Toni I Tang Spots

stewdogg · Jul 8, 2021

Hello. Got a Tomini Tang from Divers Den 5 weeks ago. Gave it a freshwater dip and Ruby Rally bath and it went into a sterile WT tank. The following day I noticed some white blotches under his mouth and along the underside of his cheek/gill (on the skin not in the gill). I did 2 weeks of copper at 1.8, then a week of Metroplex, a week of Kanaplex, Maracyn Oxy for a week (all per directions) and nothing seemed to do anything to the point I deemed it scarring as it never got any better or any worse. I stopped trying medications and was ready to put him into the display tank and noticed a few small spots on his forehead. The past few days they have become more pronounced, I believe them to be the same thing as what is under his mouth, whatever it is. At this point is this just caused by stress and water quality (you can only do so much with a poop machine tang and a 20 gallon long tank, I do 15% water changes every other day) or is this something else? The spots are not raised. I did a freshwater dip again before posting and nothing came off. He does not flash, eats great.

Timfish · Jul 8, 2021

Looks like lateral line deterioration to me. besides the lesions around the face it looks like the lateral line is raised some as well, it may get more noticable before it gets better. Diet and Stress can be implicated as well as the dust from GFO if it's not rinsed well. Search "Lateral Line" as well as "Hole in the Head" for more info.

Jay Hemdal · Jul 9, 2021

stewdogg said:
Hello. Got a Tomini Tang from Divers Den 5 weeks ago. Gave it a freshwater dip and Ruby Rally bath and it went into a sterile WT tank. The following day I noticed some white blotches under his mouth and along the underside of his cheek/gill (on the skin not in the gill). I did 2 weeks of copper at 1.8, then a week of Metroplex, a week of Kanaplex, Maracyn Oxy for a week (all per directions) and nothing seemed to do anything to the point I deemed it scarring as it never got any better or any worse. I stopped trying medications and was ready to put him into the display tank and noticed a few small spots on his forehead. The past few days they have become more pronounced, I believe them to be the same thing as what is under his mouth, whatever it is. At this point is this just caused by stress and water quality (you can only do so much with a poop machine tang and a 20 gallon long tank, I do 15% water changes every other day) or is this something else? The spots are not raised. I did a freshwater dip again before posting and nothing came off. He does not flash, eats great.

That is Head and Lateral Line Erosion (HLLE). There may also be other issues, but it sounds like you performed a pretty comprehensive quarantine protocol on this fish.

Tangs of this genus get HLLE fairly easily, but not as commonly as some other tangs do. Has this fish been in carbon filtered water?

Here is an article I posted about HLLE: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/head-and-lateral-line-erosion-hlle.784/

Jay

stewdogg · Jul 9, 2021

Thank you everybody for the help. Yes, carbon was used recently to remove the medications and that’s when it seems to get worse.

stewdogg · Jul 10, 2021

I put him in the display last night so he could have better water quality and less stress, seems happier and is trying to be besties with the mystery wrasse as of this morning so he has already settled in nicely.
I picked up some red nori to try as he never seemed to care for the green I got him previously. As far as vitamin enriching the food and nori which would be best: Zoe, Selcon, or Vitachem?

stewdogg · Jul 18, 2021

@Timfish @Jay Hemdal
Thanks again for your help. Tang is doing great in the display, looks so much better already in just 1 week. If it weren’t for your help and expertise he would have stayed in the QT tank and that clearly was not the course of action he needed. Thanks again.