Yellow Tang With HLLE

[jaredrah777]

Hey Guys, So i was just looking at my tang and noticed he has HLLE and im in shock… i spend so much money on his and my tomini tangs food… i feed them nori and mysis/brine and soak both in selcon and garlic I also add tons off vitamins and fish oil into there food. I read that running carbon can cause it?? In my filter i run zeolite, and matrix from seachem… I have no clue how he got it… My tomini tang has no signs of hlle

 

[jaredrah777]

he’s a small captive raised yellow tang… i got him from dr.reef about a month ago

 

[Spare time]

Is the matrix carbon rinsed very well and absolutely not abe to tumble?

 

[jaredrah777]

Is the matrix carbon rinsed very well and absolutely not abe to tumble?

i didnt rinse it before i put it in i just put both the zeolite and matrix in the filter once i got it

 

[jaredrah777]

if it is from the matrix from seachem what should my next steps be?

 

[jaredrah777]

gonna call in the big boys @Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

 

[jaredrah777]

just took out the matrix from my filter… i still have the zeolite in

 

[vetteguy53081]

Quite typical in tangs and often due to:
Poor water quality
Reaction to carbon
Poor diet/inadequate diet

what test kits are you using?

diet:
Small plankton
Formula 2 flake and frozen
LRS herbivore diet
Hikari veggie diet
Mysis shrimp
Spirulina brine shrimp
Nori seaweed basted with garlic extract and selcon vitamins added to foods for immunity health and stamina

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

gonna call in the big boys @Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

Hi, I suspect this is a related, but different issue that I call "epithelial thinning" - the carbon connection to that is not as clear cut as it is with true HLLE. I don't have a solution for you, but here is something I wrote up about it back in 2016 when we began seeing it on captive yellow tangs:

Captive-Bred Yellow Tangs - showing HLLE? - CORAL Magazine

I've seen photographs of wild Black Tangs, taken with flash photography, where they show what looks like classic HLLE lesions, but which is simply due to the camera flash.

www.reef2rainforest.com

Jay

 

[Freenow54]

Call in PETA? unbelievable. I think there are spys on this forum as well.

 

[Freenow54]

Hi, I suspect this is a related, but different issue that I call "epithelial thinning" - the carbon connection to that is not as clear cut as it is with true HLLE. I don't have a solution for you, but here is something I wrote up about it back in 2016 when we began seeing it on captive yellow tangs:

Captive-Bred Yellow Tangs - showing HLLE? - CORAL Magazine

I've seen photographs of wild Black Tangs, taken with flash photography, where they show what looks like classic HLLE lesions, but which is simply due to the camera flash.

www.reef2rainforest.com

Jay

I was going to use carbon to aid in dealing with algae. I guess that's a no no with tangs?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I was going to use carbon to aid in dealing with algae. I guess that's a no no with tangs?

Not all carbons are an issue; I've never had any problems using Chemipure (packed moist) and many people say ROX 0.8 carbon is fine. My own testing showed only very limited HLLE symptoms when using pelleted carbon (large pellets, imported from Indonesia). Always rinse these products well in RODI before use. I have not tested Matrix, so can't comment on that product.

The carbon you do NOT want to use is soft, dusty lignite carbon.


Jay

 

[jaredrah777]

Not all carbons are an issue; I've never had any problems using Chemipure (packed moist) and many people say ROX 0.8 carbon is fine. My own testing showed only very limited HLLE symptoms when using pelleted carbon (large pellets, imported from Indonesia). Always rinse these products well in RODI before use. I have not tested Matrix, so can't comment on that product.

The carbon you do NOT want to use is soft, dusty lignite carbon.


Jay

ya unfortunately i didnt rinse it SMH

when i put it in a cloud of dust came off and went into the tank. I didnt think much of it at the time.

I just removed it from my filter media and left in zeolite.

what do you think my next steps should be? ill be feeding them rlly well with selcon and garlic..

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Spare time]

i didnt rinse it before i put it in i just put both the zeolite and matrix in the filter once i got it

Ahhhh yep thats a problem. I would do the following:

1. Siphon as much sand as possible, and try to blast the rocks with a wavemaker or something.

2. I personally would then add a very fine filter pad/sock/floss to your filter and possibly add something like Dr tims clear up. Or, you could do a big water change (or both).

3. I would follow this up with soaking fish food (flakes or pellets, I prefer ocean nutrition prime flakes or seaweed extreme pellets) with brightwell omega hufa supplement and possibly vitachem.


Carbon MUST be rinsed in the sink thoroughly and not be allowed to grind or tumble against itself. I think that any carbon dust can be an issue. My tang got hlle at the same time I accidentally had rox carbon grind up in a reactor (
the reactor has a flaw that allowed this). Obviously I am not going to say that this caused the HLLE, but its suspicious if it did not.

 

[Spare time]

I was going to use carbon to aid in dealing with algae. I guess that's a no no with tangs?

Red Sea Carbon has very little dust, so that might be a good one too. I use that (I have matrix carbon right now though as I ran out of the red sea carbon).

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

ya unfortunately i didnt rinse it SMH

when i put it in a cloud of dust came off and went into the tank. I didnt think much of it at the time.

I just removed it from my filter media and left in zeolite.

what do you think my next steps should be? ill be feeding them rlly well with selcon and garlic..

@Jay Hemdal

The issue is, once the carbon dust gets into a tank, it is very difficult to get rid of, short of tearing the whole tank down...sorry!

Jay