blue tang with HLLE

[ren9999]

Hi there,
I have a 2 inch blue tang that came down with ick about 1 month ago.
I immediately moved him to QT 10Gallon.
QT 10 gallon
sg 1.09
amonia 0
nitrate almost 50-100 ( i have changed water so much, even with main tanks water where nitrate is 0, but cant seem to get rid of it)
filtration for the QT: HOB filter for 10-30 gallon. thats it.
Tang has lived in it for about 1 months. always hiding in rocks.
It seems all signs of itch is gone the 1st week he was in the QT. Unfortunately i saw him scratching twice on LR suddenly about 2 days ago. havnt seen it again thou. Does this mean another 3 weeks of QT for him? Can he survive at 1.009 for that long?
He has also developed HLLE, he looks exactly like the picture beth put in the sticky. a white lateral line running through his back.
I am feeding him:
plankton
seaweed algae -- although he rarely eats this.
formula 2 flake
formula 1 flake
formula 1 pellet
brine shrimp
blood worm -- don thin khe likes this much.
all food are soaked in garlic extreme and Kent's Zoe
can anyone comment on what I am doing?
I have read Beth's home made sea food sandwich idea. but tangs are mostly veggie, should I still do this?

 

[beth]

What are you using to measure salinity? Where there is nitrates you can expect a tang to get HLLE. What is in your filter?
How long has it been since you have seen ich on the fish? And, how long has he been in hyposalinity?
What about your other fish?

 

[ren9999]

I am using refractometer with temperature automatic adjustment.
My filter has some carbone, filter pad, and this white ball stuff I forgot what that is called.
I have not seen white specks on the fish for about 3-4 weeks now. Infact the white specks was gone after just 2 days in hyposalinity, before I even had a chance to lower the water down to 1.009. But the fish continued to scratch him self for 1 week.
Blue tang has been in hypo for about 4 weeks now.
No other fish in QT, and 2 clowns and 1 royal gramma never showed signs of itch in 90 main tank.

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by ren9999
Hi there,
I have a 2 inch blue tang that came down with ick about 1 month ago.
I immediately moved him to QT 10Gallon.
QT 10 gallon
sg 1.09
amonia 0
nitrate almost 50-100 ( i have changed water so much, even with main tanks water where nitrate is 0, but cant seem to get rid of it)
filtration for the QT: HOB filter for 10-30 gallon. thats it.
Tang has lived in it for about 1 months. always hiding in rocks.
It seems all signs of itch is gone the 1st week he was in the QT. Unfortunately i saw him scratching twice on LR suddenly about 2 days ago. havnt seen it again thou. Does this mean another 3 weeks of QT for him? Can he survive at 1.009 for that long?
He has also developed HLLE, he looks exactly like the picture beth put in the sticky. a white lateral line running through his back.
I am feeding him:
plankton
seaweed algae -- although he rarely eats this.
formula 2 flake
formula 1 flake
formula 1 pellet
brine shrimp
blood worm -- don thin khe likes this much.
all food are soaked in garlic extreme and Kent's Zoe
can anyone comment on what I am doing?
I have read Beth's home made sea food sandwich idea. but tangs are mostly veggie, should I still do this?
i would reccomend adding more frozen prepared algee based foods and dump the brine shrimp and blood worms(these are tropical=fw fish foods, not marine fish foods).although the flaked foods are much less expenvive and have added vit but dried foods do tend to lose some of the natural nutrients during the drying proccess.you seam to have more on the meaty sided list of foods i would add a couple more types of veggie based foods(frozen)such as emerald entrese,formula 2 cubes both very good algae based foods.tangs are also very heavy eaters and require mulitpal feedings through out the day 3-4 times daily
i use pellets and flaked am and midday frozen prepared foods in the pm feeding seaweed selects a couple time per week as afternoon snacks. i have my feeding schedule and menue listed on HLLE post to give yo an idea of some foods I have found to be very good for my fish.good luck with him

 

[beth]

I would recommend acclimate this tang back to a zero-nitrate living environment.

 

[rainfishy]

Was your tang in the 90 with the clowns and gramma when he developed ich? If so than there is still ich in your 90 gallon tank. Ich will not die in a tank where there are still hosts (fish). Chances are when you move the tang back into your 90 he will get ich again, since he is the most suscepable. Chances are your other fish have ich too, they just have better immune systems and are able to fight it off. You can read about the stages of ich and getting rid of it in your main tank here:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/127007/faqs-fish-diseases-treatments-quarantine-health-info

 

[beth]

Yes, that could well happen, since the other fish have not gotten ich. Perhaps you will get lucky and the parasite is just on the tang.

 

[ren9999]

Thanks for everyone's suggestion.
Rainfishy: I have read that post, and understand that itch might still be in main tank, but my 10 g qt wasn't big enough to host all 4 fishes, especially since it was not even cycled when i dropped in the blue tang. Please pray for me that I will get lucky and ich is gone gone gone. There is no way I can catch that royal gramma without taking out every single piece of rock again!!!!!! -#$(*%^ and even then i would need to buy a new bigger QT.
Unleashed: Yes i was thinking the same too, add some more veggie based formulas. I will look for the formula 2 frozen cubes tomorrow in fish store.
Beth: Just wanted to reconfirm, so you think it is now my best bet to acclimate this fish back to the 90G nitrate 0 tank?

 

[beth]

After a month in hypo, the fish should be clear. Now, if he gets ich again, blame it on the display still being contaminated.
Alternatively, you can get a larger square rubbermaid, say 30 gal, and QT all fish if they came down with ich.

 

[ren9999]

I don't mind too much in getting a new 30 gallon glass tank. but what I do mind is taking out every single rock from display which is like 150# worth!, and make the whole tank cloudy in the process to try to catch the fishes.
last time I did this, a piece of rock landed on my firegoby and killed him !

 

[beth]

So, now you understand the importance of QT.

 

[ren9999]

OK Beth, I will move him to the main tank with 1 week acclimation. I have already started increasing salt. It is at 1.15 right now. so couple more days he should be back in display. I will report what happens to himthen.