Volume 35, Number 05, May 2019

Visit us on the web at: www.sckoi.com

Club Meetings: The club typically meets on the third Tuesday of each month except November, December, and February

and during the summer when we have socials in lieu of meetings. At our events we get acquainted with

members and guests, address pond issues, and enjoy refreshments and discussions on Koi and water

garden related topics. Our website lists the latest updates for meetings, socials, and events.

General Meeting: Tuesday, May 21st, 2019, 7:30PM, Willow Glen Library 1157 Minnesota Ave, San Jose, CA 95125.

At the meeting we will talk about pond skimmers and auto fill

valves, discuss Koi types, and

have our Q&A time. We will also

be kicking off our annual

membership drive so bring your

check books.

This will be the last meeting until the Fall that we will be

meeting at the Willow Glen Library. During the summer months we move our

meetings to the third weekend of each month and have socials with a pond /product /

technique demonstration at a member’s pond. We have a great lineup of socials this

summer so stay tuned for details!

Upcoming Events

May 21 General Meeting, 7:30 PM, Willow Glen Library Meeting Room

June 4 Board Meeting, 7:30 PM, Stearns Residence, San Jose

June 23 Pond Social and Membership Drive Event, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM –

RSVP for Event Details and Address to info@sckoi.com

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Presidents Corner

Greetings fishy friends,

This year’s Cherry Blossom Festival was a big success. If you weren’t there you missed out on some amazing examples of Japanese culture.

There was something for everyone including games and rides for the kids along with live cultural performances, bonsai, ikebana, origami, and an

open marketplace with arts, crafts and food. Our new interactive booth was a huge hit with the debut of our wheel of fortune koi game and new educational

posters. The children were lined up all day to spin the wheel and test their knowledge. We gave away hundreds of paper koi flags and pieces of candy as prizes. Big Thanks to

those who volunteered to help interact with and educate the crowds.

Our next meeting this Tuesday evening will include our Koi identification series, a talk

on skimmers and auto fill valves in your pond and an open forum focused on your own pond issues. The raffle promises to be a big hit with a multitude of prizes. Come out

and claim a free ticket for all members.

Next month we will kick of our Pond Social series in place of our regular meetings. The Moffats have offered to open their koi pond and beautifully landscaped backyard

for our first social. We request that you RSVP if you plan to join us so we can be prepared with plenty of food and seeting.

Be prepared for a shake down as we gear up for our membership drive. Your valued

membership dues help keep the club funded for the year and keep us from dipping into our savings.

Hope to see you all Tuesday.

Happy Koi Keeping,

Mel Bretzke

Did You Know?

Koi and carp are not tropical fish, they are temperate zone fish

The ground is a geothermal barrier, keeping water a bit cooler in summer and a bit warmer in winter; summer storms, when they come, will cool the pond’s water measurably

Use a thermometer to measure water temperature and track pond data over time for analysis

All-black or brown koi offspring are called Magoi

Goldfish and Koi can interbreed, producing a less lovely offspring that is often sterile

Koi spawn once, in spring, but goldfish will spawn every other week throughout summer

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Plant of the Month – Water Plantain [A. Subcordatum]

Commonly known as water-plantains, the genus consists of aquatic plants with leaves either floating or submerged,

found in a variety of still water habitats worldwide. The

flowers are hermaphrodite, and are arranged in panicles, racemes, or umbels. Alisma flowers have six stamens,

numerous free carpels in a single whorl, each with 1 ovule, and subventral styles. The fruit is an achene with a

short beak.

Water plantains are perennial plants. These herbs are usually emergent plants 0.1–1 m (4–40 in) high. They

have broad leaves that can be either tapered or rounded at the base. When submerged, the plant produces ribbon-

like leaves. Inflorescences are highly branched. They

produce whorls of perfect flowers either white or pinkish. The fruits are flat-sided nutlets 2.5–3 mm (0.098–0.118 in) in length. These herbs

usually flower in late May to early September, but this can vary with conditions. When introduced to an area, water plantain can rapidly reproduce.

Reference: www.wikipedia.com; Practical Rock and Water Garden by Peter Robinson

Koi Type of the Month – Shiro Bekko

The Bekko variety has evenly spread but random black markings over its body. This popular variety is a true favorite of many and comes with body color of white (Shiro Bekko), red (Aka Bekko), and yellow (Ki Bekko). This Koi type has over their base color black markings in the form of spots generally confined to the body above the lateral line.

Both Shiro Bekko and the Shiro Utsuri have a white, or shiro (shi-row) back ground with black, or sumi (sue-mee) markings, however, the Bekko has small black spots and the Utsuri has large black patches. This is the obvious difference between the two types. Bekko koi types have evenly spread but random black markings over its body.

Bekko is to sanke as utsuri is to showa. Thus, all criteria that apply to sanke sumi quality and pattern are applicable to bekko sumi.

Source: Wikipedia, Nishikigoi by T. Tamaka

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Cherry Blossom Festival Roundup 2019 The Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival was a great time for all. The club hosted a booth and had

several hundred visitors over the two day event. Thank you to all who volunteered their time.

Photo Credits: Eve Bretzke

“AKCA Koi of the Year” Contest 2019 – Send in your photo ASAP. Koi of Year Contest is now announced and entries must be made by May 24, 2019 for consideration

to the AKCA. Please take a photo of your entry Koi and email to Eve Bretzke (scvkwg@sckoi.com)

to be entered into the contest. Photo should be at least 300 dpi and provide the name of whom to

give photo credit. The club’s winner will be listed in an upcoming KOI USA magazine edition.

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All Associated ACKA Clubs and Caring Koi Keepers A note from Jerry Kyle, AKCA Project KHV Committee Chair

Help. I need your help to get us the help we all need. Plain facts are that studies have shown that

the things we were pleased to learn to eliminate KHV do not work. Quarantine with heat would

trigger KHV and some thought those not triggered were safe. Those not triggered simply survived

due to stronger immune systems and can now be carriers of a stronger virus. Blood tests found

KHV in infected Koi and now we learn latent KHV can be carried in skin cells so no KHV in blood

does not mean not a KHV carrier. With our help OSU discovered they could find KHV simply by

swabbing with a Q-Tip. Cheap and easy got us all excited until they found KHV is only in 10% of

the potential cells. That means 90% of tested cells can be clean while only 10% effected so another

sure thing is not so sure with 9 to 1 odds against knowing for sure. Everything worked to some

degree but, not completely so the KHV virus still rules.

We are not back to square one. Much has been learned as we are dealing with a process of

elimination going after something that does not want to be eliminated. Yes, we are getting closer. It

is just taking longer but we must beat this thing that has become a world-wide epidemic.

Looking at the figures reported in KOIUSA Magazine we can see we have done a good job raising

money for solving this problem even though it is not as good as I had anticipated. Many clubs

stepped up early and it shows and has helped the continuing effort keep going. Some were so

caring we decided to add a Diamond and a Platinum Level to give proper recognition and respect.

What is a concern is the absence of so many club names on the report. We are not all wealthy but

we can at least do something. On a local level, the Sacramento club that I belong to was one of the

early groups to step up and looking back we realized we did a Silver Level donation and sat back.

We are now in the next year and decided to at least "pass the hat" at the last club meeting. Behold!

Suddenly we had another $107.75. Sending it in will not raise us above the Silver Level but it did

raise the reality that if we can get more clubs to simply "pass the hat" one more time and get it sent

in ASAP, it will make a big difference in our ability to continue making a difference. Our new year

starts this July. Those who have not done so yet need to at least be recognized as caring.

My hopeful request is not about how great a club can be. It is to simply show you care at any level.

Please pass the hat one more time so I can continue to be part of helping others help you. You are

actually part of all of us so whatever you do makes us all look good. Thank you for caring.

Sincerely,

Jerold Kyle, jeroldkyle@yahoo.com, AKCA Project KHV Committee Chair

2019 Club Business Our last general meeting was held April 16, 2019. The club is preparing for summer activities

and just hosted a booth at the annual Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival. We are starting up

our annual membership drive and planning Pond Socials this summer. Next general meeting is

May 21st.

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Monthly Club Report to Associated Koi Clubs of America (AKCA)

We had our general meeting April 16th and our board meeting April 9th. Club members

assisted local koi projects in our area. Member Barbara continues to assist Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, CA with improving their water quality and Koi keeping expertise.

The club hosted a booth at the annual Cupertino Cherry Blossom festival this month with President Mel overseeing an interactive display which attracted hundreds of

visitors to our booth. This was a very successful community outreach event for the club this year. We thank all those who made this event possible.

NOTE: The above report will be added to AKCA board Minutes and will be posted on AKCA website http://www.akca.org and click on Koi Clubs. Prepared by Eve Bretzke

2019-2020 Membership Drive – Join or Renew Now

We are now kicking off our annual Membership Drive which covers from July 1, 2019 to

June 30, 2020 – Club dues are now $40.00 per year per household. Our membership year goes from July 1 to June 30th. We are moving to a new model for membership

moving forward. Guests are welcome to attend their first meeting free, afterwards we ask that if guests would like to attend our meetings / events more frequently that they

join the club by paying membership dues. If you like Santa Clara Valley Koi and Water Garden club and its activities, support us! Sponsorships also available.

Sponsorships Available for 2019/2020!

Rates include an advertisement in the monthly club newsletter, website, and other

publications for the calendar year. We are revamping our sponsorship program for

2019 / 2020. Additional sponsorship opportunities will be announced as they become available. Thank you to all our sponsors for your ongoing support of our club and its

activities. Membership - $40 per year (July 1 – June 30).

Splash Sponsorship Per Year

Business Card $35

Quarter Page $95

Half Page $125

Full Page $250

Check out our latest sponsor, Hikari! Thank you!

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Our Sponsors Please support our sponsors who provide valuable products and services to our membership. While we love our sponsors SCVKWG does not endorse any business, service, or product.

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Our Sponsors Please support our sponsors who provide valuable products and services to our membership. While we love our sponsors SCVKWG does not endorse any business, service, or product.