HLLE (Head & Lateral Line Erosion)

[ngoodermuth]

Any omega-rich vitamin supplement could help. I use vita-chem, but selcon is excellent as well. Soak all of his foods, frozen, pellets, algae sheets... anything you can get him to eat. Different colors of algae too- green, red, purple, etc.

Also, do you use carbon in your tank regularly? Excessive carbon use is linked to HLLE as well...

 

[jaxteller007]

Any omega-rich vitamin supplement could help. I use vita-chem, but selcon is excellent as well. Soak all of his foods, frozen, pellets, algae sheets... anything you can get him to eat. Different colors of algae too- green, red, purple, etc.

Also, do you use carbon in your tank regularly? Excessive carbon use is linked to HLLE as well...

No, the only thing we really keep in the sump filter wise is like something like Chemi Pure or Purigen and some phosguard. I wonder if part of it may be that we were sold him entirely too early into our foray into salt water tanks (first fish we bought when we got the tank, so no algae established in the tank, didn't know anything about feeding him sheets of algae, or his nutritional requirements) in addition to a 75g tank being nowhere big enough for a sailfin tang.

He definitely eats anything we put in the tank as far as frozen food, flakes, pellets, etc. But he will not really go after any natural growing stuff in the tank. Occasionally he will peck at the glass where there is nothing really growing (our snails keep that pretty clear) but he doesn't go after stuff growing on the rocks our our return spout (which has a good amount of hairy like algae growing on it).

 

[ngoodermuth]

Stress could be a factor as well... I hate to say it...I'm not one to lecture about tank sizes, but if you're not planning to upgrade any time soon it might be time to re-home him if it's impacting his health I've done the same- I bought a small tuskfish for my 120 and realized within a few weeks that the tank was too small and he was extremely unhappy. There's no shame in realizing you made a mistake with a purchase.

But, in the meantime try the vitamins and giving him as much variety as possible. Maybe some herbivore frozen food mixes, they usually contain veggies as well. Also, it does sometimes take time for the symptoms to be reversed, even when the dietary changes have been made.

 

[jaxteller007]

Stress could be a factor as well... I hate to say it...I'm not one to lecture about tank sizes, but if you're not planning to upgrade any time soon it might be time to re-home him if it's impacting his health I've done the same- I bought a small tuskfish for my 120 and realized within a few weeks that the tank was too small and he was extremely unhappy. There's no shame in realizing you made a mistake with a purchase.

But, in the meantime try the vitamins and giving him as much variety as possible. Maybe some herbivore frozen food mixes, they usually contain veggies as well. Also, it does sometimes take time for the symptoms to be reversed, even when the dietary changes have been made.

Yea chances are he is going to be rehomed in the next month or two at worse anyways. But I'd still like to have him as healthy as possible before then. We learned our lesson real quick about trusting what someone at a store says without researching first. We were told "oh yea, 75 gallon tank is plenty big enough for a sailfin tang". Same person tried to get us to buy another tang at the same time as well, telling us there was room for both. Thank god we didn't do that.

 

[jaxteller007]

Any omega-rich vitamin supplement could help. I use vita-chem, but selcon is excellent as well. Soak all of his foods, frozen, pellets, algae sheets... anything you can get him to eat. Different colors of algae too- green, red, purple, etc.

Also, do you use carbon in your tank regularly? Excessive carbon use is linked to HLLE as well...

It seems like I'm seeing that most of the supplements are either omega rich like Vita Chem and Selcon, or multi vitamin like Kent Zoe or Brightwell aquatics multivitamin. Should i combine them to get the omegas and multivitamins?

 

[ngoodermuth]

It seems like I'm seeing that most of the supplements are either omega rich like Vita Chem and Selcon, or multi vitamin like Kent Zoe or Brightwell aquatics multivitamin. Should i combine them to get the omegas and multivitamins?

Vita-chem already has both, I’m pretty sure selcon is JUST omegas but I would confirm before mixing with other multi-vitamins just in case.

 

[jaxteller007]

Vita-chem already has both, I’m pretty sure selcon is JUST omegas but I would confirm before mixing with other multi-vitamins just in case.

I'm going to give the vita-chem a go. I want to try feeding some nori too but I'm not 100% sure on nori is (like is it this stuff which is what we have been feeding him? https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...ish-food/omega-one-super-veggie-green-seaweed) or where do I buy actual Nori lol.

 

[MaiReef]

Nori is in the sushi/asian department of a grocery store

 

[jaxteller007]

One more thing to figure out. I was advised that i could try wrapping algae/nori around a small live rock or our return valve (where there is a lot of naturally occuring algae) to try and get him going after the natural stuff. But how would i attach it? The algae clips that stick to the side of the tank aren't wide enough to clip to the return valve. Wouldn't using a rubber band be bad news?

 

[jaxteller007]

Nori is in the sushi/asian department of a grocery store

So just buy a sheet of it then, that's easy. Hopefully i can find a local store that carries vitachem so i don't have to wait on it to ship to me.

 

[MaiReef]

So just buy a sheet of it then, that's easy. Hopefully i can find a local store that carries vitachem so i don't have to wait on it to ship to me.

It usually comes in a plastic bag the size of the sheets. Feed in strips. It should be eaten within a day. My tang, angels, and engineer goby love it. I have heard the garlic one helps, but my fish don't care.


As far as clipping, I just use the magnetic clip because it works well and I don't like suction cups as they come off. I have seen rubberbands to rocks.

 

[ngoodermuth]

I'm going to give the vita-chem a go. I want to try feeding some nori too but I'm not 100% sure on nori is (like is it this stuff which is what we have been feeding him? https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...ish-food/omega-one-super-veggie-green-seaweed) or where do I buy actual Nori lol.

Nori is the edible seaweed used for sushi rolls. You can usually get nori sheets from your local grocery store, you just want to make sure it’s raw/organic with no additives.

The stuff you’re feeding is fine also. I personally like this line, my fish LOVE the red and purple ones:
Two Little Fishies Atlsvgs4 Sea Veg-Green Seaweed, 1 Oz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00025678C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_IiSDCb7KSK33X

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I think they're all pretty much created equal; the main ingredient in most of them is fish oil. I use Selcon or Zoecon, but that's only because it's what I'm used to. You have to thaw the frozen food before applying it. No reason why you can't soak vitamins in nori.

Just be careful when soaking nori! I soaked a big piece, put it in the tank and my wrasse ripped the entire sheet off the clip and it drifted straight to an anemone's mouth. I didn't have any luck getting it back... My H. Biocellatus loves nori, and loves selcon nori even more!

 

[jaxteller007]

Thanks for all the info guys. I hope this helps him out so he can transfer out to a bigger home and already be on a road to recovery.

 

[jaxteller007]

Also can I just say how ticked I am about that store that sold him to us, after we talked to the person for about 30 minutes prior saying how we had a new tank, never had saltwater fish before, only a 75g tank, etc? Sucks cause some of the other employees at that store are great to deal with, but man that person has me agitated everytime I think about having to get rid of Captain Jack (his the lone survivor our tank crash last year as well).

 

[MaiReef]

Also can I just say how ****** I am about that store that sold him to us, after we talked to the person for about 30 minutes prior saying how we had a new tank, never had saltwater fish before, only a 75g tank, etc? Sucks cause some of the other employees at that store are great to deal with, but man that person has me agitated everytime I think about having to get rid of Captain Jack (his the lone survivor our tank crash last year as well).

Get a bigger tank

 

[ngoodermuth]

Yep, perfect excuse for an upgrade haha

But... sailfins can get REALLY big, It took seeing one in a 300g+ tank that was probably bigger than most of my dinner plates, to realize how big they really get...

 

[jaxteller007]

Get a bigger tank

Yep, perfect excuse for an upgrade haha

But... sailfins can get REALLY big, It took seeing one in a 300g+ tank that was probably bigger than most of my dinner plates, to realize how big they really get...

Paying for a wedding this year had to take priority over an upgraded tank lol. That and the new puppy.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Paying for a wedding this year had to take priority over an upgraded tank lol. That and the new puppy.

Well, the wedding I could do without.. but, I can’t argue with a puppy lol I got one last year too...he’s not this small anymore though

 

[jaxteller007]

Well, the wedding I could do without.. but, I can’t argue with a puppy lol I got one last year too...he’s not this small anymore though

Dawwwwww this is Blue. 15 pounds at just over 8 weeks.