HLLE on scopas tang

Fin Jackson · Dec 7, 2021

Hey Guys,
I've had my Scopas Tang for about half a year now and for around the last 3 months he's had Head and lateral line erosion with no luck treating it from me. He's currently in a 80g system as he's still about 7cm -10cm in diameter. For the first 2 and a half months it didn't progress much and was slight discolouring around his eyes and mouth that was getting better, but I've noticed over the past 2 weeks its now getting alot worse and has progressed to the entire lateral line and face. I don't run Carbon, there is no stray voltage in the tank as I bought a grounding probe as I thought this may have been the original cause of it, but now I'm not so sure. I feed Nori and algae pellets daily, Spirulina Brine Shrimp, Mysis shrimp and lobster Eggs on alternate days and he eats like a pig. He also has live algae from the sump and rock and grazes all day. I use RO/DI water with a 20% weekly water change and do water tests 1-2 times a week. There is not much info on HLLE and treatments and I was wondering if anyone has any experiences with treatments. Thanks Pics down below (looks worse in person)

Jay Hemdal · Dec 7, 2021

Fin Jackson said:
Hey Guys,
I've had my Scopas Tang for about half a year now and for around the last 3 months he's had Head and lateral line erosion with no luck treating it from me. He's currently in a 80g system as he's still about 7cm -10cm in diameter. For the first 2 and a half months it didn't progress much and was slight discolouring around his eyes and mouth that was getting better, but I've noticed over the past 2 weeks its now getting alot worse and has progressed to the entire lateral line and face. I don't run Carbon, there is no stray voltage in the tank as I bought a grounding probe as I thought this may have been the original cause of it, but now I'm not so sure. I feed Nori and algae pellets daily, Spirulina Brine Shrimp, Mysis shrimp and lobster Eggs on alternate days and he eats like a pig. He also has live algae from the sump and rock and grazes all day. I use RO/DI water with a 20% weekly water change and do water tests 1-2 times a week. There is not much info on HLLE and treatments and I was wondering if anyone has any experiences with treatments. Thanks Pics down below (looks worse in person)

I can only see a hint of HLLE in the fish, it presents differently in Zebrasoma tangs.
My HLLE article is posted in the library section here, but I’m on my phone and can’t link to it for you.
Jay

Fin Jackson · Dec 7, 2021

Thanks Jay, I'll take a look

Jay Hemdal · Dec 8, 2021

Fin Jackson said:
Thanks Jay, I'll take a look

Here is the link now:

Head and Lateral Line Erosion (HLLE)

This article discusses studies performed regarding head and lateral line erosion in captive fishes. Specifically, carbon use and nutrition as they relate to this syndrome.

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Fin Jackson · Dec 8, 2021

I've had a read, great article!
Thanks Jay

Sean_B · Dec 8, 2021

I am not suggesting this as a substitute for medicine, there is an older article floating around linking broccoli as a remedy (vitamin deficiency) per a zoo study.
maybe this has been debunked

Fin Jackson · Dec 9, 2021

Thanks Sean
I'll deffinatly give broccoli a go. I'm also going to try soak the broccoli in garlic oil to see if that helps even more if it's a nutritional deficiency. I'll get back to you after I've seen how it goes!

Trueruby · Dec 27, 2021

I had the same issue with a yellow tang a bought from a lfs. Broccoli wasa total game changer! Freeze it then give it .

Fin Jackson · Dec 28, 2021

I'll try freeze it, my tangs pecked at it twice then never went back again. I tried cutting it up to a pellet size but that didn't work either. Back to feeding seaweed. Soaking it in garlic and ginger oil helped a bit but they relised it was the same thing and left it alone. Did you leave it as a head, or cut it up to a smaller bit size peice? I'll try freeze it, thanks for the suggestion!

Jay Hemdal · Dec 28, 2021

Fin Jackson said:
I'll try freeze it, my tangs pecked at it twice then never went back again. I tried cutting it up to a pellet size but that didn't work either. Back to feeding seaweed. Soaking it in garlic and ginger oil helped a bit but they relised it was the same thing and left it alone. Did you leave it as a head, or cut it up to a smaller bit size peice? I'll try freeze it, thanks for the suggestion!

We used to feed broccoli at a public aquarium I worked at. We never saw a reduction in HLLE. I did a survey of HLLE and one thing we found was that about 80% of the complete cures seen involved moving the fish to a new tank.
I would avoid soaking food in garlic and/or ginger. The time it takes to soak in is roughly the same amount of time it takes it wash off out into your tank. Food additives, if used, really need to be bound up into a matrix, like in gel diet.

Jay