Help. Is this fin rot or something else

[jonnywink]

My Blue Tang acts and eats normally, but looks like this. Unsure why or what to do. He’s in a 55 gal. with a Gold Head Gobie, six line wrasse and a pajama cardinal. Also a number of snails, a sand sifting starfish, a pencil urchin, and a coral banded shrimp live in the tank. He was fully QT with all the fish about six months ago (kanaplex then Prazipro then copper power and finally a fresh water dip) after something ran through the tank that killed most of the other stock. Was in the QT together for the full DT fallow time before putting them back. No other fish show this appearance or any signs of problems or distress. Water parameters all within normal range except my nitrate stays higher (45) but potassium within range. I do a 6 gal water change every two weeks and have Marineland 360 filter which I service about every 90 days. Also have a HOB protein skimmer. Any ideas or suggestion will be appreciated.

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

#fishmedic

 

[jonnywink]

Thank you. Can you tell me how to move the post over or do I just have to repost it?

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

Thank you. Can you tell me how to move the post over or do I just have to repost it?

I will tag fish medics below. No need to do anything.

@Jay Hemdal
@vetteguy53081

 

[jonnywink]

I will tag fish medics below. No need to do anything.

@Jay Hemdal
@vetteguy53081

Thank you very much.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My Blue Tang acts and eats normally, but looks like this. Unsure why or what to do. He’s in a 55 gal. with a Gold Head Gobie, six line wrasse and a pajama cardinal. Also a number of snails, a sand sifting starfish, a pencil urchin, and a coral banded shrimp live in the tank. He was fully QT with all the fish about six months ago (kanaplex then Prazipro then copper power and finally a fresh water dip) after something ran through the tank that killed most of the other stock. Was in the QT together for the full DT fallow time before putting them back. No other fish show this appearance or any signs of problems or distress. Water parameters all within normal range except my nitrate stays higher (45) but potassium within range. I do a 6 gal water change every two weeks and have Marineland 360 filter which I service about every 90 days. Also have a HOB protein skimmer. Any ideas or suggestion will be appreciated.

Fin damage like that can show as a symptom of head and lateral line erosion in tangs (HLLE). The pits around this fish’s face is HLLE, so unless another fish has been picking on the tang, the fin damage is related to that. HLLE is a complicated topic. Here is an article I posted on it here:

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

 

[jonnywink]

Fin damage like that can show as a symptom of head and lateral line erosion in tangs (HLLE). The pits around this fish’s face is HLLE, so unless another fish has been picking on the tang, the fin damage is related to that. HLLE is a complicated topic. Here is an article I posted on it here:

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

Thank you Jay! The article was very informative, but a little over my head in places. However, I think I get the idea that the activated carbon I use in my filter may be the cause. I’ve been using Black Diamond Premium Activated Carbon by Marineland 360 filter, which I rise under cold tap water until no black residue comes out of the bag before putting in the filter’s media compartment. My question now is can I just pull the carbon out of the filter or do I need to move the tang out to a QT tank for a while and have no carbon in that filter? Also this condition has been present for several months and to think I may have noticed it after the copper power treatment during the QT period. I just attributed it to aging since nothing else but appearance seemed to be effected. Any and all suggestions of how to handle this is appreciated. Again, thank you Jay.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you Jay! The article was very informative, but a little over my head in places. However, I think I get the idea that the activated carbon I use in my filter may be the cause. I’ve been using Black Diamond Premium Activated Carbon by Marineland 360 filter, which I rise under cold tap water until no black residue comes out of the bag before putting in the filter’s media compartment. My question now is can I just pull the carbon out of the filter or do I need to move the tang out to a QT tank for a while and have no carbon in that filter? Also this condition has been present for several months and to think I may have noticed it after the copper power treatment during the QT period. I just attributed it to aging since nothing else but appearance seemed to be effected. Any and all suggestions of how to handle this is appreciated. Again, thank you Jay.

In many cases, even if you remove all carbon, the symptoms may only partially reverse, sometimes not at all.

I would suggest using well rinsed pelleted carbon like ROX if you want to use carbon. I can’t remember if black diamond is lignite carbon (bad) or not.

Jay

 

[jonnywink]

In many cases, even if you remove all carbon, the symptoms may only partially reverse, sometimes not at all.

I would suggest using well rinsed pelleted carbon like ROX if you want to use carbon. I can’t remember if black diamond is lignite carbon (bad) or not.

Jay

Thank you for your help again.