Hippo Tang Help

[bguile]

Hi Lee,

Once again I need your assistance in trying to identify what the issue is here. This little guy has been living in hyposaline water for 4 months now. I initially had him in a 20G QT with other fish. A couple weeks went by and I saw no spots on any of the fish, so I slowly raised the SG. Two days later, I see two of these spots on the Tang. So I moved him to a seperate tank and lowered back to 1.008-1.009 and it's been there since. Now instead of two spots there are quite a few more. Here's some pics:








I've tried to avoid doing the copper treatment but I don't know what else to do. Is this still ick after 4 months?

[weez1959]

I'm sure Lee will chime in in not too long but don't use copper on him, he has HLLE which is caused by malnutrition or poor water quality. This can in turn become infected. I don't think it's ich as it doesn't appear in a pattern like this does....

[bguile]

While I'm excited to know that it's not ich and that hyposalinity actually may have worked for me, I'm saddened to know that this may be HLLE. I had wondered that in the past and did some look ups on it and none of the pictures I've seen appeared like this. They usually had indented marks or some other. I will wait to see what Lee chimes in with. Thanks again Weezy!! We're becoming good friends these days!

[weez1959]

No problem, glad to help. Does he get any nori or macroalgae on a clip? Maybe you could start giving him some vitamins until Lee gets to this thread.
Also I think he may tell you to raise his salt level to 1.018 if he's been inn hypo with no ich for 4 months.

[bguile]

I haven't been giving him any because he never seems to eat it and it decays before he does anything with it. I've tried the Seaweed selects that my LFS has but have never actually been able to get my hands on "nori". Is that the actual brand or is it just a name for seaweed? I have been recently raising the SG slowly and will continue to do so.

[weez1959]

It's pretty much the same thing as the LFS stuff. You'll find it in the asian section of your grocery store, it's the stuff around sushi! Mmmm, sushi....
Just out of curiousity, why has he been in QT for so long?

[bguile]

Just out of curiousity, why has he been in QT for so long?

Trying to get rid of the spots that I THOUGHT was ick. Also, since I've resorted to waiting until my new 210 display is ready, it's been kind of my show tank(s) since I broke down my 40G. I guess it was more of an idea that I was GONNA beat this ick and not let it get into my display but as the days turned into weeks then months I just thought I'd ask an expert.

[weez1959]

Well hopefully Lee will be along in not too long! Cuz I'm no expert

[leebca]

This is lateral line erosion. So called because of the effect along the lateral line (near the dorsal fin) of the fish.

This is a good read on this condition, although Steve calls it MHLLE (which I like better):
Marine Head & Lateral Line Erosion: A Description of the Syndrome and a Review of its Speculated Causes by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

A hyposalinity treatment adds to the stress on the fish, but will not cure.

You need to get the fish eating better (including greens) and foods supplemented with immune boosters, vitamins, and fats. Go through this post closely for ideas and things to choose for this herbivore:
Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition

Immune boosters:
Fish Immune Boosters

Good luck!

[bguile]

Thanks Lee. I'll get right on it. BTW, how do I know how much my fish weighs to administer Beta Glucan? How much does this fish look like he weighs? He's about 2.5 inches tip to tail.

[leebca]

That size of that type of fish, should put the fish at about 3-4 ounces. If you use 4 ounces (1/4 pound) in your calculation, that should suffice.