Help with my yellow tang.
- Thread starter Dillon5852
- Start date
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melypr1985
totally addicted
He looks very bad. I'm sorry sweetie. Have you noticed any other symptoms? Odd behaviors like heavy breathing, scratching ect? Most importantly, How long as he been like this?
melypr1985
totally addicted
Was he QT'd at all? I'm not 100% sure what's happening with him or if it's even just one thing. He looks to have an infection, an injury or even HLLE. It's tuff for me to separate it all out from the picture. My first step would be a FW dip- just as a matter of course to rule out Flukes or something of that nature that could lead to an infection. Next would be antibiotics like Kanaplex or Furan-2 for 10 days straight. I'm wondering if that mark under his eye is a cut? Is that a correct assumption?
Kershaw
Valuable Member
My vote is on worms. I lost a fox face and a rabbit fish. They both at different times went from completely healthy looking and then dead in 72 hours. They looked just like that about 24 hours before they died. They ate up until about the 24 hour mark. Then I would put food in water they would swim for it but not eat it.
melypr1985
totally addicted
Yes it's very possible. I've seen them look similar (with some differences) as well. The FW dip will confirm or deny that.
melypr1985
totally addicted
Nah. I've done it with no harm. It's mostly reef safe. Did you do both treatments? 1 then a week later a water change and the second dose? Also, how about that mark under his eye? Is that a cut or injury?
Edit. Sorry I got confused about who the OP was. lol
melypr1985
totally addicted
Keep melafix up. if you dont see any improvement or dont feel confident that it's helping, you may want to switch to antibiotics. It's best if it's done in a QT as it works quicker if it can be absorbed into the skin, but you can feed it as well as long as he's eating. 10 consecutive days of those then reassess his condition.
YTs are a bit unique as they can get red streaks for reasons other than disease: Stress and poor water quality being two such examples. This also applies to other Zebrasoma tangs, but the streaks don't show up as well as on the Yellows.
melypr1985
totally addicted
Glad your here. I was rather stumped. But he does appear to have cuts around the face and eyes. That coupled with the red streaks alarmed me some.
Head & Lateral Line Erosion "HLLE":
Symptoms - HLLE literally looks as though the skin is rotting or peeling off the fish. Affected areas usually include the face and lateral line, and may be white in color.
Treatment options - This is more of a condition than an actual disease. Since no one can agree on the exact cause, all you can do is address all of the following theories regarding HLLE:
1) Stray voltage - Use a titanium ground probe & test your tank for stray voltage.
2) Running carbon - Don’t use it, or use only premium grade carbon.
3) Nutritional deficiency - Feed high quality nutritional foods. Some have had success reversing the effects of HLLE by soaking food in “fish vitamins” and also feeding nori.
Symptoms - HLLE literally looks as though the skin is rotting or peeling off the fish. Affected areas usually include the face and lateral line, and may be white in color.
Treatment options - This is more of a condition than an actual disease. Since no one can agree on the exact cause, all you can do is address all of the following theories regarding HLLE:
1) Stray voltage - Use a titanium ground probe & test your tank for stray voltage.
2) Running carbon - Don’t use it, or use only premium grade carbon.
3) Nutritional deficiency - Feed high quality nutritional foods. Some have had success reversing the effects of HLLE by soaking food in “fish vitamins” and also feeding nori.
