My sailfin tang is starting to get lateral line, I bought "vita chem" on the direction of the local fish store. I also placed a titanium grounding electrode in the tank, also on the advice of the lfs. Does anyone know what else can be done? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
Help with "Lateral Line"
- Thread starter nin1one7295
- Start date
HLLE can be attributed to various causes. One of the most obvious is a dietary deficiency. Tangs require a lot of greens in their diet, so make sure yours is getting a daily supply. Nori, seaweed selects, spirulina or other green leafy matter is important. These should also be soaked in supplements such as zoecon, selcon or vita chem, although I've never used that particular product. The grounding probe might help but it wouldn't have been my first line of defense. Have you tested for stray voltage? Usually, a good diet and excellent water quality will do the trick. The fact that yours seems to be in the early stages is encouraging.
Possible Causes
There are many "theories" as to why this disease occurs, but there seems to be no single definitive answer that can be pinpointed or solely connected to it. Many of the contributing theories include stray voltage in the aquarium, poor water quality and environmental conditions, high nitrate levels, lack of vitamins and poor nutrition, stress, parasitic infestation (a protozoan, Octomita necatrix), using carbon, and that some fish may just be genetically pre-disposed to this disease condition, such as Tangs & Surgeonfishes (refer to sixth discussion down).
Treatment
Most of the above possible causes can be easily addressed. Stray voltage induces stress, so adding a grounding probe to the aquarium is a wise thing to do in any case. For poor water quality and environmental issues, follow good regular aquarium maintenance routines. Reduce and eliminate any other stress inducing factors, correctly diagnosis for parasites and always feed fishes foods that any particular species require in their diets.
Using over the counter medications do not seem to do much in treating this disease. However, those that contain antibiotics can help to treat for secondary infections. From all the research we have done, no matter what the actual "cause" may be, it appears that improving water quality and providing supplemental vitamins and adequate nutrition are key elements in "treating" HLLE. Many aquarists have had great success in reversing the effects of this disease by providing the fish with supplemental vitamins, such as A, D, E or B's, as well as iodine. This can be accomplished by feeding them foods soaked in Selcon, Zoe or other liquid vitamins, providing algae eating species with vitamin-rich live plant sources, such as macroalgae, i.e. Caulerpa (refer to the third discussion down) and adequate live rock growth, and even by feeding a diet of broccoli supplemented with peas and other prepared foods.
P.S.. i have also been told that activated carbon is a suspect and therefore you should only use it for a few days in any given month then remove it.2 of my fish had it at one point so i added a ground probe and removed my carbon after about a month one fish was healed,the other fish recovered and is quite happy these days but he has a permenant battle scar on him,he is my favorite fish simple because he has survived ick as well as lateral line,Hes a true soldier.
[ May 08, 2002: Message edited by: smokie ]</p>
There are many "theories" as to why this disease occurs, but there seems to be no single definitive answer that can be pinpointed or solely connected to it. Many of the contributing theories include stray voltage in the aquarium, poor water quality and environmental conditions, high nitrate levels, lack of vitamins and poor nutrition, stress, parasitic infestation (a protozoan, Octomita necatrix), using carbon, and that some fish may just be genetically pre-disposed to this disease condition, such as Tangs & Surgeonfishes (refer to sixth discussion down).
Treatment
Most of the above possible causes can be easily addressed. Stray voltage induces stress, so adding a grounding probe to the aquarium is a wise thing to do in any case. For poor water quality and environmental issues, follow good regular aquarium maintenance routines. Reduce and eliminate any other stress inducing factors, correctly diagnosis for parasites and always feed fishes foods that any particular species require in their diets.
Using over the counter medications do not seem to do much in treating this disease. However, those that contain antibiotics can help to treat for secondary infections. From all the research we have done, no matter what the actual "cause" may be, it appears that improving water quality and providing supplemental vitamins and adequate nutrition are key elements in "treating" HLLE. Many aquarists have had great success in reversing the effects of this disease by providing the fish with supplemental vitamins, such as A, D, E or B's, as well as iodine. This can be accomplished by feeding them foods soaked in Selcon, Zoe or other liquid vitamins, providing algae eating species with vitamin-rich live plant sources, such as macroalgae, i.e. Caulerpa (refer to the third discussion down) and adequate live rock growth, and even by feeding a diet of broccoli supplemented with peas and other prepared foods.
P.S.. i have also been told that activated carbon is a suspect and therefore you should only use it for a few days in any given month then remove it.2 of my fish had it at one point so i added a ground probe and removed my carbon after about a month one fish was healed,the other fish recovered and is quite happy these days but he has a permenant battle scar on him,he is my favorite fish simple because he has survived ick as well as lateral line,Hes a true soldier.
[ May 08, 2002: Message edited by: smokie ]</p>
Curators at the Indianapolis zoo have conducted tests using broccoli and carrots to supply vitamins A and C to prevent and heal lateral line.Shredding carrots is too messy and time-consuming for me.I simply toss in frozen broccoli 'florets'.I have 3 adopted 'surgeonfish',a hippo,sailfin,and yellow zebrasoma. These fish were in such bad shape upon adoption, I didn't think they would survive the first night in my reef.Four years later, all are well,with minimal signs of damage from lateral line/hole in the head disease.Supplement broccoli with nori and other 'tang foods'..... Good luck!
I second Gary, however, I blanch the brocolli before adding it to the tank. I feed the brocolli about once to twice a month in addition to Seaweed Selects and nori.
On the subject of stress, does the tang have a place to hide out? If not, consider adding a length of PVC tubing or a clean flower pot to the tank. You will be surprised how fast they go to that hiding place.
On the subject of stress, does the tang have a place to hide out? If not, consider adding a length of PVC tubing or a clean flower pot to the tank. You will be surprised how fast they go to that hiding place.
I've NEVER seen HLLE develop in an animal that recieved a proper diet. Never seen the need to feed broccoli to an animal that does not eat broccoli in real life. Feed a steady diet of the proper diet and HLLE just doesn't develop. For most surgeonfish that means plenty of seaweed i.e. nori, or green seaweed and high nutrition frozen foods such as Mysis shrimp and other meaty fare.
98% of the HLLE cases result because the main staple is traditional flake food which has little nutritional value (this doesn't apply to some of the newer flakes like Omega Sea which don't use Fish Meal as the #1 ingredient). The other 1.99% of the time it's just from not feeding enough.
98% of the HLLE cases result because the main staple is traditional flake food which has little nutritional value (this doesn't apply to some of the newer flakes like Omega Sea which don't use Fish Meal as the #1 ingredient). The other 1.99% of the time it's just from not feeding enough.
Greg Hiller
Just a bum in Boston
- Location
- Wakefield, MA
I had an outbreak of marine velvet about 4 years ago and treated some fish with copper. One, a purple tang, developed a mean case of HLLE during the course of the 2-3 weeks of treatment. The tang had received a pretty good diet, so while poor diet is definitely a common cause of HLLE, in this case I don't think it was to blame. I still have the tang today, and he has VERY slowly healed up. He still has one eraser sized patch above one eye, and I've been feeding a LOT of good food for 4 years (he's in my main SPS system)!
- Greg Hiller
- Greg Hiller
Thank you to everyone who has send information on lateral line. I was not able to log on for a while and I finally got that figured out with the help of chuckler. Thank you chuckler. Anyways. An update. The sail fin has been eating "formula two" frozen chunks, alge food for the past couple of weeks. I have also fed him brine shrimp along with the frozen food. He does not seem to like seaweed though. I also forgot to mention h2o quality. I was high in nitrites. I placed nitrite and nitrate removers in the tank. This has brought that under control.
I had a sojah tang that was tanging my other fish so I donated him to another tank. The sojah tang killed my flame angle, I could not isolate him from the rest and he harrassed him to death.
I think this might be one of the last times I will be on this sight, My wife and I are splitting up and she is keeping the tank. She does not know anything about this hobby, so say a prayer to the fish and other tank inhabitants. Thanks for all the helpfull insight on the wide varity of topics.. I'm sure I will be back when its said and over, so until then happy reefkeeping.
I had a sojah tang that was tanging my other fish so I donated him to another tank. The sojah tang killed my flame angle, I could not isolate him from the rest and he harrassed him to death.
I think this might be one of the last times I will be on this sight, My wife and I are splitting up and she is keeping the tank. She does not know anything about this hobby, so say a prayer to the fish and other tank inhabitants. Thanks for all the helpfull insight on the wide varity of topics.. I'm sure I will be back when its said and over, so until then happy reefkeeping.
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