May 6 News from the Springbrook Koi Farm brood stock theft in Oregon. Is there really a black market for stolen high end koi in the United States? Plus, new on the 2008 AKCA Seminar in Jacksonville, Florida.
April 16 Kodama Koi Farm : Interview with Taro Kodama, president of Kodama Koi Farm of Hawaii about their koi auction business and the upcoming 50,000 Koi Auctioned celebration April-May 15. Over $10,000 in Sweepstake prizes to be awarded. Contest info sent to many AKCA member clubs (follow link for details).
Tropical Koi & Water Garden Club Show @ Morikami Only one week to go before the Tropical Koi & Water Garden Club of South Florida 7th Annual Koi Show. This is a terrific event held at one of the most appropriately unique locales for a koi show at the Morikami Japanese Gardens & Museum as part of their Hatsume Festival. There are hundreds of acres of Japanese gardens and lakes, numerous stages where performers will demonstrate ethnic traditions and more, along with hundreds of vendors showing their wares. See www.morikami.org. Vendors for the show will includes AES, Hikari, Quality Koi and many more. www.tropicalkoiclub.org has all the info on this show to be held Feb. 23-24. They have a host hotel at the Boca Raton Plaza and there are plenty of rooms available in the area regardless. I just returned from the area and the weather is warm as are the people and this is bound to be a memorable experience coming up. Don’t miss it if you can manage to make it.
		February 2 Audio Show News from the KoiCluboftheAir and a replay of the interview with Andrew Filipowski, the billionaire whose kohaku "Alexandria" daughter of "Rose Queen" recently won "Grand Champion" at the ALL Japan Koi Show. Dealer Joel Burkard broke the news at www.Koi.com. Later this month: Replay of interview and commentary with KOI USA Editor & AKCA Judge Steve Childers. Plus, there will be several interviews from industry and the scientific community. KOI USA Article based on Koi Club of the Air interview of Filipowski by John Hawley & Todo Todorsky (link to article)

University of Minnesota KHV Testing & Carp Control Research

A koi hobbyist recently pointed out at Koishack online forum that the University of Minnesota, “,…will soon be bringing online, through their vet testing lab, tests for KHV and bacterial sensitivity testing. Will be nice having a testing facility located locally. As soon as I have more details, I'll update this thread. Actually they are taking test samples now, but their online form hasn't be modified with clear details on the specific testing and how to submit samples. That will be forthcoming very soon. The Univ is nationally known for their work on many animals including equine, but now are branching out into fisheries. The head of the dept happens to be Koi Kichi which only helps the cause.”

Who knows if the poster was referring to the head of UM’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Dr. James Collins, an expert on swine, but another scientist at UM Dr. Peter Sorenson (http://fwcb.cfans.umn.edu/personnel/faculty/sorensen.php)
has taken a strong interest in carp control using pheromones. Sorenson is also working with Australia’s CSIRO that is considering using KHV as a carp control measure.

As this University begins testing for KHV it will be interesting to see what parsing of information and conclusions Sorenson might make relative to KHV as a biologic control in association with his network of associates such as Dr Mark Crane who is leading the charge to release KHV into the natural environment at CSIRO in Australia.

Will Koi Come in the Crosshairs in the EUS Battle?

Beginning in August 2008 importation into Europe of nearly 400 species of tropical fish including koi could be restricted by the Aquatic Animal Health Directive as EUS (Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome) has become a notifiable disease (along with KHV) in the EU after its required listing with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). The restrictions are in the consultation phase for the next several months, but scheduled implementation is August 1, 2008. As the U.S. is a member of the OIE will these restrictions possible be in the works for U.S. importers?
EUS is found in numerous regions of Asia including Japan. It was first reported in 1988 in an Eastern India fish kill that included Cyprinus carpio. EUS is a disease that results in fish kills where one of several species of fungus invade the stomach and coupled with Aeromonas cause ulcerous wounds on the fish prior to death.
The UK Fishkeeping journal has addressed this issue, but none of the koi periodicals or message boards aside from here and at IPPCA.com to date.

Japan's Invasive Carp Origins

We are presently seeking an interview with one of the authors of a study that exams the origins of the invasive carp problem in Japan, which as hobbyists know is the center of global koi culture and home to the finest koi on the planet. The following is an abstract of the study:

Mitochondrial DNA analysis reveals cryptic large-scale invasion of non-native genotypes of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) in Japan

Molecular Ecology
Volume 17 Issue 3 Page 796-809, February 2008

Wild common carp (Cyprinus carpio) are probably suffering from biological invasions of conspecific domesticated strains. However, such invasions may be largely camouflaged by morphological similarities between introduced and native strains. We conducted a large survey of mitochondrial DNA sequences (complete D-loop region) from 11 localities in Japan. From a total of 166 individuals, 28 haplotypes were determined to fit into six divergent clades. One of the six clades included 19 closely related haplotypes with moderate nucleotide differences; however, the remaining five clades each included either a single haplotype or two almost identical haplotypes. Phylogenetic analysis together with the previously published Eurasian haplotypes further demonstrated that the ‘monotypic’ clades were sisters to various Eurasian lineages, whereas the 19 related haplotypes formed a monophyletic group apart from the whole Eurasian clade. Given their monophyly and genetic diversity, the 19 related haplotypes were thought to originate from the Japanese native strain. Conversely, their phylogenetic affinities to Eurasian lineages and unnaturally low genetic diversities caused the haplotypes of the five monotypic clades to be considered as domesticated strains introduced from Eurasia. These hypotheses were supported by further evidences; i.e. the probable non-native haplotypes were frequently found from Japanese domesticated strains, and the probable native population structure was rescued when the probable non-native haplotypes were excluded from the analyses. This study revealed that almost half or more of the haplotypes in all of the locations studied originated from domesticated strains introduced from Eurasia.
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Audio: January 17 Show with Spike Cover, Director, AKCA Project KHV. Cover describes in his own words the who, what, when, where, and how's of the proposed new program called, "Koi Dealer Best Health Practices Certification Program" "pdf file describing program" Cover expects the program to be in beta testing in the Summer or Fall of 2008. Beta-testing dealer volunteers are to contact Spike Cover for more information.

Merry Christmas from the hosts of Koi Club of the Air. Here is a little clip of the Hawley's backyard koi herd on Dec. 22, 2008 with a bit of Faith Evans "White Christmas" foreground music ;o) Click picture or link here

December 15 Audio Show includes an interview with Jason Mulvihill and Deborah O'Haver of AREA the Aquatic Research Environmental Associates about their design work and discount buyer opportunities for hobbyists and large scale commercial aquaculture operators alike. Jason's grandfather Paul was head of Naval Intelligence in Japan prior to 1968 when he founded the company in the Redlands. It was Japan where he developed his love for the hobby that led to their fish and shrimp production and research operations in the U.S. More interesting information to come from Mulvihill and his interesting international operations in future editions of the Koi Club of the Air.

December 8 Audio Show includes conversation with Sonja Kohkola, president of the Rainbow River Koi Club of Dunnellon, Florida, a brand new AKCA member club (club's first newsletter pdf download).Plus, new science documenting the "burst-coast" swimming pattern in koi and considerations one should have when choosing proper air pumps for the koi pond and water garden. This study was released through the Journal of Experimental Biology from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing in June 2007. Lots more to come on such studies in upcoming Koi Club of the Air & Koi News Network programming.

Cohost Hawley's mother Nellie's Young Grand Champion "Miss Kohaku" at the Nov. 10-11, 2007 North Florida Koi Club Show.