Sick Tang

[Gottcha]

Just saw my tang and saw the pale spots over its eye .... theres 3 on one side and 1 on the other. Anyone know what could cause this?

[Elsherst]

almost looks like it was rubbing against something and rubbed the paint off. Sorry Ed, no idea what it is. Is it acting different at all? Eating?

[Gottcha]

eating fine and swimming fine .... dont think its rubbing ... spots arent really connected.

[spa dave]

It might be HLLE (head lateral line erosion)

My hippo had it but I took care of it.

[KroMiniX]

hmm interesting never seen that before

[admont]

Hi Dave glad to see you made it to the site these gals/guys are great here could you tell us what the treatment was.

[Tony A.]

Does it appear to be a parasite?

I've had one or two in the past on my powder blue tang....they seemed to disappear after a week or two.

Not sure of treatments, but I'm gonna guess you'd need to remove him to a qt tank for that.

Only recommendation would be keep water quality high, feed him well, and possbily run a uv sterilizer.

Good Luck Ed.

[Linda C.]

Ed,

Try Spectrum foods soaked in Selcon for now.

I can get you some if you don't have any on hand.

[Gottcha]

UPDATE:...

A day later the tang looked fine and i assumed it was possible from rubbing against rocks or something but then tonight i saw this (attatched image). Ive never seen a tang canoflauge itself before and am wondering if that is what this is.

[admont]

Is this the same tang in the same lighting or is the lighting different.

[Gottcha]

same tang ... under actinics in this picture

[admont]

Its a neet pic.things look a lot different under different lights.

[spa dave]

If hes rubbing on the rocks its hlle. Some people might say ich but if its around the eyes its HLLE. His diet is very important and using a food soak is would be a good idea. You can qt him but that may stress him out more.

The problem is that it really doesnt affect their health but their appearance.

I started using reef solutions which helped alot. My hippo stopped rubbing but it is going to take a while to get the blue back that he rubbed off.

It sucks because they are a bealutiful fish until they do this. make sure you take a handle on it quickely. Ive seen a hippo which had real bad case off HLLE. He was fine but looked very unsightly.