Injured Hippo Tang

[newbie23]

I am new to this forum but have been reading it for a long time and have never seen anything like this. About 4 months ago my 6 inch Blue Tang got a scratch above his eye. Now it has turned into holes about 3 in long no other fish affected. Nitrates are a little high.

 

[thoroughbred]

Check the sticky (the top tread in this section) and see if it looks like any of the diseases listed. It sounds like it could be HLLE but a picture is worth a thousand words so post one if you can.

 

[m0nk]

Yeah, it does sound like HLLE. If the scratch stressed it out enough the stress could have brought on the HLLE. Do you have a QT that you can put it in to observe it alone for a while? Also, try to soak the food in vitamin drops for a while before feeding and be sure it's getting a fair bit of algae sheets to nibble on. You can also chop some garlic up to soak the food the food with, which will help it's immune system.

 

[newbie23]

Thank you for responding. I thought maybe HLLE but this is more from his nose to top of head. I'm trying to post a picture but having some trouble. I only have a 10 gal QT so not really big enough for him.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by newbie23
Thank you for responding. I thought maybe HLLE but this is more from his nose to top of head. I'm trying to post a picture but having some trouble. I only have a 10 gal QT so not really big enough for him.
Yeah, HLLE can span that far. And I can totally understand not wanting to put him in the 10g, that could add more stress, making it worse. Go ahead and take a pic, maybe on closer inspection it could be something else, but you could still treat with vitamins and garlic in the meantime. Getting the immune system back up will help no matter what the situation is.

 

[newbie23]

Thanks for the help. I will try to treat as HLLE and also get a picture posted. Thanks again

 

[beth]

HLLE can effect anywhere on the fish's body, starting anywhere around the head or along the fish's lateral line. Take a look at the examples of HLLE in the Diseased Fish Thread.

 

[newbie23]

The pictures I saw had the HLLE starting at the head down the side of body so I didnt recognize it and it was only on head and looks like holes where you can see inside of him. He doesn't seem to be eating anymore. I tried Formula 1 frozen and no eating.