KHV expert from Israel to speak at PNKCA convention

By Carmen Stafford

2006 PNKCA Convention Chairperson

Mordi Haimi

The speaker lineup for this year’s PNKCA convention is complete. The first one we discussed in an earlier article was Art Lembke, who is an AKCA and ZNA Certified Judge. Joining Art in the speaker lineup will be Mordi Haimi from Mag Noy Ltd., of Israel.

If you subscribe to KoiUSA Magazine, look at the inside back cover and you will no doubt see an ad for Mag Noy Ltd. That is where Mordi works. Mag Noy Ltd. is an ornamental fish marketing organization that handles the fish stock of five separate fish farms in Israel. The fish includes Koi, gold fish and tropical fish. Mag Noy is the biggest ornamental fish marketing organization in Israel, and every year ships millions of fish all over the world.

Mordi has been at Mag Noy since 1999 but said he learned to love and appreciate Koi in 1991 while working Gan-Shmuel Fish Breeding Center as a fish pathologist. Gan-Shmuel is one of the fish farms in Mag Noy.

He is responsible for developing working standards, which become part of the company’s working procedures in all of the farms. Most of all he’s concerned about KHV. Mordi said he’s “been very involved in all the research concerning KHV,” and added that five different groups within that organization meet twice a month to compare notes and exchange information about the virus. They also communicate with researchers worldwide.

That communication finds its way close to home because Mordi travels frequently to the U.S. to visit May Noy’s distributors. “We look after our customers, as we do not take them for granted,” said Mordi. “It’s important to me to know how their season was and if they had any problems.”  While here he also attends forums that deal with KHV.

Staying on top of KHV is important for May Noy, as the virus nearly wiped out the Israeli farms in the early ‘90s. Since that time researchers at May Noy have been working hard to develop their “Super Health Koi” that is resistant to KHV, and believe they have succeeded in doing so.

Mordi has a BA in Biology from Tel Aviv University and an MA in fish disease from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. And, while his official work title at Mag Noy is Health & Quality Assurance Manager, Mordi has an interesting resume. Before his career in fish health Mordi was a dolphin and sea lion trainer at the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium. As a college student, he helped train Capuchin monkeys in the “Helping Hands” project which trained monkeys for quadriplegics.

Mordi and his wife, Shani, have a daughter, Noya, who is 6 and son, Inbar, who is 4. When he isn’t working Mordi and his family like to travel. “We travel a lot in Israel mainly in the desert to go hiking and camping,” said Mordi.

Editor’s note: Articles on the final two speakers, Dave Moore, owner of Koi Joy in Kennewick, WA, and Jan Jordan of Richland, WA, a Master Gardner and pond plant expert, will follow in later issues.

By Carmen Stafford, 2006 PNKCA Convention Chairperson

Dave Moore, owner of Koi Joy Pond Shop in Kennewick, WA, will be the third speaker at PNKCA’s 22^{nd Annual Convention, Trade Show and Pond Tour to be held June 9-11 at the Shilo Inn in Richland, WA.}

When Dave takes the podium he will show, through slides, ponds his customers have built and illustrate how ponds can be built in any kind of space. "Even though they may have the room, most people build their first pond too small," said Dave. "I usually tell people to build bigger than they think they want it, because most people end up rebuilding once the koi bug bites, and they find out they need more room for their pets."

When Dave built his pond 25 years ago he didn’t make this mistake. His first and only pond is 9,000 gallons and is shared by koi and, occasionally, Mallard ducks. "I decided my aquarium was too small," noted Dave. He added that some of the fish he dropped into his pond then are still there today.

When you consider how long ago he built his pond it’s not hard to imagine how the available pond products on the market have changed. But, in fact, there were few pond products back then.

"At that time building a pond meant I needed to be very resourceful, because there wasn’t anything on the market you could buy specifically for pond construction," said Dave. For instance, pond liners were not available so Dave constructed his pond with concrete. For other types of equipment such as pumps and filters he relied heavily on swimming pool products retrofitted for pond use.

It was also during this time that Dave opened Koi Joy which he ran from his home. After a while Dave and his wife, Barbara, moved their business to a small office with storage space in Richland and remained there until three years ago when the business was moved to much more spacious quarters in Kennewick. "We went from 2,800 square feet to about 18,000 square feet—I think we’ll be here a while," noted Dave. And while they have several tanks of koi for sale in the back of the shop, Dave said they have plans to eventually build a fish house. In his quest to have better products and make pond keeping easier Dave began making his own products, specifically pumps such as the Superfalls.

Dave and Barbara run the business with their daughter Kelli and her husband, John. Other family members pitch in and help on a regular basis, especially during the busy times.

"The last five years have been very busy," said Dave. "People want more from their home, and ponds just seem to add what they are looking for. Today, landscapers just about have to offer pond construction services because the demand is so great."

Jan Jordan

J an Jordan, a Master Gardner and avid garden pond enthusiast, is the fourth and final speaker lined up to speak at this year’s PNKCA Convention held June 9-11 at the Shilo Inn in Richland WA. A certified Master Gardner since 1996, Jan will present a slide show and discuss water gardening, pond plants and how she works with her fish and the frogs that visit her yard every summer.

And while her interest changed from gardening in the ground to gardening in several feet of water, Jan said it wasn’t her idea in the beginning.

“It all started when my oldest son, Kris, who was 13 at the time, showed me a picture of a pond in a book and asked if we could make one,” said Jan. “He had some big triple-decker fort in the back yard that was a real eyesore. I told him that if we were going to have a pond, it would have to go in place of the fort.” So two days and four-trips-to-the-landfill later, Jan and Kris were ready to dig. The pond they built is about 1,500 gallons and is a two-tiered informal shape with a waterfall.

Originally Jan planned on keeping a garden pond with just a few goldfish. That changed after she saw a gorgeous platinum butterfly koi at a local pet shop. Jan said she likes all fish but only keeps butterfly koi. “I personally prefer butterfly because they don’t seem to bother the plants as much as the others do.”

But then there’s the frogs. Jan said some tadpoles were discovered in a neighbor’s swimming pool cover, and the owners were getting ready to open their pool for the season. “They were going to dispose of the tadpoles so a friend of mine collected them and gave me some,” said Jan. “Many a parent in the Badger Mountain school zone got tadpoles that year.” Jan decided to encourage the frogs to stay in her yard by providing them with a kiddy pool. “This way the fish wouldn’t eat them,” noted Jan. Young frogs soon found Jan’s cool, tree-lined back yard to their liking and are now annual visitors.

A few years later Jan decided she was tired of the annual kiddy pool so she and Kris built a shallow, formal-shaped pond for the frogs and water gardening. Once the tadpoles start getting limbs and hop out of the pond Jan adds a few goldfish for mosquito control. The plants include lotus and tropical and hardy lilies.

In the winter time Jan keeps a small Beckett Patio Pond in her living room where she stores outdoor tropical plants for the winter. Plants such as Taros, Palm plants, Bog lilies and tropical lilies find a safe haven tucked in between aquariums of goldfish and a quarantine tank. Also, Kris keeps two tanks of tropical fish in his room.

Today Jan’s full time job as a middle-school Para educator keeps her very busy, but when she’s not working in her own yard she still finds time to devote to her Master Gardening projects. A couple of years ago the Master Gardner Foundation decided to build a Demonstration Pond at the Kennewick Library, and because Jan had experience with ponds she “volunteered” to help co-chair the project. To this day it stands out in her mind as one of most stressful things she’d done.

“The garden included a fairly large demonstration water garden, bio-filter, stream and waterfall,” said Jan. “On one particular day we worked a grueling 16-hours and when it was over I was pretty proud of the fact that that no one had a compelling urge to drown any of their co-workers in the pond after it was filled with water!” Today Jan stays involved in the Demonstration Pond as the co-chair of Pond Maintenance.

Jan is the past president and vice president and newsletter editor of the Mid-Columbia Koi and Pond Club. She now serves the club as its contact person and AKCA Rep. In 2000 she was awarded Koi Person of the Year and 2002 the Ed Fujimoto Award. In 2002 Jan became a certified KHA after completing an on-line class through the AKCA and a full weekend wet-lab held in Portland, OR.

Jan shares her home with her husband, Alan, and sons Kris, 24, and Scott, 17. Son, Jesse, 21, is married, and recently completed a tour of Iraq. He is stationed at Ft. Hood, TX.

For those who live in the Mid-Columbia area, you might want to join Jan’s e-mail list called JJ’s Ponding Tidbits. Jan said if subscribers would like to make others aware of some good deals, a ponding funny—or disaster, or have fish and/or plants for sale they can e-mail it to her and she will post the information. Contact her at MCK&PC@jjspond.us.