HLLE (Head & Lateral Line Erosion)

Steve Tobias · Aug 8, 2016

I do not know if this will help, because I have only used it for quite a while as a preventative measure, but I feed red gracilaria. Macro algae has been reported on numerous occasions to help improve the immune system because of beta-carotene and is a healthier choice alternative for tangs and angels. (My foxface loves it as well!) Many reports state that it directly helps prevent HLLE. Additionally, it acts as a scrubber for excess nitrates and phosphates.

scchase · Sep 8, 2016

Figured it was time for me to chime in on HLLE. In 25 years of keeping fish I have never once had a fish develop HLLE in my care. I don't regularly feed nori or anything really other than pellets on a regualr basis, a number of my tanks have had low levels of stray voltage for years on end, I buy the cheapest carbon I can find, and I am terrible about doing water changes. On to my HLLE experiences, since I have been in the hobby for so long I have frequently taken in fish for free or cheap that have had extensive cases of HLLE because they routinley get much better in my care. This has happened in my tanks that have had pristine SPS water quality to my swamp put soft coral setups, overall I am leaning towards the number one thing about preventing and curing HLLE is not what is fed but the quantity that is fed. The other big factor I have seen is that many of these fish came from small tanks to my much larger tanks. This factor does not seem as important however as I have seen many fish in large public aquariums much larger than mine that have developed problems as well. Perhaps stress is a major factor? I feed my tanks a lot, pellets by the handful, you would think I was feeding the large animals down at the zoo. Here are some pics showing healing progression of some sever cases as well. Also the healing is never fast and generally takes years to complete. Attached are the pics I currently have uploaded I will see what else I can find over the next few days since I havent always uploaded the pics of fish that don't look so great
Sailfin Tang
Oct 2015

August 2016
Spot above eye complety gone, lateral line errosion reduced by more than 50%

OCt 2015

August 2016
Healing on this side not as rapid reduction of approx 25%

Blueface Angel
This fish had no flesh on the face and nearly up to the front part of the dorsal as well as down the cheeks when I recieved it. Sadly I lost it after more than 4 years 2 years ago during a massive die off of still unkown causes shortly after I moved along with its mate that I grew from a juvenile. When the fish died in November of 2014 the flesh had reconnected from the lips to the dorsal with patches still missing above both eyes, no pics from this period exist.
When I was given the fish July 2012

September 2013
Flesh was regrowing around the face and the yellow mask had mostly regrown at this point which was absent when I obtained the fish.

dragonfish · Sep 17, 2016

following

Chris Harbaugh · Oct 10, 2017

@Humblefish , do you believe this Purple Tang can come back?? I created a thread asking for advice about treatment for this guy... just thought I would ask what you think..

scchase · Oct 10, 2017

Yes that is about where the sailfin tang in my post was out when I received it.

Humblefish · Oct 10, 2017

@Chris Harbaugh Some inspiration for you:

Before http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=889207

After (scroll down to post #14) http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1786961

I believe all he did was alternate soaking the fish's food in Selcon and Zoecon.

MarsRover · Mar 9, 2018

So after reading through this @Humblefish

Would you say a case of HLLE is not sufficient to stop the transition from QT/hospital tank into DT? It doesn't appear that HLLE is suspected to be caused by a disease or parasite....or has been found to be contagious or rapidly fatal?

Humblefish · Mar 9, 2018

MarsRover said:
Would you say a case of HLLE is not sufficient to stop the transition from QT/hospital tank into DT? It doesn't appear that HLLE is suspected to be caused by a disease or parasite....or has been found to be contagious or rapidly fatal?

HLLE is more of a condition than a disease. It is NOT contagious or rapidly fatal. Many fish exposed to copper in a QT environment develop HLLE. So post treatment, placing the fish in a more natural DT setting and feeding vitamin soaked food is just what the Dr. ordered.

ncaldwell · Mar 9, 2018

For what it's worth I had a purple tang developed hlle. I started feeding more nori and pe mysis pellets soaked in selcon and it went away in about 2 weeks. Might still have scarring. I felt like mine was caused by a bad diet and he didn't want to eat nori at the time. Nothing contagious, other tangs were fine and being in the DT def helped him

brwaldbaum · May 1, 2018

Has anyone experienced a confirmed case of HLLE caused solely by stress?

brwaldbaum · May 18, 2018

Has anyone experienced a confirmed case of HLLE caused solely by "stray voltage."

Amboss72 · Aug 10, 2018

Yep it looks just like the blue tang in your first batch of pictures. I appreciate your post. I’ve begun the implementation of each of your suggestions for this condition as the research I’ve done seems to concur with your findings.
Thank you

scuzy · Aug 18, 2018

I went on 2.5 week vacation and my gem tang game down hard with hlle. Rest of body is fat but face and find es all hlle. Been soaking food in zoecon and aminomega and not seeing much improvement for a month. Feels so bad for that guy.

Humblefish · Aug 18, 2018

scuzy said:
I went on 2.5 week vacation and my gem tang game down hard with hlle. Rest of body is fat but face and find es all hlle. Been soaking food in zoecon and aminomega and not seeing much improvement for a month. Feels so bad for that guy.

Have you checked for stray voltage? Running carbon?

scuzy · Aug 18, 2018

I know it's the carbon as I put in a new batch before vacation and came back to it. Not sure removing it will do anything now.

Humblefish · Aug 18, 2018

scuzy said:
I know it's the carbon as I put in a new batch before vacation and came back to it. Not sure removing it will do anything now.

If it is the culprit, then removing the carbon will prevent further HLLE damage.

scuzy · Aug 18, 2018

I need the carbon for the ozone. Figure since it's been in there all the dust are gone by now.

Scrubber_steve · Aug 18, 2018

I've had the same vlamingi, 2 blue, & yellow tangs for about six years now & have used activated carbon religously for about 3 years. Never had any problem with HLLE using ROX 0.8.

Unable to get it recently so am about to try 2 little fish brand. Hoping it does ok too.

Humblefish · Aug 19, 2018

Scrubber_steve said:
Never had any problem with HLLE using ROX 0.8.

+1 I've had the same experience. No HLLE while using ROX 0.8.

jaxteller007 · Feb 27, 2019

So we have a sailfin tang that has a pretty bad case of HLLE right now. We think it's most likely to him not eating any of the natural algae growing in the tank, he'll only eat the dry food (mixed pellets, flakes, etc, frozen brine shrimp, that kind of stuff) or sheets of store bought algae we put on clips. I have someone that's helping us with our tank and will be out next month and if he's not improving they are going to take him and try their best to reverse it. In the meantime I'm going to try some things to get him to start eating the natural algae but I was going to supplement the regular food as well. Any of the options highly recommended? I've seen that Kent Marine Zoe and Selcon although the Zoe advertises that it doesn't have phosphates or use as much alcohol to preserve it. Any other items I should consider using? I'm going to try and order the stuff today to start treating as soon as possible.

#reefsquad