Yellow Tang With HLLE

[cryingrn]

Ive had this yellow tang for a few weeks now, and I have not been able to reverse its HLLE yet. I feed the tank pellets (tdo and seaweed extreme) on a timer 3x a day, they get frozen food (a blend of brine/mysis, seaweed delight, copepods, sponge, mussels, conch, urchin, and marine worms). Also occasionally clam on a half shell. He eats all of this, but i have been largely unsuccessful in getting him to eat nori consistently (even when soaked in selcon/garlic). Ive tried green, red, and purple nori. Ive tried three different nori feeders. He picks at it sometimes, but Ive never seen him pig out on it.

Ive heard this might also be epithelial thinning? But Im not sure of the exact difference. Any advice would be appreciated- currently the only tangs in the tank 180g system.

 

[winxp_man]

Ive had this yellow tang for a few weeks now, and I have not been able to reverse its HLLE yet. I feed the tank pellets (tdo and seaweed extreme) on a timer 3x a day, they get frozen food (a blend of brine/mysis, seaweed delight, copepods, sponge, mussels, conch, urchin, and marine worms). Also occasionally clam on a half shell. He eats all of this, but i have been largely unsuccessful in getting him to eat nori consistently (even when soaked in selcon/garlic). Ive tried green, red, and purple nori. Ive tried three different nori feeders. He picks at it sometimes, but Ive never seen him pig out on it.

Ive heard this might also be epithelial thinning? But Im not sure of the exact difference. Any advice would be appreciated- currently the only tangs in the tank 180g system.

Try New Life Specreum Algae Wafers, add a drop of vitachem or selcon to them. They also have pellets. But the wafers are algae based for herbivores.

Easy Reef Marine Pellets.


Nori non baked, yes there is baked nori. Add drops of the same stuff I wrote above. Let it dry and put it in the tank.

Black worms if your LFS’s near you have it. Great source of many things in these worms. My three yellows love the worms. The smaller of the did not like them at first. Now he eat just as much as the rest.

I do not like the tdo too many fillers. Read the labels of all these food before giving them to the fish.

Also clean healthy water in tank, stress reducing environments, should be part of the routine to help the fish. In the end since your fish seem to have a more mild case, it can possibly Heal up. But don’t be surprise if it does not. Either way give the fish good foods to have it as a pet for a long time.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Ive had this yellow tang for a few weeks now, and I have not been able to reverse its HLLE yet. I feed the tank pellets (tdo and seaweed extreme) on a timer 3x a day, they get frozen food (a blend of brine/mysis, seaweed delight, copepods, sponge, mussels, conch, urchin, and marine worms). Also occasionally clam on a half shell. He eats all of this, but i have been largely unsuccessful in getting him to eat nori consistently (even when soaked in selcon/garlic). Ive tried green, red, and purple nori. Ive tried three different nori feeders. He picks at it sometimes, but Ive never seen him pig out on it.

Ive heard this might also be epithelial thinning? But Im not sure of the exact difference. Any advice would be appreciated- currently the only tangs in the tank 180g system.

HLLE in yellow tangs looks different than in other fish - one common symptom is rounded/scallioed fin erosion that I don’t see in your fish.

The epithelial thinning is usually seen in small captive raised YTs, and tends to resolve as they grow. This appears to be a larger fish though.

Avoid using dusty, granulated carbon. If you need to use carbon, use well rinsed pelleted carbon.

 

[cryingrn]

HLLE in yellow tangs looks different than in other fish - one common symptom is rounded/scallioed fin erosion that I don’t see in your fish.

The epithelial thinning is usually seen in small captive raised YTs, and tends to resolve as they grow. This appears to be a larger fish though.

Avoid using dusty, granulated carbon. If you need to use carbon, use well rinsed pelleted carbon.

Thank you! This is a fully mature fish, and Im unsure if he's aquacultured or not because I acquired him second-hand. He came to me like this, but it doesnt seem to have improved or gotten worse. Is this something that will generally cause problems long-term if it doesn't improve? Im trying to throw as many high-quality foods as I can at him but it doesnt seem to be responding to that yet. If it's just a visual blemish and not something that affects QOL/longterm health, I wont worry as much

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you! This is a fully mature fish, and Im unsure if he's aquacultured or not because I acquired him second-hand. He came to me like this, but it doesnt seem to have improved or gotten worse. Is this something that will generally cause problems long-term if it doesn't improve? Im trying to throw as many high-quality foods as I can at him but it doesnt seem to be responding to that yet. If it's just a visual blemish and not something that affects QOL/longterm health, I wont worry as much

This isn’t going to affect the fish’s overall longevity.

I know people always recommend dietary enhancements, but this rarely helps by itself. One thing that has shown to help is moving the fish to a new tank (which you’ve just done).

In some cases, these scars are permanent, but if they do improve, it will take months, very gradual improvement is typical.

 

[winxp_man]

HLLE in yellow tangs looks different than in other fish - one common symptom is rounded/scallioed fin erosion that I don’t see in your fish.

The epithelial thinning is usually seen in small captive raised YTs, and tends to resolve as they grow. This appears to be a larger fish though.

Avoid using dusty, granulated carbon. If you need to use carbon, use well rinsed pelleted carbon.

I didn’t think epithelial thinning was also a lateral line disrupter like in the pic. I thought it was more in the face, but looking into this issue more you’re correct. And that HLLE didn’t start at the fins, that would just be the final knock out to the fish.

 

[fish_collector]

Sorry to see your yellow tang in that condition but like Jay says it will still live a full life from what I gather on the condition.

I've got a scopas that began to get lesions just above his eyes and a bit on his dorsal fin. I made it a point to feed the tank more foods with algae like spirulina brine, formula2 and nori, and over several months his hlle seems to have gone into remission and his lesions have healed up completely and grown over with skin that matches the rest of the fish. If you didn't know about it, you wouldn't notice.

My reef club buddy has been telling me about the claims made by Ecosystem's Miracle Mud that it will reverse hlle but I've yet to give it a try. It might be something and it might not. The company EcoSystem is reputable enough, it gets very good reviews.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is facial erosion known as HLLE which cause pits and flesh missing mainly in tangs, angels and some rabbitfish. It is often caused by poor water quality, high use of carbon, poor water quality (elevated nitrate and ammonia) and inadequate/poor diet. It is not life threating in any way but offers secondary infection in some cases.
Maintaining GOOD water quality and diet are often the fixes and with severe cases, some healing.
Some foods to feed tang are :
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp

 

[winxp_man]

This is facial erosion known as HLLE which cause pits and flesh missing mainly in tangs, angels and some rabbitfish. It is often caused by poor water quality, high use of carbon, poor water quality (elevated nitrate and ammonia) and inadequate/poor diet. It is not life threating in any way but offers secondary infection in some cases.
Maintaining GOOD water quality and diet are often the fixes and with severe cases, some healing.
Some foods to feed tang are :
LRS herbivore diet
Formula 2 flake and frozen
TDO Pellets
small plankton
Hikari Marine cuisine
Ocean nutrition veggie diet
spirulina brine shrimp

Vette, went to get some LRS HD food a week or two ago and it showed it as discontinued. Was kind of ticked after reading about what the blend is. Just checked again and it’s now showing as coming soon in late 26 early 27. I will keep an eye out for it. Can’t find any locally. And some of the online dealer are all showing out of stock.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Vette, went to get some LRS HD food a week or two ago and it showed it as discontinued. Was kind of ticked after reading about what the blend is. Just checked again and it’s now showing as coming soon in late 26 early 27. I will keep an eye out for it. Can’t find any locally. And some of the online dealer are all showing out of stock.

The company is going through a transition and has set up their processing with saltwater.com. I can get it here at this time yet