What's wrong with my yellow tang?

[MichaelGonz]

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this yellow tang? I've had it for nearly a year now and it just hasn't been itself for over a month now. It stays in the back of the tank for the majority of the day and doesn't eat as much as it used to.
It has these weird scrape-like markings in the same spot on both sides of the fish. I circled the area in the image below. Today I noticed that the tip of its lips/mouth has turned pale. Any ideas??

 

[fishguy242]

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 ,is that a spot on fin in second pic too?.best wishes

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So - yellow tangs show head and lateral line erosion (HLLE) differently than other fish; rather than developing pale spots, they develop skin erosion (and sometimes fin erosion) but the yellow coloration isn't much affected. I would say for sure that is what your yellow tang has except the location isn't quite where I would expect it - I usually see it above the lateral line and a bit more forward. Still, combined with the epithelial thinning around the mouth, I'd say this is probably it.

No real treatment that will work - just be sure not to use dusty carbon (pellets are better) and feed a good diet.

Jay

 

[MichaelGonz]

So - yellow tangs show head and lateral line erosion (HLLE) differently than other fish; rather than developing pale spots, they develop skin erosion (and sometimes fin erosion) but the yellow coloration isn't much affected. I would say for sure that is what your yellow tang has except the location isn't quite where I would expect it - I usually see it above the lateral line and a bit more forward. Still, combined with the epithelial thinning around the mouth, I'd say this is probably it.

No real treatment that will work - just be sure not to use dusty carbon (pellets are better) and feed a good diet.

Jay

Thank you, Jay. I'm very glad you're here.

I've only been in the hobby for about a year now, so I still consider myself a bit of beginner. I feed this yellow tang a combination of New Life Spectrum pellets, freeze-dried mysis, and Omega One green seaweed sheets. Is there any food in particular that's nutrient rich that would help my tang recover?


How does this happen? Dust from carbon? I use Chemi-Pure blue in a Nyos Torque reactor. I must not be rinsing the carbon off well enough prior to putting it into my system?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you, Jay. I'm very glad you're here.

I've only been in the hobby for about a year now, so I still consider myself a bit of beginner. I feed this yellow tang a combination of New Life Spectrum pellets, freeze-dried mysis, and Omega One green seaweed sheets. Is there any food in particular that's nutrient rich that would help my tang recover?


How does this happen? Dust from carbon? I use Chemi-Pure blue in a Nyos Torque reactor. I must not be rinsing the carbon off well enough prior to putting it into my system?

Carbon in reactors can get ground up and pushes dust out into the tank. It might not be the cause of this, but possibly.
The diet sounds fine to me, nothing to change there. Sometimes, there is no smoking gun for this issue....
Jay

 

[MichaelGonz]

Carbon in reactors can get ground up and pushes dust out into the tank. It might not be the cause of this, but possibly.
The diet sounds fine to me, nothing to change there. Sometimes, there is no smoking gun for this issue....
Jay

Okay, thank you. I forgot to include this image in my initial post. It shows a white spot I have circled. Not sure if it's a symptom of HLLE or not, but I thought I'd share.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Okay, thank you. I forgot to include this image in my initial post. It shows a white spot I have circled. Not sure if it's a symptom of HLLE or not, but I thought I'd share.

That isn't in a location where HLLE would form. Not sure what it is, but it looks superficial to me - not infected or anything.

Jay