Is there something wrong with my yellow tang.

stanleo · Oct 25, 2019

I have had him about five months. He is growing, eats constantly, doesn't look emaciated, is alert, fins are always fanned and alert, a little too aggressive now and then but fine. His only issue are these white markings running identical on both sides and a white patch above his right eye. Some days he is bright yellow and other days not so much. He came looking like this. Otherwise seems in great health. No other fish has white markings like this.

120 gallon with sump, skimmer and fuge. 9 months old
Lighting is 2 Red Sea ReefLED 90's 8 hours a day at full blue and white light.
Temp 79, salinity 35ppt
Calcium 500, pH 8.2, mag 1440, dKH 9
I don't notice any electrical current in the water.
Don't know if he's captive bred or wild caught (husband bought him)
tankmates are 5 PJ cardinals, 1 clown, 1 tiger watchman goby, 1 azure damsel, 1 glass cardinal, black long spine urchin, 3 emerald crabs, hermits, sand sifting star, 2 conchs. Astrea snails

Feed twice a day, morning is frozen brine, mysis or plankton. Early evening is a square of algae and flakes or pellets. He eats it all.

C. Eymann · Oct 25, 2019

HLLE for sure IMO, the discoloration is definitely following the lateral line.

Have a multimeter around the house?
Do you run carbon ? what kind/ how much?

stanleo · Oct 25, 2019

C. Eymann said:
HLLE for sure IMO, the discoloration is definitely following the lateral line.

Have a multimeter around the house?

What is HLLE?
I don't even know what a multimeter is.

C. Eymann · Oct 25, 2019

stanleo said:
What is HLLE?
I don't even know what a multimeter is.

Head, and Lateral Line Erosion

Usually has 3 possible causes

1. malnutrition,- I dont believe that's the case here

2. Stray voltage

3. Possibly linked with overuse or cheap activated carbon (hotly debated)

Jon Fishman · Oct 25, 2019

Paulie Walnuts disease.

I also say definitely Lat Line disease. Do you run a ground probe?

C. Eymann · Oct 25, 2019

stanleo said:
What is HLLE?
I don't even know what a multimeter is.

Think its possible something maybe leaking electricity into the tank? heater, pump?

A multimeter or volt meter would be able to tell us if stray current is in the water.
Grounding probes and /or replacing the suspect piece of equipment is a remedy

stanleo · Oct 25, 2019

C. Eymann said:
Head, and Lateral Line Erosion

Usually has 3 possible causes

1. malnutrition,- I dont believe that's the case here

2. Stray voltage

3. Possibly linked with overuse or cheap activated carbon (hotly debated)

I will look into grounding probes, thank you. I don't notice any voltage when I touch the water (my last tank had that and it was noticeable) but of course that may not mean much. Actually, now that I am thinking about it, one of the powerheads is from that old tank. I will get a meter and check that, thank you.

I do run carbon and it is the stuff you can get at petsmart. Is that not wise? It just sits in a bag in the intake compartment of my fuge.

I found this article on HLLE. https://www.thesprucepets.com/head-and-lateral-line-erosion-disease-2924961 It definitely confirms everything you are saying. If it is the above causes and I fix it, will the markings go away? They haven't gotten any worse over the months so I am asking is this just something he acquired before I got him possibly?

Malifry97 · Oct 25, 2019

API General Cure treats lateral line disease. Put him in QT and treat while you remove the cause.

stanleo · Oct 25, 2019

Jon Fishman said:
Paulie Walnuts disease.

I also say definitely Lat Line disease. Do you run a ground probe?

no I don't run a grounding probe. Is this all I need?

Jon Fishman · Oct 25, 2019

stanleo said:
no I don't run a grounding probe. Is this all I need?

I would get that, yes, but I would find the source of stray voltage if you are having any now....

Malifry97 · Oct 25, 2019

stanleo said:
I will look into grounding probes, thank you. I don't notice any voltage when I touch the water (my last tank had that and it was noticeable) but of course that may not mean much. Actually, now that I am thinking about it, one of the powerheads is from that old tank. I will get a meter and check that, thank you.

I do run carbon and it is the stuff you can get at petsmart. Is that not wise? It just sits in a bag in the intake compartment of my fuge.

I found this article on HLLE. https://www.thesprucepets.com/head-and-lateral-line-erosion-disease-2924961 It definitely confirms everything you are saying. If it is the above causes and I fix it, will the markings go away? They haven't gotten any worse over the months so I am asking is this just something he acquired before I got him possibly?

I would suggest treating API general cure in a QT with him until you find the source of the problem

Auto-pilot · Oct 25, 2019

stanleo said:
I will look into grounding probes, thank you. I don't notice any voltage when I touch the water (my last tank had that and it was noticeable) but of course that may not mean much. Actually, now that I am thinking about it, one of the powerheads is from that old tank. I will get a meter and check that, thank you.

I do run carbon and it is the stuff you can get at petsmart. Is that not wise? It just sits in a bag in the intake compartment of my fuge.

I found this article on HLLE. https://www.thesprucepets.com/head-and-lateral-line-erosion-disease-2924961 It definitely confirms everything you are saying. If it is the above causes and I fix it, will the markings go away? They haven't gotten any worse over the months so I am asking is this just something he acquired before I got him possibly?

Hey quick thought! If you got him like this and and he Hasent gotten worse it's probobly nothing in your tank. Tangs are extremely susceptible to HLLE. One major cause is copper. A lot of tanks run Copper especially in the importation side of the business. Probobly got it at some time due to a bad reaction to copper and it's still there. I'm my experience it take a LONG time for it to go away and sometimes it never does. If he's healthy I'd just leave him be

clm65 · Oct 25, 2019

Agree on HLLE. Nori daily, soaked in vitamins (such as Selcon) will help.

Auto-pilot · Oct 25, 2019

Also If this was a pre existing condition I wouldn't be too worried about stray voltage, with that being said it's not a bad thing to check for. I'm sure a friend of yours or someone you know has a meter you can borrow and simply set it to ac voltage. Ground the black probe to the wall (the large hole in the middle If the outlet was a face you'd be putting it in the mouth not an eye!) and the red probe in your tank if it's reading voltage you have a leak. Sometime you get small reading of like 1 or 2 volts/ or it's bouncing a little off zero, that is not a voltage leak.

stanleo · Oct 25, 2019

Malifry97 said:
I would suggest treating API general cure in a QT with him until you find the source of the problem

I appreciate it but I don't have the means for a QT tank right now. I went and got a grounding probe and put that in and will test the equipment once I have the time and get a volt meter

stanleo · Oct 25, 2019

Auto-pilot said:
Also If this was a pre existing condition I wouldn't be too worried about stray voltage, with that being said it's not a bad thing to check for. I'm sure a friend of yours or someone you know has a meter you can borrow and simply set it to ac voltage. Ground the black probe to the wall (the large hole in the middle If the outlet was a face you'd be putting it in the mouth not an eye!) and the red probe in your tank if it's reading voltage you have a leak. Sometime you get small reading of like 1 or 2 volts/ or it's bouncing a little off zero, that is not a voltage leak.

Thank you for explaining it to me like I have no clue about electrical stuff, because I don't, like at all! lol

I am going to test my stuff, especially that old pump and the heater.

stanleo · Oct 25, 2019

Thanks everyone. I have put in a grounding probe and I will get my hands on a volt meter to test my equipment. Even if I don't have any stray voltage and that's not why he got this, everything I am reading suggests that a probe is a pretty vital piece of hardware. I had never even heard about before now and read stuff about this a lot. Maybe I just missed that piece of info so I'm glad I asked about this.

Malifry97 · Oct 25, 2019

stanleo said:
I appreciate it but I don't have the means for a QT tank right now. I went and got a grounding probe and put that in and will test the equipment once I have the time and get a volt meter

ok cool.

LAReefer4Life · Oct 26, 2019

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stanleo · Nov 29, 2019

I put the probe in a few weeks ago and I think there is already an improvement on his appearance. He looks a lot more yellow and the whits stripes aren't near as noticeable. Thank you. When I turn down the blue lights they disappear entirely.