Hlle

[ErosJN]

My hippo tang has HLLE and I'm trying to pinpoint the cause. I feed homemade fish food which consists of blended oysters, fish, scallops, shrimp, crab, and nori seaweed all soaked in minced garlic prior to feeding. My fish have access to nori sheets on a daily basis as well so I don't think it's the food quality. Water parameters are fine. It's a 210 dual overflow aquarium so space is not an issue. I believe it's the activated carbon. Lately I've been getting the big Walmart containers. The carbon is placed in mesh bags in the filter socks to catch as much dust as possible. As of today I removed the carbon, but I do like using carbon in my aquariums so I'm wondering if purigen might be an acceptable substitute to carbon. Or is there any carbon on the market that might be safe to use?

Thanks,
Eros JN

 

[ClownMan727]

What carbon are you getting from WalMart? Also, not sure you should be using so much garlic.

 

[listen2bob]

Carbon and garlic both can cause hlle. If you run carbon be sure you rinse it extremely well

 

[ErosJN]

Not sure the carbon brand, I'll take a look next time I'm at Walmart. As far as the garlic goes, I'll lay off of it as of now. I heard there were carbon pellets that are much better in the sense of not releasing much "powder", any brand suggestions? It's interesting that some have complete success running carbon without any HLLE symptoms while others don't.

 

[ClownMan727]

No matter what carbon you are using you need to rinse it before using it in the tank. Run under the faucet until the water is clear before putting in the tank. As for brand of carbon. I get the stuff FAOIS has I think it is Two Little Fishes. Half a cup for 50 gallons.

 

[ErosJN]

Cool. Yeah I always rinse them but maybe I wasn't doing it good enough, I'll stay carbon less for a little while and try a better brand with excessive rinsing.