HLLE on Blue Hippo Tang

[crazylikeafish]

Picked up this girl on craigslist last week, along with an extra tank, sand and live rock, and about 9 damsels. She has an extreme case of HLLE and I thought you might like to see the pictures. This is a NICE fish. She's about 7 inches, eats like a horse, and is in constant motion. But her previous owner thought she had ich, so he treated her with copper and antibiotics. I'm just leaving her alone for now, feeding plenty of nori and vitamin enriched mysis. But the chunks out of her flesh are rather disturbing.
These photos are after 1 week. She had almost no color when I bought her. The blue is coming back nicely. When she's a little better, she'll go in my 125 gal reef.
One of her eyes is completely clouded over... do eyes recover?
Hope the pictures are educational.

 

[meowzer]

WOW!!!!!!! That is a bad case.....I think it depends how long the eye has been like that....BUT in all reality, a lot of that scarring may remain...especially the large pits under the eyes
My hippo was never as bad as that, BUT the spots right in front of the eyes never grew back

 

[crazylikeafish]

She's just a mess to look at, isn't she? She'll be my ugly duckling if the pits don't fill back in, but I really do like her.

 

[beth]

It is bad, but can be handled given the correct care. There is an info-post that outlines the basic options for HLLE, if you click on the link stickied at the top of the disease forum.
Are these fish in the display tank? Size tank?

 

[crazylikeafish]

It's just the one hippo who is affected. I'm electing to keep her in a 55 gallon hospital tank right now, along with the assorted damsels she came with. Everyone is in quarantine.
Since she was treated so agressively for her symptoms by her previous owner, I am chosing to simply let her heal, with lots of vitamin and garlic enriched foods and pristine water.
When she heals, she will go in my 125 gallon reef.

 

[beth]

Copper and antibiotics is no treatment for HLLE. In fact, they could well have made it worse.
I would see if the LFS wants your damsels. These will likely harass each other, and/or your tang. Once you get them into the display, it won't be so easy to extract misbehaving fish.
Keep these fish for 3 weeks in QT, then, if no disease (minus the HLLE factor) they will be ready for display. Start using zoecon or selcon as a supplement with fish food.

 

[crazylikeafish]

I know. I didn't treat the fish, the previous owner did. I imagine he did make it worse, he said he "overdosed" copper to try and get her better.
I'm in the minority who kinda likes damsels. These are pretty nice... two yellow and two blue with the black spot on their tails. They are seperated from the hippo with a partition and will go in my other 60 gallon sw fish only tank once quarantine is over.
The tang is getting her food soaked in zoe already.
Thanks

 

[beth]

Then its wait and see if improvement occurs.

 

[florida joe]

Wow so you have a very rare opportunity, to score one for the good guys. It’s sad to think how many hobbyists would have just trashed that fish. Keep up the good work and you may just find that the ugly duckling of your tank is really the beautiful swan

 

[crazylikeafish]

Thought you might like to see updated pictures. I put the Hippo in the main tank this weekend. She's really liking the space and is super healthy and active. Some of the pits remain, but her color is back and her eyes are unclouded. All in all, I think she's recovering nicely.


(ignore the cup on the ledge on the opposite side of the tank)

 

[meowzer]

Good job.....I could definitely see a large difference on her sides...YAYYY
Some of the pit by her eyes may remain there.....at least they did on my blue hippo after hlle

 

[beth]

It is likely that she heal up further in the new environment. Good job!

 

[anti]

How is this fish looking these days?