Black Tang Issue's

[Dace]

I bought this black tang and it's doing great with the rest of my 30 fish, But it has these marks on it's face that look like the HILLE disease and I'm really concern, What should i do....

 

[Domboski]

Looks like a bacterial infection to me David. You need to remove the fish and treat it. Remove it quickly so it doesn't spread to your other fish

 

[Dace]

Looks like a bacterial infection to me David. You need to remove the fish and treat it. Remove it quickly so it doesn't spread to your other fish

That really sucks, I can't get him no matter what i do. and i just put him in the tank,Owell
what would i have to treat him with, copper

 

[Domboski]

Antibiotic like furan-2

 

[TOTAL AQUARIUMS]

I don't know, it looks like the start of lateral line. It's originating on the face and looks to be following the lateral line symmetrically which are classic signs. There's no inflamation and the tissue looks intact except for the top layer. It's too patterned and clean to be bacterial, I would bet money on it being lateral line. What are you feeding him generally? Tangs and Angels are notorious for this as their dietary needs are not fully met by most keepers. It's not contagious but I have yet to see a fish make a full recovery from this myself. I'm afraid the black tang is going to look like that or maybe even get worse. It shouldn't kill him but I'd imagine it's the same as suffering hearing impairment.

 

[sjsoto]

melafix pimafix... make sure is the one for marine..so no extra bubble be made in skimmer.

 

[Bob 1000]

What about the nips in it's dorsal fin? Is there any other stress aside from the marking on the tang? What is it eating? The marking seems to have spread a little more since I sold you the fish. I am more than happy to return payment and get the fish back if it spreads more.. The fish was in my system for a while with the markings, just a little less eating well and happy.. Or I could just give you the payment back and you hold on to the fish and see what happens.. Only because I know your system was very good before your rebuild.. I do hope that the fish thrives.. LMK..

 

[Dace]

What about the nips in it's dorsal fin? Is there any other stress aside from the marking on the tang? What is it eating? The marking seems to have spread a little more since I sold you the fish. I am more than happy to return payment and get the fish back if it spreads more.. The fish was in my system for a while with the markings, just a little less eating well and happy.. Or I could just give you the payment back and you hold on to the fish and see what happens.. Only because I know your system was very good before your rebuild.. I do hope that the fish thrives.. LMK..

Tobin, the one nip on it's fin was my powder blue when i first introduced it. He was chased around the first day. now he is one of the family and he is eating everything i put in the tank.

 

[KathyC]

I don't know, it looks like the start of lateral line. It's originating on the face and looks to be following the lateral line symmetrically which are classic signs. There's no inflamation and the tissue looks intact except for the top layer. It's too patterned and clean to be bacterial, I would bet money on it being lateral line. What are you feeding him generally? Tangs and Angels are notorious for this as their dietary needs are not fully met by most keepers. It's not contagious but I have yet to see a fish make a full recovery from this myself. I'm afraid the black tang is going to look like that or maybe even get worse. It shouldn't kill him but I'd imagine it's the same as suffering hearing impairment.

I tend to agree that it looks like hlle. It's not so much that the fish doesn't make a recovery IMO, it's more that they do recoover, but the scar left from the illness doesn't ever really go away entirely
With Tangs it seems to be more of a dietary issue than the other issues usually mentioned as the cause for HLLE (which nobody is truly sure of anyway).

Tobin - I applaud you for your response!

 

[Bob 1000]

When I first got the fish it had the markings on it and I was under the impression that it was going through a change, it was also 1"... It ate nori and grazed on my rocks which I had purposely kept green for tang grazing also mysis, plankton, pears, apples, all types of fruits,the occassional fresh fish pieces, all types of vegetables also..
So as far as it being a dietary thing,,,, I doubt it.. My fish eat well fromm most of my food groups,lol..

 

[Dace]

Tobin, if it's OK with you I would like to bring this guy back to health.I take pride in my system and feel if theres anyway it can get it back to full health i will be able to do it. Unless you feel that is not possible and would like to give it a go yourself then i would try and catch the fish to return it to you. I know thats a catch 22, It's like saying let me nurse it to try and heal it, if it dies then we can work out a funds arrangement. But i really feel and hope i can get it back to normal. I got a Hippo from my friend David that was developing a hlle issue and it does not have 1 dot of it anymore but in either case you make the call my friend

 

[Bob 1000]

My system is in no way the best place for it right now.. So you go ahead get your nurse Bob on,,lol.. I forgot to tell you about the fruits I feed my fish also,, the like pear shaving the best..

 

[manyfish]

in the past i had the same problem with a blueface angelfish. try reef solution for a few month a see if it go away it work for me in the past

 

[lunner]

When I got a small 2.5? black tang, he has the same similar signs and symptoms as yours. Although not as severe as yours. I feed my fishes really well. And none of my other fishes has or developed that type of problem. After a few months, the signs and symptoms did improve but did not go away? I talked to others with small black tangs and most have this type of problems when they 1st purchased the fish. But it seems the larger black tangs don?t have this problem though.
Here is a pic of mine when I first got him

 

[pecan2phat]

Dave,

The 2 small Black tangs that I got also had the telltale markings of HLLE. But Dom might be on to something in regards to bacterial complications also.

 

[rookie07]

Seems to me that black tnags are a bad fish to buy when small b/c they all have issues

 

[Domboski]

The left side of the fish kinda looks like HLLE but the right side looks like a deep flesh wound which makes me think bacterial infection.

 

[Dace]

thanks for all your comments so far.

 

[boozeman]

The one I got from Mike about 5-6 mnths ago, has grown about 2'' and is fat and very active in my tank. I believe the key is in feeding it well and a large variety of foods. Plus I feed it some flakes soaked in garlic every other week.

 

[Bob 1000]

Hey Booze that fish is looking good..