Homeless fish find shelter at Koi Show
This weekend, koi fish enthusiasts from all over Southern California will gather in Del Mar for the San Diego Koi Club’s 30th annual show and competition. Yet as prized as these oversize jewel-toned fish may be among collectors, a small segment of this scaly population fall between society’s cracks.
These are the “vagabond koi,” fish who’ve been abandoned, neglected, orphaned by an owner’s death or who’ve become too numerous or costly to maintain. Fortunately for the homeless fish, they have a protector.
Over the past three years, Jerry Myers of Lakeside has rescued nearly 3,000 koi from ponds around the county and, in most cases, found them new homes. This weekend, Myers will host a Vagabond Koi booth at the show with 150 young fish available for adoption.
30th Annual San Diego Koi Show
When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 4. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday March 5.
Where: Del Mar Fairgrounds Activity Center, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar
Admission: Free. Parking is $13.
Details: koiclubofsandiego.org, vagabondkoi.org
The koi rescue group is just Myers’ latest cause. Before that, he ran an Australian shepherd rescue organization. Born into an overcrowded home in New York 62 years ago, Myers and several siblings were moved to a Catholic youth home, where he lived from ages 9 to 15. The experience of losing his family and home left a permanent impression on him and a desire to help others in need.
“I’m kind of an odd character,” said Myers, who edits the koi club’s newsletter. “If I see an animal in trouble. I have to help it. I guess I’ve just got a heart for animals.”
Vagabond Koi got its start in 2014, when Myers was working as an administrator at a medical office. A patient called in and asked if anybody would like some baby koi. Myers and his wife, Diane Conger, live on a 1.5-acre property where he’s maintained his own koi pond for 18 years.
Figuring they had the room in their pond to help out, he drove out, netted the fish and brought them home with the goal of sharing them with other club members.
Then in May 2014, the Cocos Fire swept through the Harmony Grove Spiritualist Association and destroyed much of the community. The pastor’s home was gutted and the fish in his koi pond were suffocating in the ash-choked water. Cal Fire and San Diego Humane Society officials tracked down Myers for help.
He cleaned, stabilized and aerated the pond, built a new holding tank on his own property and then with the help of club members, netted and moved all of the surviving the fish to Lakeside for safe-keeping.
When the pastor decided against rebuilding five months later, he gave Myers permission to find new homes for the fish. Myers gave away all but one, who he calls Lady Matilda.
Mike Poyner, an attorney in Mission Hills who serves with Myers on the Koi Club’s volunteer committee, said the fire awakened a giving spirit in Myers.
“Jerry has a very caring heart and he’s a man of action. When he sees something wrong, it’s like instead of cursing the darkness he lights a candle,” Poyner said. “He has unlimited energy and an unlimited desire to respond when someone needs help.”
There are many reasons people give up their koi. The fish can live up to 100 years and outlive their owners; the cost for electricity and water bills may become too expensive; or the fish may spawn and overwhelm the pond with babies. But the most common reason is the fish can grow from three inches to a foot in length in just a year, and homeowners either buy too many starter fish or their pond isn’t big enough to accommodate the adults.
After news reports aired about the Harmony Grove fish rescue, Myers could barely keep up with demand for his free services. He went from one in-ground pond for his personal collection of 30 fish to a peak of 14 ponds, and his electric bill rose from $300 to $1,100 a month.
Eventually he installed solar panels to cut his power bills, started a nonprofit to accept public donations and found a company that donates up to 100 pounds of feed pellets every month.
These days, with donations and a part-time job maintaining koi ponds for three corporate and private customers, he said he’s finally breaking even.
Myers now has about 300 fish in six ponds on his property. His new rule is to arrange a new adoptive home for rescued koi before he ever collects them, so they don’t have to endure the trauma of being moved twice. Places that received rescued koi include the Catamaran Resort, the Bahia Resort Hotel, the Deer Park Monastery in Escondido and the Mission San Antonio in Pala.
Not everyone who wants to adopt a koi can have one. Sometimes well-meaning homeowners attempt to rescue koi on their own and don’t realize the danger of mixing fish with different immunities, or they mistakenly put the fish in tap water, which has chlorine that will burn their gills and kill them.
Myers said he likes to re-home fish with homeowners who have some experience raising koi. He requires a 1,000- to 1,200-gallon pond for three fish. He wants the pond to be properly filtered, free of harmful bacteria and reasonably safe from predators like herons and raccoons.
Myers doesn’t charge for his services or the fish, though he asks for a donation to cover equipment and expenses. The adoptable fish he’ll have at the Koi Show this weekend will be $20 each, with all proceeds benefiting Vagabond Koi. He’ll also have a booth of artwork and other merchandise donated by club members. All sale proceeds will benefit the charity.
Although Myers has become well-known in the koi community for rescuing fish and helping homeowners rebuild their ponds, he generally shies away from publicity, which Poyner said is typical of his humble nature.
“Jerry has become the Johnny Appleseed of koi, planting homeless koi on ponds all over San Diego County,” Poyner said. “He never boasts about his accomplishments and he makes a friend out of every person he meets.”
