Blueface angel issues, please help!

[Chris Van Daele]

Hello,

I have an adult Blue face angel that I have had for about 4 months now. All seems fine as he is active and eats well. I feed him a variety of foods including algae and fresh/frozen food and have him in a 150 gallon tank.

He seems to have some pitting around his face, any ideas what could be causing this are greatly appreciated. Ammonia and nitrites are not detectable.

One thing to mention is I did recently dose copper as this is a fish only tank. I had another tank member showing signs of ich but had since cleared up.

 

[HotRocks]

I can't see much in the pic. Maybe try uploading a pic under all white light.

It's more than likely HLLE.

Do you offer any nori daily? What exactly do you feed? How are your tank parameters?

 

[Chris Van Daele]

It was tough to get a good pic with him swimming. I feed nori daily and change up meaty offerings daily

Water parameters are all where they should be

 

[Chris Van Daele]

What exactly is HLLE? Is it treatable?

 

[HotRocks]

What exactly is HLLE? Is it treatable?

This thread explains it in detail. Let me know of you have any questions.

HLLE (Head & Lateral Line Erosion)

Head & Lateral Line Erosion "HLLE": Symptoms - HLLE literally looks as though the skin is rotting or peeling off the fish. Affected areas usually include the face and lateral line, and may be white in color. Treatment options - This is more of a condition than an actual disease. Since no one...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Chris Van Daele]

This thread explains it in detail. Let me know of you have any questions.

HLLE (Head & Lateral Line Erosion)

Head & Lateral Line Erosion "HLLE": Symptoms - HLLE literally looks as though the skin is rotting or peeling off the fish. Affected areas usually include the face and lateral line, and may be white in color. Treatment options - This is more of a condition than an actual disease. Since no one...

www.reef2reef.com

It sounds like it can be reversed by removing carbon, doing water changes, and continuing balanced diet. Does it leave scaring? What is the rough survival rate of this?

 

[HotRocks]

It sounds like it can be reversed by removing carbon, doing water changes, and continuing balanced diet. Does it leave scaring? What is the rough survival rate of this?

Correct. I have one fish that it has never went away. The fish is alive and well. He won't eat frozen either, so that doesn't help anything.

Most of the time it will completely heal. I have never had a case personally that was fatal. Maybe some permanent scarring but not deadly.

 

[alton]

It has been over 10 years since I had a chevron tang that had hlle. The tank he was in was too clean and he refused to eat algae sheets. I lent him to my lfs and was placed in their frag tank that was loaded with algae. In six months the algae was cleared up and his hole in the head or hlle was gone. When I brought him home I fed him spirallina shrimp along with other frozen and it never appeared again. Try adding spirallina to his diet? I feed my blue face Lrs and spirallina

 

[Chris Van Daele]

Correct. I have one fish that it has never went away. The fish is alive and well. He won't eat frozen either, so that doesn't help anything.

Most of the time it will completely heal. I have never had a case personally that was fatal. Maybe some permanent scarring but not deadly.

I have been told something called metroplex can cure it, do you have any experience with this?

 

[HotRocks]

I have been told something called metroplex can cure it, do you have any experience with this?

Unfortunately it won't do much. Adding zoecon supplement to food is the best thing I have found for it.

 

[Murica]

I have been told something called metroplex can cure it, do you have any experience with this?

My blue face had HLLE pretty bad when I first got him, then it healed up pretty nice. Call me a naturalists but the more medicine you give, the more things become immune and the more difficult things become to treat. Personally I would just let it heal on its own. Good luck [emoji106]

 

[vetteguy53081]

May likely be vitamin deficiency. Diet is very important for this class of angels and will require meaty foods, sponge, angel formula fortified with vitamins such as selcon.
Seaweed sheets also essential part of diet as these guys are grazers and seek food all day. Do Not however overfeed. Clam or mussel on the half shell also a great supplement food for them.

 

[slapshot]

Feed him cantaloupe! Not the skin be side of pesticides but the orange fruit. It looks like sponge and is extremely high vitamins A and C. I have kept many angels and tangs for years. I only had a problem with HLLD once and it went away in a month after I removed carbon and started feeding cantaloupe. In a few days they would eat it right out of my hand.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Feed him cantaloupe! Not the skin be side of pesticides but the orange fruit. It looks like sponge and is extremely high vitamins A and C. I have kept many angels and tangs for years. I only had a problem with HLLD once and it went away in a month after I removed carbon and started feeding cantaloupe. In a few days they would eat it right out of my hand.

Interesting. While it makes sense, never heard of this. Any supportive documentation ? I just hate to place any fruit in my tank to find it crashes the system

 

[McPuff]

Congrats on the nice looking angel. Just feed a varied diet and always provide nori. I'd also try to feed some angel formula foods as they have a lot of sponge which the angels love. This also improves color in my experience. I'd remove the carbon and just run it as necessary. Good luck!

 

[slapshot]

Interesting. While it makes sense, never heard of this. Any supportive documentation ? I just hate to place any fruit in my tank to find it crashes the system

Nope nothing written but I’ve been keeping saltwater for 40 years now and this is my tank if it helps.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Nope nothing written but I’ve been keeping saltwater for 40 years now and this is my tank if it helps.

32 years here and never heard of this other than banana leaf ( I assume potassium) and broccoli florets for surgeonfish)

 

[Chris Van Daele]

So I think I’ve narrowed the issue down to carbon....I pulled the carbon from the sump and over about a month he almost completely healed up. I added the carbon back and the HLLE came back with force. I’ve removed again and hopefully he will heal up again
Seems strange carbon can cause this!!

 

[Chris Van Daele]

This time around it appears to continue to get worse. I am feeding Nori on a clip twice a day and he is getting all kind of meety foods (shrimp, scallops, marine fish) One issue is he won't go for pellets or flakes. Any ideas? His face is starting to look quite bad, more holes than the pretty blue lines at the point which is tough to see as he's such a nice looking fish

 

[Silent]

@melev has videos feeding bananas to his reefs.