KOI USA (the second most popular koi publication in the U.S. behind KOI NATIONS, one started less than a year ago).

http://koishack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7308&pid=211395&st=60&#entry211395

Koi As Invasives In The News

Action is being taken and considered in Minnesota where koi pets released through stormwater systems are seen to cost the community and environment millions of dollars. We have spoken of this before and AKCA recently adopted sanitary show cleanup recommendations to protect against disease releases at koi shows. However, to date there is no recognized effort by any group to discourage the plumbing of hobby koi ponds directly to storm drain outfalls, which is a contributing factor as mentioned in the following story. Clean lakes could cost Stillwater millions

By ELLIOT MANN
Stillwater Gazette, Stillwater MN.

(Created: Thursday, December 6, 2007 8:41 AM CST)
What is the price of clear, pristine waters in the city of Stillwater? According to a recent lake management plan of Lily and McKusick lakes, about $4.275 million over 20 years.

Wenck Associates Inc. recently conducted the study as part of a long-term lakes plan, which provides an analysis of how to remove phosphorus from the two lakes. The Stillwater City Council and members of the Brown’s Creek Watershed District reviewed the findings Monday evening.

The council or watershed district took no any formal action relating to the lake management plan.

Joe Bischoff, an aquatic ecologist with Wenck Associates, said the city should first focus on less costly in-lake monitoring rather than the big-ticket items listed on the report. The report listed capital projects costing $2.8 million on McKusick Lake alone.

“Now, $2.8 million – that’s a big price tag and by no means do I think you should run out today and build $2.8 million worth of projects,” Bischoff said. “But I think that’s kind of the direction, to give you some cost in today’s dollars, of what these projects could be.”

Bischoff compared the report to a menu of all possible actions, rather than a blueprint. He said less-costly lake monitoring could make some more expensive lake-improvement initiatives obsolete.

The more costly capital projects listed in the management report call for reviewing water runoff in infiltration ponds, before the water flows into McKusick.

Many of the city’s lakes have been named to the state pollution control agency’s impaired waters list, namely because of “excess nutrients,” or higher than normal levels of phosphorus, usually created by water runoff.

After reviewing the plan, City Engineer and Public Works Director Shawn Sanders said this morning that staff will now review the city budget while taking the new plan into account. The city has already budgeted $25,000 total for lake monitoring in Lily, McKusick and Long lakes for 2008.

The plan provides insight to the quality of the lakes, along with a roadmap to keeping them clean, Sanders said.

“I think we knew all along that the quality of the lakes was changing over the years,” Sanders said.

Long Lake was added to the MPCA’s list in 2002 and currently has an average phosphorus level of 109 parts per billion. McKusick Lake was placed on the list in 2006, and the lake currently measures an average phosphorus level of 65 ppb. The MPCA would like both lakes to measure near 40 ppb.

The lake-management report also shows the differences in each water body. While Lily Lake has a surface area of 35.9 acres, 10 acres less than McKusick, Lily carries an average depth of 18 feet. McKusick Lake measures an average depth of 3 feet.

Bischoff said that McKusick Lake is currently a fairly clear water body, but without action could become increasingly cloudy or turbid. At that point, fixes become much more expensive, he said.

He proposed in-lake monitoring at McKusick Lake, in order to diagnose additional work. That work would cost $3,000, according to the lakes plan. A $40,000 study of the phosphorus source near the lake-diversion structure – a mechanism that regulates the water level – could help the city identify the cause of problem, Bischoff said.

Meanwhile, the idea of a “draw down” – intentionally lowering a lake’s water level – was floated as an idea to improve the quality of Long Lake. A draw down generally kills invasive plant life and rough fish, and would cost about $200,000 in Long Lake.

While the term “fish kill” sounds counterproductive, Bischoff said, a natural kill on McKusick Lake has actually been beneficiary for the lake. The fish kill has removed invasive species and maintained the clear water conditions in the lake, he said. Koi fish, also known as carp, are currently a problem in Long Lake.

In October, the city and Brown’s Creek Watershed District rerouted storm water runoff that flowed into Long Lake. The reason for improving the area’s lakes is simple, Watershed president Craig Leiser said at the time.

“The pond in your backyard goes there, goes there goes there, then it’s in the St. Croix. Fifty miles later its in Lake Pepin, and 500 miles later in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said. “It’s all apart of a national issue and it’s water quality.”
http://www.stillwatergazette.com/articles/2007/12/06/news/news430.txt

Water Restrictions: Koi Pond Relationship?

Jungle Island offers lesson in sustainability
BY GEORGIA TASKER
South Florida homeowners facing possible tough water restrictions might take a lesson from Jungle Island, where sustainability is the principle behind the design.

It has been four years since the tourist attraction formerly known as Parrot Jungle opened on Watson Island. Since then, no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides have been used on the plants, which are irrigated only once a week.

The last time the 18 acres were sprayed for mosquitoes was August 2005.

Windswept and manmade, Watson Island, which is bisected by the MacArthur Causeway between Miami and Miami Beach, hardly seems the location for a sustainability project. But Jeff Shimonski, Jungle Island’s vice president of horticulture, has been meeting the challenges. New ones always arise: the latest is the leaf-killing ficus whitefly infestation that has begun to show itself on the garden’s many ficus trees.

Still, Jungle Island forges ahead, hoping to prove itself a model for environmentally friendly approaches to gardening that South Florida as well as other tourist attractions can emulate.

A walk through the attraction shows the successes and a few struggles.

”We’re going to see some yellow” leaves, says Shimonski. “We are four years out from scratch and had to deal with compacted soil conditions. Eventually I think we’ll get away from it. We’ll replace yellow [plants] or wait. It’s an evolution. If we did chemicals, we would have green.”

As a measure of how far it has come, Shimonski says the tree canopy is so inviting to birds that Tropical Audubon is doing its second bird count there Saturday. Understory trees and shrubs are being augmented, now that the large trees are filling out.

The flowers from the sausage tree, grown from seed, are attracting spot-breasted orioles and woodpeckers. Many trees are dripping with fabulous staghorn ferns. Leather ferns, elephantine in stature, are in drainage pipe planters shading the tropical African fish called cichlids and doing their part in algae control.

Shimonski was horticulturist at the old Parrot Jungle in Pinecrest, where he was instrumental in reducing the use of chemicals and establishing a licensed composting operation. When it was time to move the attraction in 2000 to Watson Island, he transferred mountains of the compost for use as soil conditioner and mulch.

As the soil has become enriched with organic material — all the tree and plant clippings are recycled as mulch — it has developed a complement of beneficial bacteria and fungi, Shimonski says.

”The more plants, the more beneficial organisms there are,” Shimonski says. “We’ve used 10,000 to 15,000 yards of mulch here over the last five or six years, so the soil is very active. We now just apply a tiny layer of mulch to keep everything actively fed.”

Because the island has no natural source of fresh water, plants have to be irrigated with city water. Therefore, water conservation figured large into the planning and maintenance.

The governing board of the South Florida Water Management District meets Thursday to discuss whether to tighten the current Phase 2 water restrictions. Should the board decide to limit watering to once a week, Shimonski’s advice is this: Irrigate for a longer period and at night.

Shimonski allowed the large grassy areas to remain bare until Bermuda grasses and small flowering (read weedy) plants moved in on their own, bringing tiny butterflies with them, along with tiny wasps and flies that parasitize unwanted insects. A natural lawn is the result. And yes, he says, in the winter, some of the grass will die, but “it has been extremely beneficial and it’s the way to go for all lawns.”.

There are water features at Jungle Island: Some 350,000 gallons circulate over waterfalls, through ponds and into the Everglades ecosystem exhibit.

”We have drains and sludge lines, too,” Shimonski says. “Originally, sludge was going to be hauled off, but that’s fertilizer. So we pump it into a pond hidden behind buttonwoods and periodically pull out the sludge and use it as top dressing.”

Mosquito control is accomplished without chemical spraying, which had been done on a daily basis for the first two years the park was open.

A first step, he says, is to selectively prune old flower stalks on palms, bananas and heliconias, natural reservoirs of water for mosquito larvae.

”We suspected bromeliads were an issue” because of their natural vase shapes in which water and mosquito larvae collect, he says. So Shimonski sampled the kinds of mosquitoes found in the bromeliads. He took a course at the University of Florida to learn how to identify mosquito species.

With a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, he tested six biological controls, and he now uses four of them: two bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis and Bacillus sphericus; an insect growth regulator, and a monomolecular film (vegetable oil-based) to cover surface water so larvae cannot breath at the surface.

Next, he hopes to launch another control: using copepods to eat the larvae. Copepods are tiny marine and freshwater crustaceans that are voracious consumers of mosquito larvae. He has found natural colonies on the property, and within the next few months hopes to set up a breeding program.

As for the whitefly problem, he said heavy winds in late October blew dozens of ladybug larvae from beneath three ficus trees, “so it seems we’re starting to get natural control kicking in.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/home_design/story/334616.html

My question as posted with this story at the Miami Herald:

The koi pond is mentioned here in relation to water restrictions. How is that pond managed and would koi ponds at some point come under water restrictions by average residential hobbyists?

*
Posted by: KoiCluboftheAir.org/Koi News Network

They raised koi fish while Interned in Camps?

Pearl Harbor attack left scars of racism in Colorado
Sunday, December 02, 2007

On the southeastern plains of Colorado, on 560 acres of stunted elms, yuccas and broken concrete, you can find the remains of Colorado’s only concentration camp. Here, from 1942-1945, over 14,000 men, women and children were held against their will, patrolled by military police and surrounded by barbed wire and eight guard towers.

Their crime? They were of Japanese descent, though the majority were U.S. citizens. Japan’s sneak attack against Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 had spooked the nation, and under Presidential Executive Order 9066, titled “Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry,” farmers, fishermen and shopkeepers were evacuated, mainly from the West Coast, and taken to internment camps. When they were freed at the war’s end, most found they’d lost everything they owned.

Thanks to the efforts of high school teacher John Hopper in the small town of Granada, Camp Amache has begun to tell its 65-year-old story. The prison was called Camp Amache after a Cheyenne Indian woman who was married to pioneer rancher John Prowers. Hopper began with a course in the camp’s history by telling that and other stories, and though local families back his Amache history class now — with students competing to get in — it was a struggle at first: “No one wants to talk about racism.”

It helped that Japanese-Americans who lived at Amache, and their children and grandchildren, have begun visiting the site and eagerly telling the students their life stories. “They have a need to share their lives with a younger generation,” Hopper says.

In turn, Hopper’s high school students give presentations about the internment camp to groups that visit. They have also traveled to colleges and universities to talk to classes about the explosion of fear in this country that led to Japanese-Americans being held captive in a remote corner of Colorado. Tours of the camp, now a National Historic Landmark, have been led by the teenagers, and recently, four students traveled to Japan to make presentations at a Tokyo high school.

Ironies abound about the camp. Young Japanese-American men were recruited from it to join the U.S. Army and fight in the 442nd Regiment in Europe. This was the regiment that received both the most casualties and the most decorations as a result of the fight to liberate France. One of the students’ favorite stories concerns an interned woman, Katharine Odo, who became a teacher at Amache High School. At her own expense after the war ended, Odo drove to colleges around the country for 18 months, helping each of her Japanese-American students to get admitted.

In some ways, the camp was an economic boon for the surrounding community. Successful camp gardens influenced local farmers to start growing crops they’d never grown before — onions, watermelon and cantaloupe. And inside the camp, where 95 percent of the original foundations are intact, you can still see the koi ponds where internees grew fish.

Even though the camp, which is one of the most intact of the country’s 10 World War II relocation prisons, has been closed for over six decades, it still has much to teach us. It has attracted college students who want to learn first-hand about historical archaeology.

In May and June, the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology hosted an exhibit provocatively titled: “Confined Cuisine: Archaeology of Culinary Culture at Camp Amache.” And thanks to both the Amache Preservation Society and the Amache Historical Society, street signs now show where the camp’s buildings were located, including a silkscreen shop staffed by internees. It produced posters under contract for the U.S. Navy.

My stepfather was an attorney in Prowers County years ago, and when my brother went through his files after his death, he found documents from Camp Amache. One was a typewritten speech by Marion Konishi, Citizen Number 6E-12-D, in the camp’s legal files. Konishi was the camp’s high-school valedictorian, who spoke to her graduating class on the assigned topic: “What does America mean to you?”

She wrote on June 25, 1943: “I hesitated — I was not sure of my answer. I wondered if America still means and will mean freedom, equality, security and justice when some of its citizens were segregated, discriminated against and treated so unfairly. I knew I was not the only American seeking an answer.”

Decades later, Americans still seek answers to persistent questions about racial discrimination and inequality. A good place to think about all this is a lonely site in southeastern Colorado on what used to be called “Jap Camp Road.”
Andrew Gulliford is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News in Paonia. (hcn.org). He is a professor of Southwest studies and history at Fort Lewis College in Durango.
 
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/12/02/Gulliford_Japanese.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=9

The art of sushi

We here much about the proper design of a koi pond within the hobby, but this terrific story suggests a stone fountain can be home to koi. For shame! Something fishy is going on here )

CONVERSATIONS WITH THE CHEFS
The art of sushi
Somerville’s Yan Shengwu says presentation is as important as taste
Home News Tribune Online 11/28/07

Post a comment. View latest comments.
Art lies in the eye of the beholder, and for Yan Shengwu, nothing is more beautiful than a perfectly plated dish of sushi.

Know simply as Yan, the executive sushi chef at Somerville’s Yutaka! Hibachi Steakhouse & Sushi Bar Restaurant hails from southern China’s Fujian Province, a region just across the ocean from Taiwan and Japan.

“We were heavily influenced by Japanese culture and cuisine,” Yan said.

The oldest of four, Yan said his mother was an excellent cook, but when his parents became involved with an outside business he took over kitchen responsibilities.

“Fish was a big part of our diet because we lived so close to the sea,” he said. “And though I never learned to prepare sushi then, it was my No. 1 goal.”

Eight years ago, Yan left China and ventured to the United States in pursuit of that goal.

“My first New York job was as apprentice to a sushi chef, and I worked hard mastering the basic skills,” he said. “When other kitchen staff took breaks, I continued working.”

He soon moved to the restaurant of a chef friend who had 15 years of Japanese sushi training, where he learned about sauces and plating. Two years later, he worked with fusion cuisine chef Andy Yang from Los Angeles’ famed Nobu.

“Sushi is all about fresh fish, artistic presentation and correct sauce pairings,” Yan said. “Our fish comes from Japanese specialty trading companies daily; often expressed overnight and we serve 20 different sauces.”

He explained that a sushi chef’s personal set of knives are key to working visual magic. “My knives are my life,” he said. “No one touches them and I personally sharpen them once or twice a week.”

Yan, who lives in Somerville, came to Yutaka! when it opened last April.

“One of the owners and I attended the same church, and when he was planning to open this new restaurant with a sushi bar, I seized the opportunity,” he said.

Yan now oversees two other chefs at his counter — and receives high praise for being extremely creative. Days off are spent trying different sushi restaurants, going to bookstores or surfing the Internet looking for innovative, exciting variations, he said.

Once thought of as exotic, sushi has become increasingly popular because it’s a healthy combination of taste, texture and color. Tuna and salmon are used most often, but choices include eel, yellowtail, fluke, octopus, scallops, oysters, shrimp, lobster, crab and more. And Japanese Madai, a red snapper, is popular now, as are live orange clams.

For diners who may be apprehensive about ordering raw fish, Yutaka! also serves sushi choices, cooked tempura style.

Yutaka! exudes stylized Asian ambience, with cherry-toned wood walls; colorful oriental art accents and a floor-to-ceiling stone fountain stocked with koi.

Food theater is everywhere, at its 18-foot black granite sushi bar or in two hibachi rooms. There is a quiet main dining room and private Tatami Room, where eight may dine Japanese style on floor cushions set around a rectangular table.

Sushi selections include Chirashi, a variety of fish on a bed of rice; the Banzai, with salmon and asparagus; Neptune, with shrimp and avocado, and Ocean 3, with scallops, mango and flying fish roe.

There are vegetarian selections, sushi boats, naruto, sashimi and a variety of weekly specials. Popular now are spicy crab jalapeno seaweed rolls and Yutaka’s elegant sushi bullet plate.

Yutaka! Hibachi Steakhouse & Sushi Bar is at 90 W. Main St. in Somerville. More information is available by calling (908) 218-5523 or by visiting

www.yutakanj.com.

YUTAKA SUSHI BULLET

2 cups of sushi rice

1 sheet of seaweed (sushi quality)

Slice of white fish filet

Avocado, peeled and cut into 2-inch

rectangular slices

Crab meat, freshly cooked or can, cut in pieces

Masago (fish roe)

Tempura powder

Fresh tuna, spiced and minced Cut seaweed sheet in half; place on bamboo sushi mat. Slightly wet your finger in water. Spread a thin layer of sushi rice over seaweed. Lay crab meat, masago, avocado and filet of white fish from one end to other. Slowly roll seaweed and filling using mat into tube shape. Make sure each end is tightly packed in.

Slightly wet exterior of seaweed with cold water; cover entire roll with tempura powder. Drop roll into hot pan of 360-degree vegetable oil for 10 seconds.

Cut fried sushi roll into six equal pieces. Position pieces with the filling up and put touches of minced tuna on each. Top with Korean barbecue sauce or regular teriyaki sauce (purchased from Asian grocery) and wasabi cream made by mixing wasabi paste with some canned coconut cream.

healthy combination of taste, texture and color. Tuna and salmon are used most often, but choices include eel, yellowtail, fluke, octopus, scallops, oysters, shrimp, lobster, crab and more. And Japanese Madai, a red snapper, is popular now, as are live orange clams.

For diners who may be apprehensive about ordering raw fish, Yutaka! also serves sushi choices, cooked tempura style.

Yutaka! exudes stylized Asian ambience, with cherry-toned wood walls; colorful oriental art accents and a floor-to-ceiling stone fountain stocked with koi.

Food theater is everywhere, at its 18-foot black granite sushi bar or in two hibachi rooms. There is a quiet main dining room and private Tatami Room, where eight may dine Japanese style on floor cushions set around a rectangular table.

Sushi selections include Chirashi, a variety of fish on a bed of rice; the Banzai, with salmon and asparagus; Neptune, with shrimp and avocado, and Ocean 3, with scallops, mango and flying fish roe.

There are vegetarian selections, sushi boats, naruto, sashimi and a variety of weekly specials. Popular now are spicy crab jalapeno seaweed rolls and Yutaka’s elegant sushi bullet plate.

Yutaka! Hibachi Steakhouse & Sushi Bar is at 90 W. Main St. in Somerville. More information is available by calling (908) 218-5523 or by visiting

www.yutakanj.com.

YUTAKA SUSHI BULLET

2 cups of sushi rice

1 sheet of seaweed (sushi quality)

Slice of white fish filet

Avocado, peeled and cut into 2-inch

rectangular slices

Crab meat, freshly cooked or can, cut in pieces

Masago (fish roe)

Tempura powder

Fresh tuna, spiced and minced Cut seaweed sheet in half; place on bamboo sushi mat. Slightly wet your finger in water. Spread a thin layer of sushi rice over seaweed. Lay crab meat, masago, avocado and filet of white fish from one end to other. Slowly roll seaweed and filling using mat into tube shape. Make sure each end is tightly packed in.

Slightly wet exterior of seaweed with cold water; cover entire roll with tempura powder. Drop roll into hot pan of 360-degree vegetable oil for 10 seconds.

Cut fried sushi roll into six equal pieces. Position pieces with the filling up and put touches of minced tuna on each. Top with Korean barbecue sauce or regular teriyaki sauce (purchased from Asian grocery) and wasabi cream made by mixing wasabi paste with some canned coconut cream.
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071128/LIFE/711280437

Hobbyists Question Industry Standards; What About Hobbyist Standards Basis?

KOI USA is the official magazine of the Associated Koi Clubs of America. This organization and its magazine promote various positions and methodologies in the koi-keeping hobby.  Advertisers in their publication include koi breeders, dealers, and vendors that include manufacturers that likewise are very active in the much larger water garden industry. In the following excerpt from Koi-bito.com an offshore (Japanese-based) chat forum Steve Childers, KOI USA editor-in-chief who is also certified as a show judge in AKCA asks critical questions of Mike Garcia, a contractor who is also academically trained in the sciences about what industry standards are based on. While these are valid questions they beg the question as to what the hobby standards are likewise based upon.  

“Mike,
I think you are missing the point. Although you state:
I am certified Industry Wide (IPPCA) with my certification in watergarden building. 52 Minutes Ago 07:48 PM
The name IPPCA alone is misleading since it implies any/all types of ponds. It also implies that there are stringent requirements (and knowledge) as it relates to designing/constructing any and all types of ponds. Baseed upon my personal experiences and also your requests for knowledge as it relates to Koi pond design and construction, I am a tad (actually much more than a tad) bit curious and concerned as to what these “certtifcation” standards actually are? Engineering knowledge as it realtes to structural stability as an example? Mechanical engineering knowledge as it realtes to hydrolics and flow dynamics? Biology, chemistry, and fish physiology? Surely an organization that holds itself out as a group of “professionals” have stringent standards in these areas so as to not “mislead” the general public? Please share with us some of these “stringent” standards. Oh, by the way, reading one of those paperback books on watergardening, then digging a hole, throwing in a liner with a filter kit “3 times” prior to certification nor using a garden hose laid out to outline the future pond really does not meet the criteria of “stringent” certification standards.
Steve”

Trouble In Koi City?

---

There are several sects in the American Koi Hobby and they don’t always agree as politically the power brokers in the hobby sometimes fight over more than the heart and minds of the hobbyists. These folks at KOIPHEN are some of the ”white hat” wearing populists with large numbers of forum users. Populism isn’t very popular amongst many other organization leaders in the hobby as they prefer a teacher-disciple model that appeals to some Japanese model that serves the egos well of some practitioners.  

From Carl of the Popular KOIPHEN.com hobbyist forum: 

“As you all know, it was Stephen’s desire to start a koi club. Several months ago, he asked me to help him in this endeavor and asked if I would be the initial president of the club. Obviously, he did not ask me to be president because of my experience in the hobby as I am relatively new to it. He asked me because I have some experience in creating and running organizations. I agreed and the Worldwide Koi Club was incorporated as a Nonprofit Corporation on September 27, 2007.

The initial Board of Directors will be comprised of Stephen, Bart Atkinson , David Smothers and myself. We expect to add more directors over the next year. The Board of Directors has been having informal virtual meetings for weeks, and had the first formal meeting last night in order to approve the things we had agreed upon, including the Bylaws.

The initial officers and directors will serve a term of two years in order to give us a sufficient opportunity to complete the structuring of the club. Thereafter, the terms of the officers will be one year. The names of the other officers and committee chair’s will be announced before we open enrollment.

Although I have spent a great deal of time trying to draft rules for every issue and possibility into the Bylaws, ultimately we decided to go with a minimal set of Bylaws and to use the next two years to try some things out before we make them “law.” We expect to make lots of mistakes along the way and wanted to leave ourselves the option to experiment.

The club website should be finished by January 1, 2008, and online enrollment should begin by then, as well. Initial dues will be $29.00 per year, and the option to be a Lifetime Diamond member will be available for a one time dues payment of $225.00. Professionals will be able to be members, but will not be able to vote or hold office. The spouses and minor children of members may be non voting, non office holding members without having to pay their own dues. We have 26 pre-enrollment members consisting of moderators and some of their spouses, as well as the Lifetime members.

Ryan has agreed to head the Membership Benefits Committee. We hope to negotiate substantial discounts from vendors for members, and to make group purchases of fish and supplies in order to bring quality fish and merchandise to our members at lower than market prices. We will be doing online contests and virtual shows, as well as real shows.

Koiphen will be the official chat board for the club, and we will be selling ad space on the websites to help generate revenue for the club. Stephen has agreed to sell the Koiphen LLC to the club for one dollar. There will be no charge for the use of Koiphen and it always will be open to non club members, but the Member’s section may become for club members only and there will be contests, etc., that are for members only. Membership meetings will be held online for the most part.

I’ll be happy to answer any questions, but we are going to keep some things confidential for a while longer.

EDIT – There has been a rumor, who would have thought that it is going to cost $299.00 per year to post at Koiphen.

Allow me to reiterate that

1. Koiphen is going to be the official chatboard for the WWKC;

2. Posting on and access to Koiphen will remain free; and

3. There will be two methods of becoming a member of the WWKC, regardless of whether or not you are a professional or hobbyist:

A. You can pay a $29.00 per year dues; or,
B. You can pay a one time payment of $225.00 to become a lifetime member.

__________________
Carl “

Ode to koi: Enthusiasts cherish colors, serenity of Japanese fish

Ode to koi: Enthusiasts cherish colors, serenity of Japanese fish

November 20, 2007

By CAROL MCGRAW

THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Dentists Ray Armstrong and Robert Winkler admit to being “koi kichi” — koi crazy. They certainly are. The men are so enthralled with koi that they travel to Japan at least once a year to buy some of these brilliantly colored carp and visit world-famous koi farms.

“Koi are addicting,” says Winkler, who lives in rural Peyton, Colo., with his family and 25 koi. “Watch out: They grab you. They aren’t like the fish in an aquarium. They are much more personable.”

Winkler and Armstrong are not as over-the-top as koi collectors who pay $20,000 or more for one fish. But they have bought tons of equipment, built elaborate habitats with exotic plants and beautiful ponds, fed the fish health foods and entered them in competitions. In doing so, they contribute to a retail business that rakes in $3 billion a year worldwide.

Winkler has a 4-foot-deep pond and waterfall in his dental office, which is a big hit with his patients. He also has an outdoor pond at home, and is putting the finishing touches on a spectacular 13,000-gallon indoor “infinity” pond, which seems to disappear in the horizon at one end. He commissioned an artist to create a Japanese mural that will be painted across the floor to the pond, and will include illustrations of his favorite fish.

“Koi are just like big puppies,” Winkler says. “I have one that is just like a Labrador retriever; he gets all excited and comes up and greets me when I come home.” (From the pond, of course — not at the front door.)

Armstrong’s koi know tricks, too, he says. His oldest fish, 18, eats out of his hand. He doesn’t have a name. Armstrong just calls him the “old guy.” Why? Seems that koi owners are a superstitious group. Many, including the dentists, don’t name their fish out of fear they’ll go belly up.

“I used to name them Rock and Bush and stuff when my kids were young, but currently I’m not naming them. I fear I’ll be cursed — that something will happen to them,” Winkler says.

Many also feel it’s bad luck to have an even number of fish, so they keep an odd number. And they believe that every pond should have one fish with a red dot on its head, a symbol that mimics the Japanese flag.

Still, accidents happen. Recently a workman tripped an electric breaker, and nine of Winkler’s koi perished because they didn’t get enough oxygen. (Twelve of his friends got together and bought him an 18-inch Showa — a black, red and white koi — as consolation. And he bought a backup generator.)

Barring accidents, koi are so hardy that some people write them into their wills. The koi thought to be the longest-lived reached a ripe old age of about 226 years before dying in Japan in 1977. But a more typical lifespan is 35 to 60 years.

If fish are going to live that long, might as well make them comfy, which is what Armstrong and Winkler have done with their landscaping.

“It can be as easy or complicated as you want it to be. You can just throw ‘em in a little pond and let ‘em go,” says Winkler, one of only 30 or so people certified to judge koi shows through the Associated Koi Clubs of America. “But I like to take good care of them so they’ll be at the top of their game.”

Winkler even installed a system that creates water currents in the pond so the fish will get their exercise.

His first pond cost about $800, including rocks, landscaping, a waterfall, filters and five fish. Now, he’s lost count of his expenditures.

Armstrong’s property has three outdoor pools, a stream, waterfall and a holding tank inside a greenhouse for wintering over his 50 koi.

“I had this vision of a Zen landscape,” somewhere he could practice meditation, he says.

He is also building an indoor quarantine tank for new fish, to make sure they’re virus-free before they join the others.

And he put an addition on his bedroom that is all windows on three sides so he can watch his koi.

Wildlife is sometimes attracted to koi ponds, but he constructed his with cantilevered edges so animals are deterred from wading in.

Armstrong says he has no idea how much he has spent on his landscaping and koi. It took him three years to build the main pond, with him doing much of the work.

“Every summer for 10 years I had a semi load of rocks brought in for the landscaping,” he says. “It sounds like a lot of work, but it’s fun work.”

Add to that the trips to Japan, and it’s easy to see how the cost of owning koi can add up.

Consider it a mental health expenditure. Above all, koi owners talk about how relaxing it is to watch their fish.

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s kind of crazy,” Winkler says. “They bring a lot of pain. But they also bring a lot of peace.”
.http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071120/FEATURES10/71120063

Enviro-Proactivity by AKCA Re: Water Discharge

The following letter from the current chairman of the Associated Koi Clubs of America and the emails leading up to it are the latest in an environmentally proactive attempt by the AKCA to prevent contamination via koi show wastewater discharges into natural water bodies. This is a bold move and to be commended. Member clubs and their members should take heed.

(John Hawley)

Harlan Glenn
AKCA Chairman
529 W. Blueridge Ave.
Orange, CA 92867
November 29, 2007

To all AKCA clubs,

The following action is strongly advised for all AKCA clubs holding koi and/or goldfish shows.

In addition to the proper tank disinfecting prior to the show, after each show, clubs should ensure that used water in the tanks has been treated with bleach prior to discharge into sanitary sewers.  The recommended treatment is two cups of normal household bleach (5.25% sodium hypochlorite) per 500 gallons of show tank water, mixed and allowed to stand for a minimum of one half hour – see Table 1 below.  If the treated water is to be discharged onto the ground or into another potential water source, residual bleach should be first neutralized by dosing with sodium thiosulfate.  A stock solution, the “Mix,” may be made by adding 4 oz (by weight) of sodium thiosulfate crystals to one gallon of distilled water – see Table 2 below for volume of the “Mix” to be added to neutralize the bleach recommended in Table 1.

Show tank water volume    Volume of household bleach to be added
(gallons)    (ounces)    (tablespoons)    (teaspoons)
500    16.0    32.0    96
300    9.6    19.2    58
100    3.2    6.4    19
50    1.6    3.2    10
20    0.6    1.3    4
10    0.3    0.6    2

Table 1

Show tank water volume    “Mix” volume to neutralize the bleach
(gallons)    (ounces)    (tablespoons)    (teaspoons)
500    16.0    32.0    96
300    9.6    19.2    58
100    3.2    6.4    19
50    1.6    3.2    10
20    0.6    1.3    4
10    0.3    0.6    2

Table 2

Stating the obvious: Do not add bleach to water containing fish.

Taking this action will signal USDA/APHIS that the koi community is anxious to self-regulate and to do what we can to preclude the potential spread of disease.

Sincerely,

Harlan Glenn
AKCA Chairman

From:    “Doug Dahl” <judgedahl@hotmail.com>
To:    judgedahl@hotmail.com
CC:    “Tom Graham” <tgraham@koiusa.com>, “Spike Cover” <scover@pacbell.net>, “Gene Anderson (KHV)” <koipondman@aol.com>, “Dr. Galen Hansen” <galenkoi@aol.com>, “Burt Ballou” <burtb@socal.rr.com>, “Carole Elliott” <celliott10@socal.rr.com>, ldlever@earthlink.net
Subject:    letter from AKCA
Date:    Sun, 25 Nov 2007

Dear club AKCA Dir/Rep

I have been requested by Harlan Glenn, Chairman of AKCA, to forward to all member clubs the attached letter created by the AKCA Scientific committee to address the concern of USDA/APHIS groups about the water we let loose, following a koi exhibit or koi show, into the ecosystem.     It is AKCAs intention to suggest that its member clubs be proactive in treating the water in the tanks prior to releasing the water per the directions in the attached letter.    Also see the rational used by Spike Cover, Scientific Committee Chair, below in the creation of the procedure recommended in the attached letter.

doug dahl
AKCA CFO

From: Spike Cover
To: Harlan Glenn
Cc: Burt Ballou ; Doug Dahl ; Norm Meck ; Peter Ponzio
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2007 1:16 PM
Subject: Possible letter to the clubs

Harlan,

Attached is a letter that I drafted at the request of Burt.

I think the idea is/was to be proactive and show the USDA/APHIS groups that we can self regulate and really want to cooperate in disease prevention.  This started with Peter Ponzio who wrote something, sent it to Burt who suggested that I contact Peter.  It evolved to what you see in the draft.

Briefly, we (Norm Meck and I) took Peter’s “approved” (by some person is APHIS, I think) 1 cup of bleach per 500 gallons of post-show tank water and made an allowance for the likely residual ammonia/chlorine/chloramine binders remaining at the end of a show.  This resulted in a doubling of the bleach and a subsequent doubling of the neutralizing sodium thiosulfate (conservative approach) if the water is dumped on the ground, into storm drains or local water where desirable aquatic life is present.

If you like it, feel free to send it.  Since it will be coming from you, you can modify it any way you like.  I’ll be happy to try to answer any questions you may have.

All the best,
Spike