Kole tang facial scarring

[Nemolover12]

Anyone have any idea what is up with my kole tang? He has these white blemishes all across his face.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Anyone have any idea what is up with my kole tang? He has these white blemishes all across his face.

This is facial erosion known as HLLE which cause pits and flesh missing mainly in tangs, angels and some rabbitfish. It is often caused by poor water quality, high use of carbon, poor water quality (elevated nitrate and ammonia) and inadequate/poor diet. It is not life threating in any way but offers secondary infection in some cases.
Maintaining GOOD water quality and diet are often the fixes and with severe cases, some healing.
Some foods to feed tang are :
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
Prime reef
Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract

Add selcon vitamins to foods occasionally

 

[Tcook]

Did this tang spend extended time in copper?

 

[Nemolover12]

Did this tang spend extended time in copper?

I don’t really know. I got him for free from another hobbyist who had him for a little while.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I don’t really know. I got him for free from another hobbyist who had him for a little while.

So - the common diagnosis for facial lesions is "head and lateral line erosion". This is very common in tangs. However, there is another, possibly related issues called "epithelial thinning". The difference is subtle; in HLLE, the fish develops pits and eroded areas. In epithelial thinning, the fish just develops thinner skin around the face.

In either case, it isn't copper that is the common culprit causing this, but rather, carbon use:

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