"Hole-in-the-head" disease???

[the flaming scallop]

My yellow tang's face is erroded. He had two external bacterial skin infections. At first I thought he had a parasite, which was causing his face to wither and also cause him to itch and rub against the rocks, causing the skin infection. Now the guy at the lfs says he has hole in the head disease...something to do with my tank not being grounded, or vitamin C deficiency? Anyone know what i should do??

 

[steamboat1569]

you may want to post this in the "Desease and Treatment" forum also. may get a good reply.

 

[beth]

Yes, describe the physical evidence of the disease process, and the type of tank setup you have, including size, water readings, type tank, other tank inhabbitants, etc.

 

[jdl/dayton]

How big is your tank? I would quaranteen your tang and treat with Kanamycin Sulfate. Sold as Spectragram, Kanacyn. Just check the label for Kanamycin Sulfate. This stuff works well on most Bacterial infections.
My guess is your fish had a parasite wound which lead to the secondary infection. May want to lower that salinity down to 1.010 for a month or so to take care of that threat. Assuming you do not have inverts or eel's which can not tolerate the Hyposaline conditions.

 

[jdl/dayton]

ABout the grounding thing. Stray electrical currents from pumps can cause lateral line disease. If your yellow has it you will see it as a line travelling along his spine. Hense lateral line.
I would suggest you install a probe. Just a piece of titanium attached to a wire. Anchor the other end to the screw that holds your wall outlet's cover on and the current will use this to escape your tank instead of lingering and causing stress to your fish.

 

[clownfish1452]

if it is hole in the head you want to treat with vit. put it in the water and feed it to the fish on seaweed and morrsels. that is how i got rid of mine.
sarah