New Problem, Really Need Suggestions

[jsolomon]

Heres my problem. About a month ago I purchased 2 Regal Tangs. I brought them home, got them acclimated, and then introduced them to my tank. I have a 92 gallon bow front with about 100lbs of rock (just for display, not live rock), 3 percula clowns, crushed coral and dolomite base, 1.019 salinity (less stressful on fish), 0 ammonia, 8.3 ph, perfect nitrate, nitrite levels. About a week after I put my Tangs in they came down with ich. I treated them as soon as I noticed the ich with a product called coppersafe. Treated for about 3 weeks now and ich seemed to cleared up. None of my other fish came down with ich though, and all the fish have been eating and acting great. Anyway, the ich seemed to clear up but now one of my regal tangs has what almost looks like a small white divot on his head near his eye. He has a few of these. They look like scars to tell you the truth. Only one of my fish has this though, all the other fish appear to be doing great. I started soaking the food with kyolic garlic 2 days ago and feeding them a little more than often cause I was told this helps fish to fight disease. I really have no idea what is wrong with this fish, but I am new to the hobby and I really dont want to lose all my fish. The tank has been up and running for about 3 months now. Prior to that I cycled it for a month. Any help would be more than appreciated. Thanks.

 

[beth]

This sounds like HLLE--Head and Lateral Line Erosion. It is not contagious, but it is common with tangs. Do a search for HLLE or Head and Lateral Line Erosion, and you should get a good deal of info on it.
BTW: What are you feeding your vegetarian fish?

 

[kris walker]

Just to add, it seems the free-swimming lifespan is a subject of debate or it is constantly changing. I believe on the SWF.com writeup, it says 21 days. I also remember times when Terry or Beth (I forgot which one) said 3 weeks. Then more recently I've been hearing a month. Not saying there isn't a good reason for the debate or the changing lifespan, but just wanted to point that out.
Cheers, and good luck JSolomon,
kris

 

[kris walker]

Good then, we are in agreement.
BTW, I didn't know Terry or Beth wrote the SWF.com writeup I referred to. Since I remember "21 days", which implies a higher degree of accuracy than "3 weeks", I figured I'd just report exactly what I read.
kris

 

[jsolomon]

I test the levels of the copper every day and they are where they are suppose to be, one question i have is about HLLE. Is HLLE curable or is it something that my fish is going to have forever? Another thing that i noticed was one of the tangs has a small tear in his bottom fin. I am very picky when i purchase fish and Im sure to have noticed then when purchased if it was present. THANKS EVERYONE FOR RESPONDING SO QUICKLY!!! Everytime i post in this board i usually dont have any responses, or if anyone does respond it usually takes 3 days.

 

[tallyho]

I beieve the HLLE is due to poor nutrition and water condition...The copper dose weakens and
you may want to check its diet.
Good Luck!

 

[jsolomon]

I think I found out why my fish's fin is ripped. I have a coral banded shrimp in the tank and I just noticed that the shrimp will claw at the fish if the fish gets too close during feeding time. This might have happened before. Anyway if it will heal then I will just watch it and make sure it doesnt get infected. Its a very small tear.

 

[jsolomon]

I dont want to seem rude or anything but I couldnt come up with the money to set up an entire QT tank to perform Hypo, and instead of letting my fish die from ich, I talked with my LFS owner and he said that CopperSafe should do a good job of eliminating the ich. Sometimes you gotta do whats feaseable at that given time. Im sorry, I'm new at this and after dropping close to $2000.00 in the past 2 months, i didnt have another $200.00 to set up another tank.