Purple Tang lost color or possibly even skin?

[GigaFish]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting to reef central. I just bought a used tank that is fully established and it came populated with 1 volitan lionfish, 1 purple tang, and 1 marine betta.

I am trying to do some investigating on the purple tang's situation involving its skin on both sides of its body just under the dorsal fin and its face. The color is completely grey and almost looks like the purple skin has been rubbed off leaving a grey underlayer of skin. Another reason I am assuming this is because the front most part of his dorsal fin almost looks like he has been chewed on and then that wound scarred over. The guy that I got the tank from seemed pretty knowledgeable and told me that this had happened over a pretty good period of time and he thought he might just be getting old. Given the reputation of the aggressiveness of the lionfish and the betta I feel I should also tell you that these three fish are seriously family and do not show aggression toward each other at all. In fact today I dropped a small piece of krill in the water and watched the tang grab it and swim over to the lion and drop it in front of him so he could eat it like they are taking care of each other. With that information, I dont think it was any sort of an attack. So could it possibly be the result of a past disease? Is there anything that anyone knows of that can be done to bring his color back?

I am posting pics of it to see if anyone has ever seen this before. I apologize for the blurryness but he is always on the move and I only have a basic digital camera.

 

[ronjeremy]

not sure, but i would definately start feeding it veggie based foods soaked in Zoe and Zoecon!!! also, post your water parameters..it will help diagnose the problem.....seriously, this fish needs some vitamins and hufa's added to its' food..it will help the situation incredibly!.its staple food should be dried seaweed, but not limited to this..it needs other veggie based fish foods as well...

 

[jdieck]

^

 

[jdieck]

Yes get him a quarter sheet of Nori (The algae for the sushi) soaked in vitamins and garlic concentrate. Fold it into a square about 1 by 2 inches and attach it to a feeding clip. Y use the Vitachem (from Boyd) and the garlic from Kent. The nori could be raw or roasted but shall contain no condiments or spices.
In addition some spirulina flakes and Formula one flakes will help.

 

[ronjeremy]

Formula 2 is for herbivores, not Fomula 1..i agree though..it definately needs a nutrition change with vitamins and hufa's

 

[Sk8r]

This is probably HLLE, head and lateral line erosion. I am caretaking one that suffered from it on both sides of his head and his face. With good nutrition and good water quality, his affected areas are getting smaller and should heal.

 

[ronjeremy]

if it is HLLE, the vitamins will help to reverse it, along with pristine water conditions

 

[GigaFish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8774403#post8774403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ronjeremy
not sure, but i would definately start feeding it veggie based foods soaked in Zoe and Zoecon!!! also, post your water parameters..it will help diagnose the problem.....seriously, this fish needs some vitamins and hufa's added to its' food..it will help the situation incredibly!.its staple food should be dried seaweed, but not limited to this..it needs other veggie based fish foods as well...

I'm sorry, I am very new to all of this. I am still trying to research and learn everything I need to know to keep this tank running strong. What water parameters are you specifically asking for? I just googled zoe and zoecon and found products by kent marine. So I should soak veggie based foods in both of these chemicals? I just read that zoe is a solution that you are supposed to treat the tank with, it didnt say anything about soaking food, thats why I ask. Also, whats a hufa? Right now the food I am using is what I got from the previous owner, omega one natural protein formula. *EDIT* <-- I just saw the other post explaining omega one is for meat, omega 2 is for herbivores. I am so glad I found this forum.

Thanks for your help.

 

[sparks56]

tangs need to be fed limited protein based foods, they need vegetable based foods as this is what they search for in the wild!get him some formula 2 , nori, spirulina flakes

 

[ronjeremy]

don't sweat it..just change the diet..this could have been the problem from the start..this fish doesn't need meaty foods....i use both of those products..the Zoe is for vitamins..the Zoecon is for fatty acids and marine lipids...these are 2 very good supplement products..the water parameters i would be interested in are: ammonia, nitrite,nitrate, and ph..

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8774484#post8774484 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ronjeremy
Formula 2 is for herbivores, not Fomula 1..i agree though..it definately needs a nutrition change with vitamins and hufa's

Yes but it will get the herbs from the Nori and the spirulina while the formula 1 will add some aditional nutritional elements.
I will stay away from frozen or fresh foods as they may not contain enough concentrated nutrition for the time being.

 

[GigaFish]

I will call around to some LFS's tomorrow and see if they have these in stock so I can get started on that. I just finished looking through the entire box of chemicals and food that was given to me with this tank and there isnt a single veggie type food in there so based on what you are saying, this fish must be really malnutritioned. Also, I just read up on HLLE and that is exactly what I am seeing on this fish.

 

[GigaFish]

Other than the Nori (Which I am assuming I can find at a grocery store in the oriental section?) and Omega 2, what other types of veggie foods can I feed him.

 

[GigaFish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8774584#post8774584 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ronjeremy
the water parameters i would be interested in are: ammonia, nitrite,nitrate, and ph..

P.H. = 7.7 (I used some Kent Marine Pro Buffer dKH tonight which I was told would increase alkalinity and in turn raise my P.H.)
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = Pushing 40 PPM (I will be doing a water change tomorrow to hopefully correct this.)
Specific Gravity = 1.028 (I dont know if I can trust this floating box hydrometer but its all I have until I can afford a refractometer.)

 

[GigaFish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8774484#post8774484 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ronjeremy
Formula 2 is for herbivores, not Fomula 1..i agree though..it definately needs a nutrition change with vitamins and hufa's

I still cant figure out what a hufa is. Anybody?

 

[jdieck]

Basically the Nori and Spirulina will provide as much veggies as it needs but do not forget the vitamins.

HUFA = Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids

 

[GigaFish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8774828#post8774828 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdieck

HUFA = Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids

And the fish gets that from what? What do I give it that has HUFA's in it?

 

[jdieck]

Basically any of the supplements mentioned above contain Fatty Acids, Lipids and Omega 3 (All part of the HUFA family )
Also HLLE has shown to respond well to vitamin C.
I have kept a Chevron, an Achilles and a Yellow Tang for the last five years fat and healthy with Nori, vitamins garlic and the flakes.

 

[ronjeremy]

the salinity is very high..it puts extra stress on the fish being that high..it really needs to come down!! most people with reefs stay around 1.025-1.026..if you have a fish only, you can stay near 1.021-1.024.....those nitrates really need to come down!!! that is going to take a large water change, or a series of them....also, do you have a lid on your tank??? do you have any surface aggitation from a powerhead??? the reason i ask, your ph is really low...having the tank covered can keep the tank from having good gas exchange, which can be a problem for the ph..if you don't have it already,try putting a powerhead near the surface for some aggitation...the buffer you are adding is only a temporary fix..also, i open my house up for a bit each day to let some fresh air in...this helps get some of the CO2 out of the house...try a few of those things and see what happens with the ph..it should help

 

[Sk8r]

My water params, for an example---I keep corals as well as fish, so I'm always as close to 0 nitrates, 0 ammonia as I can be, or my corals will suffer.
Temp 80, salinity 1.025, alkalinity 8.3-9.3, calcium 420, ph 8.3 [.1 high]... to raise alk, use dkh alkalinity buffer; to raise cal, I use Kent Turbo Calcium. Do a 10% water change once a week, use only ro/di-filtered salt water. Mark your water line, when at correct salinity and top off with fresh ro/di [non-salt] water---this can be automated.
HTH.