What wrong with my blue tang?

[Spooky208]

You should try to keep your tank a little cooler also. If you can't afford a chiller install some fans in your canopy to keep your tank cool from the lights. HLLE I believe has a lot to do with nutrition and of course water quality. Fish are like any other living thing. The more stressed they are the more vitamins and nutrients they exert. I don't agree that mysis with garlic is considered a regular healthy diet. You try squid, nutri flakes, clams. And make sure he is getting enough Nori.

 

[roktsintst]

i do have a chiller already. i feed more than just mysis and i do keep nori in the tank nearly all day! i also feed 3 types of flakes as well as formula 2 and brine shirmp. Please keep the idea's comming!

 

[jbrownacu]

Broccoli is supposed to be great in helping with HLLE. Go to the store and buy some frozen and then pull some out daily and feed. Boil some water, blanch it for 20 seconds to help with any pesticides as well as making it a little easier for digestion. Continue with the nori as well as soaking any food in garlic and vitamins.

Also, you should really consider pulling that fish out and putting it in your sump or a QT. If no fish are beating on it, you might even need to treat it in a hospital tank for something like fin rot. It doesn't look like fin rot, but there has got to be a reason the fish looks like that. It's not because of HLLE.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. Alot of people are coming off harsh, but it's just because they care about the hobby. Let's get this fish back to where it needs to be so it can enjoy the rest of it's long years in your tank!
Josh

 

[mutualbill]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13011367#post13011367 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Spooky208
You should try to keep your tank a little cooler also. If you can't afford a chiller install some fans in your canopy to keep your tank cool from the lights. HLLE I believe has a lot to do with nutrition and of course water quality. Fish are like any other living thing. The more stressed they are the more vitamins and nutrients they exert. I don't agree that mysis with garlic is considered a regular healthy diet. You try squid, nutri flakes, clams. And make sure he is getting enough Nori.

Please don't buy into the myth that your tank needs to be cooler than 81 degrees!!! That has absolutely nothing to do with your tang looking the way he does. I have a 6 inch blue tang that is fat, happy, and healthy and my avg summertime SPS/LPS tank temp is 83! He is also the boss of my tank, no one beats up on him.

 

[roktsintst]

thanks for the reply's guys. i will definitly try the brocolli today! i spent quite awhile last night observing the tank. the tank is a pennensulla style that separates my two living rooms, so no matter where i am, i can watch the tank. as i fed last night, all the fish eat everything (also quite a bit of food). then i watched the fish'es behavior from a distance. the powder blue showed ZERO aggression towards the other fish. the blue swam right next to the PB and there was no confrontation. i also watched for a while after the lights went out. if anyone is the aggressor it is the yellow tang which has a bit of hlle forming also. i really think that there is an issue causing the hlle other than aggression. i have a hard time thinking it is my water quality. i have a tank full of very colorful sps that grow very well. also i have a 57 watt uv on my tank as well as ozone. my orp is around 300 to 320.
Anyother suggestions or thoughts?

 

[sean48183]

Have you noticed any scratching on the rocks. maybe wearing down his body on the rocks from some kind of parasite. Keep mixing your food up with all kinds of stuff. I like emerald entree because it has alot of greens in it.

 

[roktsintst]

hey sean, there is no scratching at all. i spend hours literally everyday looking at the tank and i do not see any scratching. i tried brocolli today and they devoured it! i also got a grounding probe in today so hopefully this helps!

 

[GoSUV]

From the picture, it seems the Hippo is suffering more than just HLLE. As the name implies, HLLE only affects the area behind the head and the lateral line. The fins are torn on this fish and there's got to be more than one factor affecting his health.

 

[sufunk]

Imo, he is definitely being attacked by one of the other tangs, most likely the powder blue. The side of his body looks like a pincushion Those wounds have nothing to do with HLLE, imo.

Apparently, the op refuses to accept that and is just going the vitamin and grounding probe route????

 

[Sk8r]

I agree: it looks like wounds caused by another tang. It may be happening when they go to rest, a dispute over sleeping-spot. If it were just the fins I'd start looking for a crab, but my bet is there's some nighttime-push-and-shove going on and he's getting the worst of it.

 

[Macimage]

Why don't you put him in your sump? His current condition is pretty bad as you know and he needs a respite from whatever is tearing up his fins and body.

Joyce

 

[ricde]

Are you running ozone on this tank?

 

[roktsintst]

yes i am running ozone.

 

[jbrownacu]

Also, make sure your food is spirulina enriched. Emerald Entree is one of my favorites! It's great for your herbivores too!

Put that guy in your sump and see what happens with his condition. Also, when did you notice his condition with his appearance? Was it around the time when you added a new fish?
Josh

 

[roktsintst]

Thanks for the suggestions. it has been that way for a while now. it started before i added any of hte fish i have now. i have had that blue tang for nearly 3 years i think. i am thinking there is also something else going on becuase i am noticing some hlle on my yellow tang and my regal angel. Could ozone affect the fish like this?

 

[ricde]

Could ozone affect the fish like this?

I was just throwing this out. If your ORP is only at 300 I doubt ozone poisoning is causing this. Also you stated no other fish were affected. I was trying to google info on a fish being burned by ozone but I couldn't find any pics as bad as your tang.

How are you introducing the ozone into your tank?

 

[roktsintst]

through the skimmer. and i have two other fish that have signs of hlle which is why i think there may be some other cause

 

[DSP]

Do you use carbon?
Do you find that you often release very fine carbon dust into the tank when you change it?

I have battled the exact same problem for about six years. Not as severe, but exactly the same:

No aggression in the tank, all other fish are great, Regal tang eats and behaves great, but has pretty bad HLLE and fin damage.

I have become very convinced that it is related to carbon dust. The condition started for me about five years ago shortly after a carbon accident that left everything black. I have managed to stop the progression and even heal the fish a bit with all of the diets mentioned, but if I am not extremely careful with carbon use I find it start to progress again.

 

[roktsintst]

very interesting... i do run carbon in a filter bag, which i place in another filter sock. but even when i change the sock and i rinse the carbon bag, dust is still released... i will definitly take this into account and be much more careful when i rinse the carbon. do you think that phosban dust would do the same thing???
Also what do you think contributed to the healing of teh fish?

 

[DSP]

I haven't found GFO to be as dusty after it has been rinsed and I haven't noticed a link to it's use and the appearance of my regal tang.

About a year ago I had to qt all of my fish for ich. During that time my display was without fish for about 10 weeks and I had VERY large leafly macros and valonia growing in my tank. When the fish were returned I watched my regal, naso, achilles, and magnificent foxface eat every spec of algea in just under two days. This was equal to about 6 to 8 sheets of nori. I have since uped the amount of dried seaweed that I feed. 3 or 4 sheets a day.

I have found that very slowly (months) I am able to get new blue skin growing on the regal's face and new skin between the spines by keeping a higher temp of 82F, feeding the high amount of algea that I just described, and spectrum pellets, lots of PE mysis and smaller mysis, formula 1, and Pro Salt Pro V. I do soak one of the feedings a day in the usual stuff.

I wish I could say what makes the difference, but I can't. I have found that if I back off on feeding the new skin stops growing and if I release carbon dust into the system it quickly gets worse.