OK. So I rescued this vlamingi tang from the local fish store about a year ago. At that time he had some open places on his head. In the year I have had him I have treated him 3 times with Metroplex but it hasn't done anything. The fish has always been happy and acts healthy ever since I have had him. Super active and eats like a pig. Has grown probably a couple inches and even gotten streamers on his tail since I have had him. I kept thinking it would go away on its own but it hasn't. It almost looks like the skin around his head has pulled apart in places. I've never seen anything like it. Just wanted to get some opinions on this as he has now become my kids favorite fish and I would hate for it to be a problem down the road that I could have addressed now. Thanks.
Help with vlamingi tang
- Thread starter leerph
- Start date
FishN00b83
New member
It could be HLLE which some say is caused by high nitrates/poor water quality/carbon dust in the water, or stress. I notice when I have a tang in my 55g QT for too long they start to develop markings like that.
What size is your tank?
What size is your tank?
Thanks for the replies. I have a 500 gal tank. The only inhabitants are this fish, a yellow tang, purple tang and sailfin tang. All the tangs are only about 4 inches in size. Like I said, he had it when I got him. I thought it would clear up once I got him and fed him well, etc but it has pretty much stayed the same. I feed mostly ocean nutrition flakes (all the different flavors) and give them seaweed selects which is an algae sheet product about twice a week. Occasionally they get pellets from new life spectrum. Don't feed any frozen b/c the closest place I can buy it is an hour from my house. I did check for electrical current but there wasn't any. Couldn't find any rust either. I only run carbon on occasion. Maybe once every 3 or 4 months when the water gets an ugly tint to it. My nitrates are kinda high. Tested around 50 on a salifert kit. My phosphates test at 0.04 on a hanna checker. Definitely not stressed. He is the boss of the tank by far. He is very active and follows us around. Eats from my hand. Any other ideas or treatment options?
