Purple tang and lateral line disease

[leigh]

Hi folks,
I took in a purple tang with lateral line disease. For those of you who know my tanks and know my reef is a 50, please, before you flame me, I know it should be in a bigger tank, but given that it's options were with me or in a fish store sharing a 50 with a boxfish *and* a yellow tang hassling it, I feel like I've done the right thing. Also, bear in mind that my system is 2 50 gal tanks so I do have the stability of a 100 gal system and very low bioload (only 2 bar gobies in addition to this tang).
That said...(again, please please please don't flame me)...from my research it appears that the best way to help this fish recover is through vitamin c enriched foods and a good diet of algae and nori. Is there anything else I should be doing as well?
Thanks (for not flaming me )
-leigh

 

[thomas712]

Originally posted by leigh
Is there anything else I should be doing as well?
Thanks (for not flaming me )
-leigh
Yes check your tank for stray voltage.

 

[beth]

Use a grounding probe, that will will deal with any stray voltage issues. Soak the fish's food in zoecon.
What type of tank is it in?

 

[leigh]

Will do with the grounding probe. I already soak all food in garlic. Is this just as good as zoecon? And I'm not sure I follow the what type of tank question. It's glass--50 gal long reef tank (plumbed with a 50 gal invert/live rock/caulerpa/xenia tank). Is that what you were asking Beth?

 

[beth]

The reef info is what I was looking for. Tangs do good in reef of FOWLR, but tend not to do so well in FO tanks.
Garlic might be a good option for now. If the HLLE does not start to improve within the next 2 wks, start adding zoecon to the diet. Zoecon is especially formulated for HLLE, and it works well in many instances.

 

[leigh]

Sounds good, thanks for the info!

 

[cincyreefer]

some people are starting to blame activated carbon for lateral line erosion as well... I have never had problems with it but just what i have heard..

 

[beth]

Yes, I have read that. Its not a new theory just in there with the mix of other proposed causes for HLLE.

 

[leigh]

huh, okay, thanks. i actually only use carbon when there's a problem necessitating carbon--which comes out to 1-2 days a month max. so hopefully i'll be okay on that front. thanks again for all the non-judgemental help

 

[leigh]

So I thought I might try to keep this thread going to document any success/failure I have with treating this fish. I will take pictures of it tonight to post. I have begun feeding the tank a mixture of frozen plankton, emerald select, spirulina, and nori. So far the tang still prefers the plankton which indicates to me that is what he was most likely fed before and might be the cause of his HLLE. He is definitely interested in the nori however and the emerald select. So far no one but crabs have eaten the spirulina. I have been soaking with garlic as a supplement though I still need to find zoe or zoecon. None of my lfs's seem to carry it, though I think I know one that will have it which I will go to this weekend. I think, and this may just be wishful thinking, that the tang already looks better than when I got him. Just getting him away from the larger yellow tang hassling him I believe has improved his psyche. All up I think he is doing quite well and I will continue to post his progress (and a picture as soon as I have one). He really has a terrific personality
Out of curiousity though, what do people think? Should I trade in my 2 bar gobies so that the tang has the tank to himself? Will that be any easier on him? (The bar gobies are super scardy cats and just hide most of the time, but heck what do I know, maybe he likes the companionship?)

 

[beth]

Leave the gobbies. Also, did you get a grounding probe? Look forward to taking a look at the pics you have. HLLE is my favorite fish ailment to study. Its actually what brought me to SWF.com.

 

[leigh]

Terry please let us know when the articles hit the newstand! Beth, yes the tank is now grounded. I took pics but as I drove to the moto-photo I realized I shot a 36 pic roll of black and white! must take more photos...

 

[beth]

Terry, yes I recall your mentioning an upcoming article on HLLE so I will keep an eye out for it. However, if it is coming out soon in FAMA, let us know, as I don't always get FAMA and I would like to read the article.
Personally, I strongly feel there is an IMMUNE factor or disease process connected to the effected fish's immune system. We touched on this awhile back in the thread that you initiated regarding treatng oodium with antimalarial drugs.
Look forward to reading it!

 

[beth]

Hey, thanks!!! Please remind us....in fact, I'd ask you to put monesty aside and always tell us when you have something coming out for publication!
There's not that much that is readily available in the area of fish disease, and, frankly, though books are great...they are already dated by the time they hit the bookstore. For instance, not one book I have says anything about hypo and most of my hobby books, I've gotten within the past 3 yrs.

 

[leigh]

Another update:
I have been using garlic still in the frozen food and zoecon in most food as well. Vic (the purple tang) appeared to be getting mildly better with only garlic--but I must say the zoecon has really been a kick in the pants. His improvement is quite dramatic. He no longer has any signs of HLLE on his face, only on his sides and that is receeding clearly. He has a very healthy appetite enjoying emerald entree, spirulina, nori, and frozen plankton (yes, I know that's weird and not nutritious for him--but I use it to target feed my sun coral, bubble corals, and starfish and he really loves it. i was just spotfeeding the sun coral and he's so docile he swam right up to the turkey baster and started treating it like a pez dispenser--he'd whap on the end of it so i'd give him a piece of plankton--whap on the end, piece of plankton. of course once i stopped laughing i tossed him some spirulina as well).
So again thanks for all the input...things seem to be progressing quite well!

 

[leigh]

Finally some photos: sorry about the dirtiness of the glass and my lack of a macro lens--the big white dot on his mouth isn't really there--it's algae on the glass! But here're some progress photos--sorry I don't have a 'before' shot--but trust me, when I got him the HLLE extended back nearly to his tail and foreward distinctly onto his face.

 

[leigh]

other side:

 

[beth]

Wow, he's looking good! You've done a fine job there!

 

[leigh]

Thanks, it's all due to the good advice from this board! The sad part is going to be coming to terms with the fact that once he's better I should really find a bigger home for him

 

[beth]

Time start planning, and budgeting for a larger tank....