hole in the head?

nanomo · #1 11/07/2006, 07:30 PM

im looking at my small blue tang and it looks like there is a hole above his eyes, it looks white and indented, what could this be? and how should i go about treatng this problem?

Tu Ku · #2 11/07/2006, 07:42 PM

It's probably the very disease, "hole in the head". You can get an antibiotic for it online or at some fish stores. Feed your tang mysis shrimp or macro algae soaked in concentrated garlic oil. Also something you can find in a fish store. It won't cure anything, but it will help him stay strong enough to fight the disease. Good luck, I have seen this disease go away, after having seriously infected a group of pajama cardinals. The holes in their heads were pretty much just huge chunks of their heads missing from above their eyes, as if they had no place for a brain to be anymore. So I would take care of it asap if I were you.

smcnally · #3 11/07/2006, 07:55 PM

My hippo tang had the same problem when I got her about a year and a half ago. I fed her broccoli soaked in garlic and it stopped it from getting worse. I eventually stopped feeding the garlic, and just recently noticed she had some weird splotches on her side. Started feeding it again and in one day they splotches were gone. I will always feed garlic now. Start feeding it now, and hopefully yours will heal fully. Mine was neglected before I got her and she has some serious scars. In this picture you can see the holes in here head as well as the loss of pigmentation on her face. She is healthy now and has grown from 1.5" to about 4.5" since I've had her.

jaydub74 · #4 11/07/2006, 09:01 PM

Should he just purchase garlic paste from the grocery store? or what specific product? Is there something more liquid?

nanomo · #5 11/07/2006, 09:24 PM

so should i just cut up garlic and mix it in with the brocoli and let it sit for awhile? and what part of the broccoli do you use?

smcnally · #6 11/07/2006, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jaydub74
Should he just purchase garlic paste from the grocery store? or what specific product? Is there something more liquid?

There are garlic pastes and stuff available, but I use fresh cloves.

Quote:

Originally posted by nanomo
so should i just cut up garlic and mix it in with the brocoli and let it sit for awhile? and what part of the broccoli do you use?

I use fresh garlic, peel off 1 or 2 large cloves and put them in a garlic press to mince it. Once it is minced, I put it in a small tupperware bowl with hot tap water. Then I put about 10 small broccoli spears (I use the frozen kind that comes in a bag), shake it up and keep it in the fridge. Then I just put one spear at a time in the tank in a veggie clip. The fish seem to like the frozen broccoli best. I assume it is more soft than fresh broccoli. They usually only eat the dark green bushy part of the head.

nanomo · #7 11/08/2006, 07:47 PM

i tryed the brocoli and no bites, but i soaked Nori seaweed and she ate some of that, do you thnk that stuff with do the trick?

KingDiamond · #8 11/08/2006, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by nanomo
im looking at my small blue tang and it looks like there is a hole above his eyes, it looks white and indented, what could this be? and how should i go about treatng this problem?

Do you or have you used carbon on your tank that the tang is kept in? I have seen many cases of HLLE and there have been many cases were carbon use was implicated to its on set.

Brad

nanomo · #9 11/08/2006, 08:05 PM

yes i use carbon but the same one has been in there for awhile, so any exsess dust is already gone

smcnally · #10 11/08/2006, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KingDiamond
Do you or have you used carbon on your tank that the tang is kept in? I have seen many cases of HLLE and there have been many cases were carbon use was implicated to its on set.

Brad

There really is no proof of carbon causing HLLE. I've read up a lot on it and there seems to be no scientific data that really proves anything really causes it other than a problem with the immune system and stress. Here's a very good article about HLLE http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/sp/index.php

nanomo · #11 11/08/2006, 08:40 PM

interesting read, i think its the feeding, i havent had her for that long but ive been feeding mostly frozen shrimp, but i hope by feeding this nori soaked in garlic she will recover

KingDiamond · #12 11/08/2006, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by smcnally
There really is no proof of carbon causing HLLE. I've read up a lot on it and there seems to be no scientific data that really proves anything really causes it other than a problem with the immune system and stress. Here's a very good article about HLLE http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/sp/index.php

Although there are no real studies that I have seen, some evidence does point to carbon dust. At my place of employment we have a 1200 gallon all fish tank. Four Atlantic Blue Tangs were added. They had no signs of hole in the head for a year. The only parameter that changed was the addition of carbon. One week after the addition we saw a rapid on set of HLLE. My curator was also talking to a curator of another aquarium , they saw rapid onset of HLLE in a very large (over 50,000 gallon) display tank when large amounts of cabon dust made it into the life support system. This evidence is antidotal but shows that cabon causes HLLE as much as the evidence that garlic cures it!

Brad

miztic · #13 11/08/2006, 09:08 PM

I'd focus more on vitamins and feeding real seaweed, not terrestrial plants..
the carbon dust certainly sounds plausible to me, i'd do both, take care of nutrition and maybe stop running carbon for a while ?

smcnally · #14 11/08/2006, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KingDiamond
This evidence is antidotal but shows that cabon causes HLLE as much as the evidence that garlic cures it!

Brad

Very true!

Quote:

Originally posted by miztic
I'd focus more on vitamins and feeding real seaweed, not terrestrial plants..

I've heard this in the past, and don't agree with it. Just because it isn't a natural food to fish doesn't mean it isn't good for them. That's like saying you shouldn't feed people anything from the ocean. Broccoli and carrots actually provide the fish with vitamin A which can help with HLLE.

nanomo · #15 11/08/2006, 11:25 PM

well today i bought some algea sheets, seaweed selects enriched with vitamin C, i hope this helps, there was another product the LFS store sold some sort of additive to add trace elements and stuff that will help cure this, but i do weekly water changes so i should have lots of trace elements

Acroholic · #16 11/08/2006, 11:34 PM

Selcon also works wonders with this disease. Soak your seaweed in Selcon for about 30 mins. before feeding.....