What is on my Hippo's face?

[rwreef]

I currently have this hippo in a QT setup. I acquired this hippo from a local reefer who was breaking down thier tank. They had this hippo for 10yrs. I am currently observing the fish to determine what if anything I should treat in QT. Fish is healthy, swimming and eat perfectly fine. I am doing general cure mixed in food + nori for the next 20 days. Any thoughts on the face markings? HLLE? curious if I can help reduce the markings while in QT. I figure once on my large system that may help also (84x25x30) reef. Thanks for any insight!

 

[vetteguy53081]

This looks to be the start of HLLE, however hepatus tangs have a level of pigment similar here on the facial area but id HLLE, focus on good water quality and mainly diet offering foods such as LRS Herbivore diet, mysis shrimp, rods foods, plankton, chopped krill as examples

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I currently have this hippo in a QT setup. I acquired this hippo from a local reefer who was breaking down thier tank. They had this hippo for 10yrs. I am currently observing the fish to determine what if anything I should treat in QT. Fish is healthy, swimming and eat perfectly fine. I am doing general cure mixed in food + nori for the next 20 days. Any thoughts on the face markings? HLLE? curious if I can help reduce the markings while in QT. I figure once on my large system that may help also (84x25x30) reef. Thanks for any insight!

Looks like HLlE, but a bit more yellow than I would expect. If the hippo has had this for most of its ten years in captivity, you won’t be able to reverse it I’m afraid.


Don’t mix General Cure into the food - you got terrible advice.

GC contains praziquantel and metronidazole and those have two different oral doses: 1 to 2% by weight in the food, and then praziquantel is dosed at 30 to 50 mg per kg of fish weight. GC is only designed to be used in the water!

 

[rwreef]

I've been using this mixture for a long time with several fish over the years. Not saying it is right/wrong, but here is where I got the advice.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I've been using this mixture for a long time with several fish over the years. Not saying it is right/wrong, but here is where I got the advice.

A big nope on that recipe from me! No idea as to the actual dose, and there is the same issue with the oral dose being different between the two drugs. Oral DMSO is also not advised. Finally, feeding daily for that long is also not correct! Prazi is fed orally 3x a few days apart and metro is usually fed five days in a row.

This is not a matter of opinion, that recipe is simply flawed.

Oral medications are tough to do properly. Here is an article I wrote about using them:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/proper-dosing-of-medicated-foods.765689/

 

[rwreef]

A big nope on that recipe from me! No idea as to the actual dose, and there is the same issue with the oral dose being different between the two drugs. Oral DMSO is also not advised. Finally, feeding daily for that long is also not correct! Prazi is fed orally 3x a few days apart and metro is usually fed five days in a row.

This is not a matter of opinion, that recipe is simply flawed.

Oral medications are tough to do properly. Here is an article I wrote about using them:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/proper-dosing-of-medicated-foods.765689/

Great information. Constantly learning in this hobby is what has keeps me interested over the last 20+ yrs. Thanks for the feedback!