Yellow tang turning white

[MamaZooKeeper]

My yellow tanks head is turning white. What is going on?

 

[MondoBongo]

could be a case of HLLE (Head and Lateral Line Erosion), aka Hole-In-The-Head disease. a wide variety of fish can suffer from it, but it is most notorious in surgeonfish.

do you have any pictures?

 

[smoothie7]

how old is it? I have seen some yellow tangs fade a little bit as the years go on. Happy and healthy just a little lighter. Its a possibility

 

[MamaZooKeeper]

He's a baby. He's little.

 

[MamaZooKeeper]

 

[Tkieu78]

That looks like a mimic tang. Don't think he's a yellow ?

 

[strike2867]

LOL, http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+43+352&pcatid=352

 

[MamaZooKeeper]

So he's not a yellow tang ....hmmmm. I dunno they said he was. Why though is he turning white on his head. And how do I know what he is?

 

[MondoBongo]

definitely a mimic tang, not a yellow tang.

i mean, it is a tang that is yellow, but usually the common name Yellow Tang refers to Zebrasoma flavescens.

anyways.

that could be the start the of HLLE, or it could be stress coloration, or it could even be the start of the adult color transformation, since they appear to have a totally different color scheme when they reach adulthood.

what is your feeding regimen like for him? is it possible that he's not getting enough algae in his diet? alkalinity on an acceptable range as well?

 

[strike2867]

So he's not a yellow tang ....hmmmm. I dunno they said he was. Why though is he turning white on his head. And how do I know what he is?

You can tell by the shape. The Yellow Tang is more round, different face.

 

[MamaZooKeeper]

Wow.so this thing is gonna get way bigger than I expected or can deal with in my 60 gal. Tall. I feed red algae to him daily along with frozen fish food that seems to have algae in it Everything tests ok. Fish store told me he was a yellow...now I have a fish was to big for my tank

 

[MondoBongo]

An actual yellow tang is way too big for a 60 gallon.

 

[MamaZooKeeper]

Well this one get even bigger than a yellow...hmmmm. guess I'll just roll with it n when it gets to big trade it in.

 

[MamaZooKeeper]

are we sure he's not a yellow? Lol. I can't tell the difference

 

[MondoBongo]

Easiest feature to pick out on any Zebrasoma genus tang is the nose. It's long and slender.

 

[Achilles Torben]

Olivaceus?

 

[MamaZooKeeper]

I don't know what that is....

 

[pmcarbrey]

100% not a yellow tang. It's a young mimic.

 

[MamaZooKeeper]

Great not the fish I wanted. How do I know when he's to big for my tank?

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

There will be an increase in aggression and/or constant pacing. Shouldn't be too hard to spot.