HLLE? hole in the head?

[maroun.c]

Hi,
My coral beauty has been in the tank for close to 2 years. Always active,eats well and always wonders in the maroon clown cave and get chased bad. it does nip a bit on my sps but nothing serious jsut a random nip here and there niver focuses on a coral.
it's been showing these signs on its head for months now and lately they seem to be healing. is this hole in the head or hlle or something else? sould it be from scrathing against the LR while sleepng at night or is my marrron clown to blame?
thanks for any info

 

[Chris27]

It could be a multitude of things, stray voltage, bad water, improper nutrition, injury, etc...

Eradicating your aquarium of any of the above mentioned conditions, and maintaining pristine water quality will help the fish heal. Moving the fish to a QT may be an option, as there is always a chance that an antibiotic treatment may become necessary.

I've also found that water quality is much easier to control in a small QT, as only a small amount of new SW is necessary for a change.

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks Chris,
tank is a very well established mixed reef (12 years old) upgraded and moved 2 years ago but still it maintained all the live rock. All other fish are doing great so I don't really think it's water quality issues. I have a probe in the tank for stray volatge.
Injury would be possible but as it's bilateral and has been there since months would it still be possible.
Improper feeding would be possible too, anything specific for those? I do feed nori 4-5 times a week and a very rich DIY mix also with some pellets and frozen food blended in and fish vitamins, Selcon and Zoe was added to the blend before freezing it... anything you think I could be missing on in feeding?
Thanks

 

[Chris27]

All sounds well in the tank, personally I would just wait a little while longer, it should just clear up on it's own. Given what you said, it just sounds like a scrape on a rock.

 

[KingwoodMarcia]

Might try some selcon in the water or soak it in nori, to speed up the healing process. It would only benifit the whole tank. It has work for me in the past.

Good luck, nice corals in the back ground. Nice pic as well. Clear shot!!!

 

[maroun.c]

Might try some selcon in the water or soak it in nori, to speed up the healing process. It would only benifit the whole tank. It has work for me in the past.

Good luck, nice corals in the back ground. Nice pic as well. Clear shot!!!

Thanks.

 

[JHemdal]

maroun.c,

Yes, that looks like a moderate case of HLLE. The lesions do seem to be filling in a bit. I wonder - recalling back to when the lesions first started, did you use a different brand of carbon, forget to rinse it, use more carbon than normal, anything like that?

Selcon should not be added directly to the water - all you do is feed the HUFA's it contains to the microfauna of the tank. Fish do NOT absorb Selcon from the water.

Jay

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks for your help Jay,
Actually I started using Carbon in a reactor instead of in a filter sock few months back and that could have coincided with the appearance of the lesions on the fish. Can't realte them for sure time wise but it's rather close. Can you please elaborate on this?
I added Selcon and Zoe to a DIY food mix I made few months back and I feed that to the fish.

 

[JHemdal]

maroun.c,

I'm working on a research project that has the hypothesis that carbon dust causes HLLE in some instances. Reactors are one common way to introduce carbon fines (dust) into tanks, as is not rinsing it well. The problem is that not all carbons do this - so I first need to identify the type of carbon, and then determine if it is the fines, or something the carbon is removing from, or adding to the water. Another researcher is also working on the carbon angle, but he does not think it is the dust. Finally, carbon is so commonly used, that cause and effect can be difficult to see - like saying 100% of the cases of HLLE seen involved the chemical dihydrogen oxide....or water.(grin)


Jay

 

[RegalAngel]

maroun.c,

I'm working on a research project that has the hypothesis that carbon dust causes HLLE in some instances. Reactors are one common way to introduce carbon fines (dust) into tanks, as is not rinsing it well. The problem is that not all carbons do this - so I first need to identify the type of carbon, and then determine if it is the fines, or something the carbon is removing from, or adding to the water. Another researcher is also working on the carbon angle, but he does not think it is the dust. Finally, carbon is so commonly used, that cause and effect can be difficult to see - like saying 100% of the cases of HLLE seen involved the chemical dihydrogen oxide....or water.(grin)


Jay

I use pellitized carbon for bio purposes, and had my 300g running for a couple weeks while my two tangs (purple & Powder blue) were in QT for a little over 4 weeks (no LLE whatsoever). One week after placing the two fishes in the 300g with carbon in use and fines in the water, my PBT developed scale loss and fin deterioration. It became so bad I had to dispose of the fish. The purple tang developed LLE and still has facial loss of coloration. The fines are no longer an issue based on what my filter system is capturing, but I would definitely say in my case it was carbon dust that caused this.

 

[maroun.c]

Interesting.
At least is it reversible in your experience?

 

[RegalAngel]

Interesting.
At least is it reversible in your experience?

I actually had three fishes: Purple Tang, Powder Blue Tang, and Golden Butterfly. The Golden butterfly displayed no issues of HLLE and remains in the tank. This is about a 3 month old tank. The purple tang was placed back in the QT to see if any recovery occurred and it has shown only slight improvement in facial coloring. The fish eats well and is very active. I was providing macro green seaweed almost daily to both tangs and no change in diet between QT and DT.

I plan to transfer the Purple back to the DT soon, and let it go. I have several other butterflies in the DT now and no issues with LLE.