Severe HLLE Treatment

[Maddlesrain]

Hey all,
Back again for some advice. I picked up a coral beauty angel that was being rehomed with a fairly extensive case of HLLE. Looking for best treatments as far as foods and supplements. I don't think the scarring will completely heal, but hope I can help her heal with some TLC and time. I'll be reviewing threads I can find already posted in the forums, but figured I'd also make my own post.

I already feed a pretty varied diet, but want to make sure I'm not missing anything that anyone who's treated HLLE considers vital.

 

[KrisReef]

Hey all,
Back again for some advice. I picked up a coral beauty angel that was being rehomed with a fairly extensive case of HLLE. Looking for best treatments as far as foods and supplements. I don't think the scarring will completely heal, but hope I can help her heal with some TLC and time. I'll be reviewing threads I can find already posted in the forums, but figured I'd also make my own post.

I already feed a pretty varied diet, but want to make sure I'm not missing anything that anyone who's treated HLLE considers vital.

Way back, the only “treatment” that was recommended was to improve the diet and put the fish in a fowlr system that had metal halide (sunlight spectrum).

Since then, the only improvements to this home remedy was to feed natural foods. Live if possible. Chopped whole live oysters, mussels, or live worms of various types.

Good water quality is a given, along with adequate places for the fish to hide.

 

[Maddlesrain]

Way back, the only “treatment” that was recommended was to improve the diet and put the fish in a fowlr system that had metal halide (sunlight spectrum).

Since then, the only improvements to this home remedy was to feed natural foods. Live if possible. Chopped whole live oysters, mussels, or live worms of various types.

Good water quality is a given, along with adequate places for the fish to hide.

I already feed clams, mussels, and oysters throughout the week, so this I hope is a good start! I also have a couple different vitamin supplements I'll start soaking the food in more regularly to see if this offers any improvement.

The fish is in a reef aquarium with a T5 +LED ATI combo fixture. Not much I can change there, but hopefully it's not damaging.

 

[KrisReef]

Well, I’m not sure if we would make any progress sliding down into the old debates about “Halides. V T-5 v LED’s. I don’t think that will help us or the fish do any better. :face-with-tears-of-joy:

You are feeding the fish what seems to be a healthy diet, so the subject seems to be in good hands.

Recovery, sometimes a fish can lose most if not all of the scaring. Time will tell.

 

[Maddlesrain]

Well, I’m not sure if we would make any progress sliding down into the old debates about “Halides. V T-5 v LED’s. I don’t think that will help us or the fish do any better. :face-with-tears-of-joy:

You are feeding the fish what seems to be a healthy diet, so the subject seems to be in good hands.

Recovery, sometimes a fish can lose most if not all of the scaring. Time will tell.

Haha I wont debate—it's all a new journey for me! I'm hoping there will be improvement on the scarring given time, but it's almost her entire head / face area that is turned white. Nearly down to the pectoral fin. There are little rings of color around the eyes.

The fish seems to have been loved by the previous owner. They just weren't sure what to do with the situation.

 

[KrisReef]

:face-with-tears-of-joy:Haha I wont debate—it's all a new journey for me! I'm hoping there will be improvement on the scarring given time, but it's almost her entire head / face area that is turned white. Nearly down to the pectoral fin. There are little rings of color around the eyes.

The fish seems to have been loved by the previous owner. They just weren't sure what to do with the situation.

Can you post a picture here?

You could document recovery for all of us ,
:smiling-face-with-sunglasses: Even the Halide folks, the LED mods, and all the T-5 (and maybe even T-8) users?

:cool::smiling-face-with-halo:

 

[threebuoys]

You may be interested

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/head-and-lateral-line-erosion-hlle.784/

 

[Maddlesrain]

Can you post a picture here?

You could document recovery for all of us ,
:smiling-face-with-sunglasses: Even the Halide folks, the LED mods, and all the T-5 (and maybe even T-8) users?

:cool::smiling-face-with-halo:

I'll try to get a photo of her up here! I should have snapped a pic while the fish was still acclimating in the bucket, but it honestly slipped my mind. I wouldn't mind having photos to document any progression (or lack of).

 

[Maddlesrain]

You may be interested

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/head-and-lateral-line-erosion-hlle.784/

Thank you!!

 

[Reeferbadness]

I cured this Angel's HLLE by giving him tons of Nori. I am pretty sure he developed HLLE from lack of veggies.... was feeding him mostly frozen and pellets. After about a month, his HLLE started to heal up... with a scar of course, but it was much better.

 

[Maddlesrain]

I cured this Angel's HLLE by giving him tons of Nori. I am pretty sure he developed HLLE from lack of veggies.... was feeding him mostly frozen and pellets. After about a month, his HLLE started to heal up... with a scar of course, but it was much better.

He's beautiful! I also do have nori I offer for my foxface, so I'll make sure to keep that up! Did you ever soak the nori in anything?

 

[Reeferbadness]

He's beautiful! I also do have nori I offer for my foxface, so I'll make sure to keep that up! Did you ever soak the nori in anything?

I didn't soak the nori in anything - just tossed in 1/2 a sheet 3x a day. The angel would eat the whole thing from my hand.... barely leaving any scraps for my tangs and other fish. It worked. I'm pretty sure HLLE is connected to some herbavore fish like angel's and tang's that are fed mostly meaty diets and are not getting the nutrition they need... but it's hard to verify this conclusively but mine sure healed up quickly with the change of diet.

 

[alton]

Many years ago I had a large Chevron tang that kept my tank spotless but he developed HLLE/hole in the head. It refused to eat Nori and any other algae sheets, algae on a rock it was like a vacuum. One of my LFS had an issue with algae taking over their coral display so I dropped him in. Six months later everything was cleared up including all the algae from the tank. They called me and I picked him up and started mixing his food with Spiralina Brine. Never had an issue with again. Now I feed Spriralina brine mixed with LRS fish are brighter than ever and HLLE/hole in the head has never appeared again.

 

[blazn]

I had a HLLE issue with a coral beauty and fairy wrasse. I started adding "Vita chem" (marine formula - vitamin supplement) to one of the feedings each day and it made a fairly quick and obvious improvement, as all the color was regained in each fish, leaving only the outer line as a 'scar'. I continue to add "Vita chem' daily and I highly recommend it.

 

[Maddlesrain]

Many years ago I had a large Chevron tang that kept my tank spotless but he developed HLLE/hole in the head. It refused to eat Nori and any other algae sheets, algae on a rock it was like a vacuum. One of my LFS had an issue with algae taking over their coral display so I dropped him in. Six months later everything was cleared up including all the algae from the tank. They called me and I picked him up and started mixing his food with Spiralina Brine. Never had an issue with again. Now I feed Spriralina brine mixed with LRS fish are brighter than ever and HLLE/hole in the head has never appeared again.

I do have a spiralina supplement for the fish, so I'll make sure to add this into the feeding rotation more frequently!

I had a HLLE issue with a coral beauty and fairy wrasse. I started adding "Vita chem" (marine formula - vitamin supplement) to one of the feedings each day and it made a fairly quick and obvious improvement, as all the color was regained in each fish, leaving only the outer line as a 'scar'. I continue to add "Vita chem' daily and I highly recommend it.

I just had this delivered yesterday and was planning to soak all food in this, and a couple other supplements!

 

[Maddlesrain]

Sorry, these aren't the best photos, but I hope they give anyone viewing the thread an idea of what the fish looks like! She's been in the tank since Sunday night (so roughly 2 days). Photos included with and without an orange filter over my phone camera.

 

[blazn]

Once you get her on a high quality, nutritious diet for a while, I expect she'll heal up nicely. Good job 'rescuing' her and providing her with a great home!

 

[Maddlesrain]

Once you get her on a high quality, nutritious diet for a while, I expect she'll heal up nicely. Good job 'rescuing' her and providing her with a great home!

Happy to know there's a solid chance at recovery for her! Thank you :)

 

[Maddlesrain]

Update! Already seeing improvement in the coloration of her face.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey all,
Back again for some advice. I picked up a coral beauty angel that was being rehomed with a fairly extensive case of HLLE. Looking for best treatments as far as foods and supplements. I don't think the scarring will completely heal, but hope I can help her heal with some TLC and time. I'll be reviewing threads I can find already posted in the forums, but figured I'd also make my own post.

I already feed a pretty varied diet, but want to make sure I'm not missing anything that anyone who's treated HLLE considers vital.

Healing from HLLE is very dependent on how long the fish has had the issue, as well as how severe the lesions are. Greg Lewbart, an aquatic vet has the opinion that HLLE lesions beyond a certain level cannot be healed, and my experience aligns with that. Some public aquariums have experimented with lesion debridement and the application of Regranex gel, but the core issue still needs to be addressed - specifically do not use lignite carbon on the tank.

Pics would help!