Pics...Blue tang with bad case of HLLE.....MAJOR IMPROVEMENT!

[Mel-E-Mel]

So last week i picked up a blue tang from a fellow reefer with a major case of HLLE. Skin erosion went down the length of the poor guys body. looked like he wouldnt make it but i thought i would try to save him. So far he has shown some major improvement the past week.

Heres what he looked like the first day i had him.
<a href="http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/rommelgin/?action=view&current=P8260125.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/rommelgin/P8260125.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/rommelgin/?action=view&current=P8260124.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/rommelgin/P8260124.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
At first i had him in my sump but thought he would be more stressed being in such a confined space so i moved him into my display. I really didnt care how crappy he looked as long as he was in a enviornment where he can make a recovery without the added stress. Heres how he looks a week later.
<a href="http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/rommelgin/?action=view&current=P8310144.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/rommelgin/P8310144.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/rommelgin/?action=view&current=P8310142.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/rommelgin/P8310142.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Im glad i moved him, he is making a quick recovery. I heard that HLLE takes some time but at this rate i think he might be fully recovered in a month or two. I been feeding a mixture of mysis, brine with spirulina, mega marine, prime reef and nori sheets. Gonna start broccolli tommorow. I wanted to soak the food in zoe or selcon but didnt get a chance to pick some up at the lfs when i was there. So far everything looks good tho. WIll post how he progresses thru the weeks. If you all have any recomendations, suggestions feel free to spill em!

Oh, sorry for the crappy pics!

 

[Texastravis]

Since this fish is a tang I would keep some algae strips in the tank at all times. Tangs are like cows, they graze graze and graze some more and stop grazing when they feel the need to. You cant overfeed algae to a tang in my opinion. If there are other fish in the tank he has to compete for food I would consider a QT tank but if not dont wry about it. Just try to duplicate the ocean. Always have algae and I would invest in some calarpa for him to tear up on. keep water parameters perfect! Good luck and keep us posted

 

[Mel-E-Mel]

Thanks for the suggestion Texastravis! I keep a half sheet of nori in the tank held by a veggie clip. usually have to add another one the next day.

 

[limitdown]

Glad to hear that he's making a recovery. I've seen bad cases of HLLE, but your tang has a seriously bad case of it.
In addition to nori, I'd also feed different pellets and frozen foods soaked in Selco, Zeocon, Kent Vitamin C and Garlic. Rotate the various additives for variety.

 

[Mel-E-Mel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13274043#post13274043 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by limitdown
Glad to hear that he's making a recovery. I've seen bad cases of HLLE, but your tang has a seriously bad case of it.
In addition to nori, I'd also feed different pellets and frozen foods soaked in Selco, Zeocon, Kent Vitamin C and Garlic. Rotate the various additives for variety.

Which brand and type of pellets would you all recommend? Ill pick some up when i get some selcon or zeocon.

What if i take some vitamin c pills and crush it to a fine powder and soak frozen food in it...like dosing zoas. Will that work??

 

[jmicky41]

Nice comeback. A while back i bought a tiny hippo, which soon came down with ich. After an 8 week stay in hypo, it looked terrible. There were many pits on it's face and sides. After being put back in the display ALL the pits cleared up in a week or two.

 

[Mel-E-Mel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13279650#post13279650 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmicky41
Nice comeback. A while back i bought a tiny hippo, which soon came down with ich. After an 8 week stay in hypo, it looked terrible. There were many pits on it's face and sides. After being put back in the display ALL the pits cleared up in a week or two.

Nice to hear yours made it out ok. JMO, if your QT is not large enough for certain fish, tangs for example, it just adds more stress to the fish. Im sure your qt was of adequate size, i just heard of some folk who QT in 20 gallons or so. Smaller fish i think would be ok but for tangs at least a 55g.

 

[limitdown]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13278727#post13278727 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rommelgin
Which brand and type of pellets would you all recommend? Ill pick some up when i get some selcon or zeocon.

What if i take some vitamin c pills and crush it to a fine powder and soak frozen food in it...like dosing zoas. Will that work??

Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 & 2. OSI is also ok.
I've never tried human vitamin c on fish before, but if you've had success feeding it to Zoas, then i think it would be safe for fish as well.

 

[scuzy]

Rommel,

Glad he's makign a comeback. I thought he was a gonner as well. Please keep me inform.

 

[Mel-E-Mel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13282126#post13282126 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scuzy
Rommel,

Glad he's makign a comeback. I thought he was a gonner as well. Please keep me inform.

Hey Andy, yeah he's making a big comeback. Ill post weekely updates on him. Btw....your tank looked awesome!

 

[scuzy]

hey thanks man keep me updated on him.

 

[cgoodman381]

Very cool that hes doing so much better. Iv seen some bad HLLE, but that was pretty bad originally.

 

[Texastravis]

Lets get some updated pics of thise baby! lol

 

[Mel-E-Mel]

Just got done snapping a few. I'll post them up in a bit.

 

[phk36]

nice to see if the fish can come back from this

 

[cgoodman381]

What do you mainly attribute to his recovery? Good overall water quality? Special foods? More room?

 

[Mel-E-Mel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13322382#post13322382 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phk36
nice to see if the fish can come back from this

He's doing real good so im hoping he makes a full recovery, however, i heard there can be scars where the tissue erosion was. But to me it just adds more character to the fish.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13322412#post13322412 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cgoodman381
What do you mainly attribute to his recovery? Good overall water quality? Special foods? More room?

Mainly I have been giving him a variety of foods such as mysis, brine shrimp with spirulina, prime reef, formula 2, mega marine with vitamin c and most importantly nori. I feed them daily.

Water quality plays a big part in the well being of the fish aswell. I feed daily and do 20g water changes every other week. Yesterday was the first time i tested my water in about 4-5 months and everything is on spot. Calcium was a little on the low side but nothing a little 2 part couldnt fix.

 

[cgoodman381]

How do you feed your nori? I have a pacific blue that wont eat it off the clip... He only seems to like it from my hand >.< I havnt really seen any other methods to feeding.

 

[scuzy]

get a small piece of rock and rubber band it to it.

 

[Mel-E-Mel]

I use a clip and they always go straight to it. What scuzy recommended works too. Eventually they go to the clip, they tend to be wary of it at first.