What wrong with my blue tang?

roktsintst

roktsintst

New member
I have had this blue tang for over 2 years. for about hte last year he has looked worse and worse. However, he is very healty, active and fat. he eats well and has a great attitude, but his appearance is very bad. i feed a lot of algea strips which he eats, as well as brine and mysis soaked in garlic, selcon and elos fish viatamins. any advice to help him heal would help. I also posted in the fish disease forum but thought i would post here also.

P1040924.jpg
 
HOLY SCHNIKES!!!:eek2: That looks horrible!!! How long has he looked even remotely that bad??? Thats about as bad as ive seen and the tang still be alive!

First off, what else is in the tank? He DEFINITELY looks like he's been getting the snot beat out of him!

He also has some serious HLLE and doesn't look like he eats well. I dont know what to suggest feeding since you say you are feeding basically what i do, lots of algae and PE mysis soaked in garlic, selcon and zoecon.

What are your water parameters? Something has to be out of whack for him to look like that if he eats the way you say. Ammonia or nitrates have got to be a problem and something is definitely picking on him.
 
haha, i know he looks bad but he has been this way for a long time. he is fat and eats well. what is hlle? waterparameters are all good. i have a perfect powder blue and regal angel that look great so i cant see it being a water quality issue. if anything, the powder blue is beating on him. i also have a yellow tang, a blond naso as well as some anthias and a 6line.
 
HLLE is head and lateral line disease and is usually caused (at least they think so) by bad water quality or bad nutrition.

I would say the powder blue is almost definitely the culprit. I'm not one to do that sort of thing but i'm surprised people havent started flaming you for the way your keeping him. Like i said, i dont think ive ever seen a worse pic of a hippo that was living.

You HAVE to remove one of them ASAP! I'm no tree hugger but that thing is being tortured daily! That's a pretty horrible life that hippo is living by the look of him.

p.s.- i wouldnt be giving too many "haha"s about his appearence. It may be just a fish but that thing is DEFINITELY suffering;)
 
Huh. well anyone cane "Flame" all they want, doesn't bother me much. the fish has looked this way for quite a while and still "seems" very happy in the tank. he has no trouble swimming or getting along with his tankmates that i see while observing the tank. I am no tree hugger either and am completly against cruelty to animals. However i do not feel that the fish is being "mistreated"!
Now onto fixing the problem. Does anyone have any recommendations to treat hlle. this would be the first step i would like to take to try to improve the fishes condition. if after this, his condition does not improve, i will work on getting him out and finding him a new home. this will be a last resort as he has been with me the longest of any of my fish.
p.s.-this fish swims freely all day long withougt being chased around or harrassed. he dosn't not hide scared all day long hoping not to be tortured. if this were the case i would most definitly remove him immediatly!
Any recommendations will be helpful!
 
Well, i dont see how that could be the case seeing how bad his fins are shredded and how many wounds he has on his body. Something is definitely beating him up. There is no way that fish is "happy" i assure you!

The best way to prevent or help cure HLLE is having good water parameters and feeding them good food and lots of algae. You are already doing that so i dont know what else could be causing such horrible HLLE. The only other thing would be the stress from how bad it is being picked on:confused:
 
i ordered some vitachem yesterday to see if it would improve his condition. his condition has gotten progressivly worse over time which is why i am asking for ideas. if there is not medication i can give the fish, i suppose i will see if the vitachem has a positive effect on the fishes condition. if this does not help i could try to move the fish to the sump, but i think that would just stress the fish out even more. now im not saying the fish looks bad, but he is always out swimming and is not scared or timid to any other fish in the tank.
 
Man. Poor fish :( I'd never let my Hippo get even remotely close to that.

I would be feeding 1/2 to a whole sheet of Nori a day and ensuring the Hippo gets ALOT of that. Mine is only 7" and will polish off 1/2 a sheet of Nori with no issues when she is hungry. I also feed daily enriched brine and enriched spirulina.

But I'd be tempted to put her in the sump for a month or 2 to see how she heals.
 
i feed nearly a whole sheet a day and he eats quite a bit of it. If the vitachem doesn't help i will try to catch him and move him to the sump...
 
You have overstocked your tank with absolutely no consideration of how the various fish will interact. As one might expect, this fish is suffering for those horrid stocking choices. Anything we tell you to keep this fish alive will only prolong its suffering.

How sad.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13009792#post13009792 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by roktsintst
i ordered some vitachem yesterday to see if it would improve his condition. his condition has gotten progressivly worse over time which is why i am asking for ideas. if there is not medication i can give the fish, i suppose i will see if the vitachem has a positive effect on the fishes condition. if this does not help i could try to move the fish to the sump, but i think that would just stress the fish out even more. now im not saying the fish looks bad, but he is always out swimming and is not scared or timid to any other fish in the tank.
Click to expand...

Do you recommend vitamins for someone who got the snot beat out of them in a bar fight? You are in a serious case of denial.
 
I would say in this situation that your powder blue is at work here especially since your powder blue and other tangs are fine. Usually it's pretty obvious that one fish is pounding on another and you say you don't see much of that. Have you tested your water recently. I be curious where you check out in nitrates, ph, alk and possibly ammonia. If it isn't any of these then your powder blue is on the sneak attack and my not do it when you are in the room or there is activity in the room. May be more concerned with you or feeding and when your not around shazaam, pow and kaboom. Powder blues IMO should always be the only tang in the tank or you are messing with problems.
 
my suggestion is to take her out and treat her..... and also maybe when she's out she can heal from her beatings.
 
if you dont want the "hassel" of taking the poor tang from your tank to let it heal..send the poor fish to me and ill give it its own 175g tank for its healing period..i have a 175 thats empty of fish at the moment just hankering for a fish
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13009207#post13009207 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by roktsintst
Huh. well anyone cane "Flame" all they want, doesn't bother me much. the fish has looked this way for quite a while and still "seems" very happy in the tank. he has no trouble swimming or getting along with his tankmates that i see while observing the tank. I am no tree hugger either and am completly against cruelty to animals. However i do not feel that the fish is being "mistreated"!
Now onto fixing the problem. Does anyone have any recommendations to treat hlle. this would be the first step i would like to take to try to improve the fishes condition. if after this, his condition does not improve, i will work on getting him out and finding him a new home. this will be a last resort as he has been with me the longest of any of my fish.
p.s.-this fish swims freely all day long withougt being chased around or harrassed. he dosn't not hide scared all day long hoping not to be tortured. if this were the case i would most definitly remove him immediatly!
Any recommendations will be helpful!
Click to expand...

This doesn't bother you much. Your hippo is a living creature. You would be in the hospital if you were in he's condition. I suggest you send it to the guy with the 175 so he can have a year to heal for the year that you've neglected him!
 
It really is pretty sad to see such a beautiful fish so mutilated:(

Even sadder you could think that that fish is "very happy":(
 
ok, i agree that fish are living creatures and deserve to have happy healty lives. i am not and will not ever argue that. i do realize that the fish does not look good and now after asking realize that the fish has hlle. upon furthur inspection of other fish it appears that the yellow tang and regal angel have a slight case of hlle around their head. im not certain this is from the powder blue. i appreciate all advice given and i am an advocate of the theory that everyone has a right to their own opinion. my statement about "flaming" doesn't bother me i still stand by. you can say what ever you want. you can call me cruel or whatever and i dont' really care. however i do care about the life of my fish. i tried different things for a long time to try to treat the fish and nothing worked so i posted this thread.
I only am looking for advice on how to help the fish.
Now that i see some hlle on other fish, i wonder what it could be. i have read the article link and it has some great stuff.
I have a stray voltage probe i would like to install but the package said not to put it on a power strip or extention cord. i can not get it in my tank if it is connected into the wall. will it be ok if it is connected to an extention cord?
I tested my water again
ph ~8
temp 81 within 1 degree
alk 8
nitrate 10
I am having an issue with my ro unit and i ahve new filters on a ups truck right now.
I don't see these levels as poor.
I would appreciate any helpful advice as i do not want the hlle to progess any farther than it already has ( which i definitly regret)
 
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