Problem with Hippo

[lions den]

I have a hippo thang that I have had for a few months now. The problem is that his face seems to always be discolored, almost to the point that his face looks transparent. Any suggestion on what could be wrong with him?

 

[vtecbro007]

I THINK IT CAN BE HLLE (head n lateral line errosion)

 

[lions den]

That is what I was thinking too. I have him in a 135 and there is no chance to catch him. I found some medicine that I could add to the tank, but it is $6 for each box and it says to add a capsule for every 20 gallons so it would be like $6 a treatment for however long it might take to treat. Any other methods of treating them?

 

[vtecbro007]

lol i hav da same problem with ma baby blue tang i made a thread tooo u might want to try a ground probe im gonna get one

 

[lions den]

What is a ground probe?

 

[elfdoctors]

A ground probe will remove any stray electricity in your tank (caused by small leaks in powerheads, heaters, etc.
However, I am not convinced that your fish has HLLE. Often a tang losing its color is a result of a dietary deficiency. Often times, feeding dried seaweed will help. I feed a different color Seaweed Select daily on an algae clip. Other plankton type foods (e.g. marine snow) can also help. Tangs also seem to need omega-3 fatty acids. Try soaking some of your food in zoecon to supplement these.

 

[muskyhunte]

I have several hippo tangs. Try to fing some Omegae color boster fish food at your local fish store. I feed a my reef tank fosh this. Also start feeding you hippo seaweed (Purple) they seam to have better color.I like using Omega super viggie to to keep my fish color. Its all about what you feed hippo tangs if they are going to have good color or not.
If you cant find the Omega I can ship you Some.

 

[beth]

Take a look at the HLLE pics in the Diseased Fish thread at the top of this forum. Is that what you are seeing?

 

[lions den]

From the looks of the picture I would agree that he has HLLE. I have been feeding him flake food for the longest time, but started feeding him seaweed on a clip a few weeks ago. I did get ome plankton last night, but havent given him any yet. Do you think if I rotate the different types of food everyday that he might be OK?

 

[beth]

What type of tank set up do you have? What are your water readings? Are you using a wet-dry or carbon? Do you have a gorund probe installed?
My feeling is that a variety of GOOD foods is best. Take a look at the FAQ thread and the receipe there. Of course, a tang needs high quality seaweed foods. Forget about using flakes, pellets, etc. That is for goldfish, not marine animals. Use zoecon as a food supplement soaking your fish's food in it, or, if you decide to use fresh seafoods, you can just add zoecon into the food as you food process it.

 

[lions den]

The tang is in a 135 right now. Wet/Dry filter. All levels of water are good except nitrates which shot up the other day due to a supplement I was adding to the tank to try and get the coralline algae growing, which I have discontinued using. I do not have a ground probe as I have never heard of that before. Other inhabitants of the tank are all junveniles. Pork Puffer, Niger Trigger, Koran Angel, Sailfin Tang. Again, all are juveniles and not bigger than 3-4" apiece. I have wet/dry filter, 2 heaters in sump, and a Seaclone skimmer. Can someone tell me a little more about zoecon as I have never heard of it.

 

[lions den]

"if you have a fish that is suffering from Head and Lateral Line Erosion [HLLE], you can certainly target feed the effected fish with small pieces of oily foods a few times a wk [high in Omega3 Fatty Acids which is known to improve many cases of HLLE."
I took this from the FAQ page. Is there somewhere I can go to find foods that are high in Omega3 Fatty Acids?