Question
Hi, I have a 2000 gal pond. 13 small koi. 18-10 in koi has what I believe is dropsy.Bloated abdomen/pineconing scales. No visible sore or ulcer.Possibly from cold water stress poss microabrasion. A koi expert rec minimal treatment would be 0.6ppt salting and raise temp to 82 deg. F. I have a lotus and a hardy lilly. This salinity would surely kill the plants. 1. can lotus/lilly be overwintered outside pond in container buried in ground? 2. won't be able to isolate sick koi or raise temperature,so best I can do is raise salt conc. Will this concentration kill other fishin pond? I'm not optimistic about saving the sik koi but that's the best I can do.  I'm in zone 6 can get down to 10 degrees in winter Thanks for any advice

Answer
Hello Stephen!
So sorry to hear about your Koi.
I am sorry to say, but the chances of saving the Koi are minimal.
Dropsy is, however, a secondary infection. The trick now is to make sure the water in the pond is absolutely healthy and the other fish do not get ill.
Let's take first things first:
The Lily and Lotus will not take kindly to the salt and must be removed. Your best bet is to put them in a bucket or some sort of container in a place that does not freeze (basement, garage) for the duration of this problem.
The other fish will not NOT get sick from the salt (We keep the fish in our facility in very high salinity to keep them healthy).
Test your water for Ammonia and Nitrite and make sure both are at absolute Zero!!
It does not hurt to add a beneficial bacteria that can withstand the salinity to help with water quality.
Brigitte
www.pondmarket.com