Sick Tang

[dward254]

Hi,

First of all, I've been reading this forum since I bought my first sw tank in February and I want to say thanks for all of the great information that this forum presents and for the great job that all you pros do to help those of us who are just starting out. Thanks.

Now for my question, I have a yellow tang that is beginning to show some redish colored blotches on his sides. And, his face is starting to turn white (along the bridge of his face). Could someone help me identify the problem and suggest a solution. Thanks.

[ChilDawg]

I'm not great with fish diseases, but I can try to point you along the right track. Google these two: Lymphocystis, Hole-in-the-Head/Head-and-Lateral-Line Erosion

[dward254]

Thanks, i've been searching the web this morning and have identified it as HLLE. From what I've read, I need to improve it's diet and include more macroalgea. I hope that the erosion will go away and he'll be back to normal in no time. thanks!

[ChilDawg]

The erosion probably won't be improved, but the fish's quality of life isn't necessarily affected if you caught the erosion in time and you take the steps to correct it that you mentioned above.

[dward254]

So the tang will be healthy but, will still have those parts of his body permanantly eroded?

[ChilDawg]

Most likely, yes. I have heard of cases where they improved, but not many...and I don't know that those cases were HLLE. I'm sorry for the news about the aesthetics of your tang, but I sincerely hope that your fish is one of the many to survive HLLE and live a normal and productive life.

[dward254]

Once again, thanks for your time and willingness to help.

[ChilDawg]

No prob. Glad to be able to help you out.

[MonoSebaelover]

Generally the white can and will go away. But I'm not sure your tang has that since yellows are one of the ones that don't get HLLE like most tangs. If they have HLLE their dorsal and anal fins shrink. They generally don't get the white, but yours might have it. What is water quality? Sounds like the red is from bad water quality and the white can be a stress pattern. Just some other ideas cause like I said Yellow Tangs generally have their dorsal and Anal fins shrinking whenever they get HLLE. Anyway, hope this helps and good luck.

[lebloom]

How often do you change the water? I always had problems with a yellow tang, but I went and bought me another about 3 wks ago. I decided I am going to take care of this one. I change my water more often. I don't feed him too much, about once every 2 days and this one is thriving, don't ask me how but this one won't get scared and go hide everytime someone comes up to the tank. Maybe I figured out how to raise this thing, but I've tried 2 other times and both died with what you describe. They get all faded out and shrink up and look as if I wasn't feeding it. This always happened soon after I would get them, right after the warranty period! I don't understand it.

[dward254]

The tangs fins look fine and the water quality is within recommended parameters. I am treating the tank with copper because of a bout with parasites. Initially, I was told that it was ich. Then, I was told that saltwater fish rarely get ich and that it wasn't ich. Either way, I hoped that the copper would treat it, and it has done a good job so far. I have had copper in the system over 2 months now. My dog-faced puffer has still been scratching against the substrate on occasion but, he hasn't shown any signs of parasites or any other disease. I am trying to remove the copper by doing weekly water changes of about 10% and using activated carbon. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated. thanks

[MonoSebaelover]

Sorry to tell you but once you add copper to your main tank, you can NEVER get all of it out. It will constantly live in the sand, rocks, sealent, filter, etc. That is why it is never recommended to treat the main tank. Two months of using copper is a long time. Copper can be very letal especially to certain fish. I would start doing larger water changes to get the copper out as soon as possible. Now I think the tang might be sick from the copper. I know it is generally not recommended but I would do a 50 percent water change one week, then the following week do a 25 percent water change, then again the next week do another 25 percent water change. That should help the tang a bit. But definetly try and get the copper out as soon as possible. It also wouldn't hurt to run Cuprisorb (by Seachem) to help get the copper out faster. Do this and the tang should get better. Hope this helps.

[ChilDawg]

Originally posted by dward254
Initially, I was told that it was ich. Then, I was told that saltwater fish rarely get ich and that it wasn't ich.

Did they then call it "crypt"? Crypt is a SW parasite which is very similar to the FW ich...

MSL, aren't puffers really susceptible to copper treatments? I think that I'd read that somewhere, but I'd like corroboration from a Marine expert.