I have a Koran Angelfish that I acquired as a juvenile. He was a voracious eater and in a matter of a year doubled in size. He is now about 4 years old and approximately 5 - 6 inches in length. Over the last several months I believe he has developed HLLE disease as I can see the head rot and fin erosion. He also appears emaciated. He does eat, but not much and is not very active. Unfortunately I think part of this is my fault as he quickly outgrew the 75 gallon tank he was in. I believe he was extremely stressed in the small confines, especially when there is quite a bit of rock and other large fish in the tank. I have recently moved him into a 300 gallon tank and he immediately has become more active ( swimming around the entire tank). Does anyone have any suggestions on what to feed him or ways to attempt to bulk him back up. I don't know if I can reverse this, but I would like to try. Thanks in advance. I welcome all suggestions.
HLLE Recommendations
- Thread starter ikktrdr
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lReef_lKeeper
lReef lKeeper
i agree with Jay, IF it is howerever, MHLLE ... low stress, a proper diet, and pristine water conditions can and will reverse the MHLLE. it will take some time, i nursed back 2 tangs (sohol and chevron) from certain death from MHLLE. they were both crammed into a standard 120g ... i got them into the 8' frag tank, properly fed them, and excellent water maintenance ... and a few months later, you could barely tell there was ever an illness. with the Koran angel ... the patterns will likely hide the scars, if they are not to bad.
Reef Keeper,
I did a survey of 100 public aquarists and advanced home aquarists and came up with an interesting statistic - almost 84% of all remissions of HLLE that were reported included moving the fish to a new tank. Here is a link to the report:
http://microcosmaqx.typepad.com/jay_hemdal/2009/02/hlle-survey.html
I could find very few reliable reports of HLLE being cured if the fish was not first moved to a new tank. I have the hypothesis that in many of these cases, activated carbon (perhaps its dust) is the underlying culprit. Moving the fish out of tanks where carbon had been used into one where it has never been used can often cure the fish. Moving the fish to a tank with good protein skimming also can cure them - even if carbon is being used (because skimmers easily remove the carbon fines). Another researcher thinks it is carbon, but that it is the action of the carbon on the water, and not the dust that is the cause. To further confuse things - not all carbons cause problems. Premium brands, especially carbon pellets, seem to be o.k. I'm beginning a study that will examine types of carbon and their propensity to cause HLLE.
Jay
I did a survey of 100 public aquarists and advanced home aquarists and came up with an interesting statistic - almost 84% of all remissions of HLLE that were reported included moving the fish to a new tank. Here is a link to the report:
http://microcosmaqx.typepad.com/jay_hemdal/2009/02/hlle-survey.html
I could find very few reliable reports of HLLE being cured if the fish was not first moved to a new tank. I have the hypothesis that in many of these cases, activated carbon (perhaps its dust) is the underlying culprit. Moving the fish out of tanks where carbon had been used into one where it has never been used can often cure the fish. Moving the fish to a tank with good protein skimming also can cure them - even if carbon is being used (because skimmers easily remove the carbon fines). Another researcher thinks it is carbon, but that it is the action of the carbon on the water, and not the dust that is the cause. To further confuse things - not all carbons cause problems. Premium brands, especially carbon pellets, seem to be o.k. I'm beginning a study that will examine types of carbon and their propensity to cause HLLE.
Jay
Guys I really appreciate your input. I will try to post some pics later if I can get any. Unfortunately my photo skills are not that great. The water quality on the 300 gal is much better than that of the 75. Also I am not using carbon on the 300 as of yet and I have a very powerful protein skimmer. The thing that encourages me the most is the fish is swimming throughout the tank and behaving much better than it has been for the last couple months. My present concern is I would like to see him eat more. He is eating, but the food has to be in front of his mouth. Any ideas on types of food to entice him more. I really appreciate your input as it appears that you really have a strong knowledge of this subject.
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