Freckles on Kole Tang

[mdbronco]

Sorry for the noob post, but I’ve had a Kole for about 12 months. I feed a variety of flake, pellet, frozen and live food 2x a day plus nori clips every day.

For the past month I’ve noticed these symmetrical “freckles” on the nose of the Kole getting more intense. What is this? Is it normal as the tang matures?

Sorry if it’s a silly question but thought I’d ask anyways.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

That is HLLE (head and lateral line erosion) are you running carbon in your tank? Carbon dust can cause this, what size tank is he in? Can be aggravated by stress also.
I would remove the carbon if your using it, keep your water pristine and keep feeding nutritious foods and it should heal up.
Using a vitamin supplement like Zoe (Kent marine is one brand)dripped onto the Nori, etc will help also.

 

[mdbronco]

Ugh ok yes I am running carbon. Thanks.

 

[mdbronco]

Update for those that stumble onto this and need some steer. Removed carbon, have been soaking the morning mix of pellets and flakes in some vitamin spray (fauna marine), doubled the nori dose with purple, red, and green nori, and started up again on live foods for the evening (black worms and mysis). It's been a week and hasn't gotten worse from what I could tell (knock on wood). But early days...

PH - 8,2
ALK - 8
Nitrate - 2
Nitrite - 0
Phos - 0,25
Cal - 430
Mag - 1260

 

[homer1475]

I think the carbon thing is way overblown, and mostly anecdotal(yes I know of the research, read it myself when I had a flame angel with HLLE). IMHO poor nutrition plays a more vital role then carbon. Food soaked in selcon is what stopped it for me, and I never removed the carbon from my system.

Honestly if it was a carbon thing, wouldn't we see this more then we do since most reefers(I would have to say that better then 50%) run carbon 24/7? And on that note, perhaps it's just those that do develop it were never fed a proper diet to begin with and the carbon exacerbated the issue?

 

[mdbronco]

My only suspicion re carbon is that I thought I always had a good mix of nutrition. Constant nori, mix of pellets and flakes in the morning and frozen variety in the evening. If my LFS had black worms I would also use that from time to time. I did however recently change brands of carbon after 9 months and then this occurred.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

My only suspicion re carbon is that I thought I always had a good mix of nutrition. Constant nori, mix of pellets and flakes in the morning and frozen variety in the evening. If my LFS had black worms I would also use that from time to time. I did however recently change brands of carbon after 9 months and then this occurred.

There is some evidence of carbon causing this, I should say carbon dust.

 

[mdbronco]

There is some evidence of carbon causing this, I should say carbon dust.

And to be completely honest, I was less than diligent in rinsing when I replaced. Pathetic but I hope I can redeem myself lol.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

And to be completely honest, I was less than diligent in rinsing when I replaced. Pathetic but I hope I can redeem myself lol.

I will confidently say though poor nutrition is typically the underlying cause and then probably aggravated by other factors.
If you are feeding him well now and fixed the carbon issue I’m sure he will continue to progress. Good job!

 

[mdbronco]

A little update for future lurkers. Only one small spot remains on Kole after increased nutritional regiment and keeping carbon offline (for now). Thanks for the tips!