Lol.....He looks like a new file fish species.....OR a yellow kite...…... I keep telling my wife Im gonna flush him....kidding of course.....but she thinks im serious and gets sooooo fired up at me!.....lol...she is a big fan of his.....lol
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That is the craziest file fish I have seen yet.
So it has been this way for 1.5yrs? How long did it take for the fins to disappear? A 93g is a bit small for a yellow tang, so maybe it has not had a chance to recover and recoup the hlle without the extra bit of room (stress). In all that time, has it ever had any growth back to the fins only to fade away again?
Let's have some of the disease folks take a look.... @Big G , @4FordFamily , @HotRocks ....have you guys seen this before?
If it is a version of HLLE, are you running carbon? That can contribute to it.
Thank you for the info....when I purchased him though he was a perfectly formed tang and they just started melting away slowly...the weird thing was that it was a uniform decay process.....very strange.......the way he looks now is no way for a Tang to go through life!...lolThere was a study done about 20 years ago in the arabian gulf area researching why some fish present deformed fins. The study generally stated that they believed environmental pollution was the cause. The fish, according to the study, was effected during the egg phase of development. It differed from fin rot as the "rays" on the fins were deformed.
I had similar issue with my yellow tang, not at that level though...No aggression, all other tangs and fishes were doing great. But I was running carbon 24/7. I stopped carbon and the yellow tang got better and his fins are now perfectly formed. I have seen multiple reports about this, and dont know why, but only affect the yellow tangs. I would suggest to either stop carbon completely, or run it only a few hours a day. I have seen absolutely no difference after removing the carbon reactor on clarity of the water or any parameters, so I havent put it back since.
I see this in zebrasoma tangs, some believe that it's due to high nitrates, or infections. I think it's due to infections, but I do not know. I do believe these are infections. If it is not actually red or worsening, I don't think I would do anything. It usually doesn't "come back" IME.![]()
Keep him in good quality water, feed good varieties of nutritious foods, and hope for the best.
The carbon doesn't prevent algae, it's used to remove toxins from the system. Usually from coral warfare. Depending on what your stock looks like, I don't think you will see any adverse reaction by removing it. I would try just to see what happens with the fish.Wow that's really interesting....did you see any increase in algae? Im always afraid of having an algae outbreak. How long did it take to start to see regrowth? I might give that a try. I change my carbon out about every 3 weeks, I use BRS ROX .8 carbon........but I don't use a ton of it about 2/3 of a cup. I have it in a IM min max reactor in the sump. Thanks for your input.
no difference in algae since removing carbon. Only difference is a more present "ocean smell" in my fish room. I dont say the carbon IS the issue, but it might be. It is an easy option to test. Some tangs seems to be more resistant to HLLE; maybe difference between captive bred and those from the sea? Stray voltage can cause the issue too, some bacteria or infection, poor water quality, poor nutrition. maybe go with elimination, and as usual, all go slow in the sea, so might need 2 month to reverse an issue that appeared in 10 days...
HLLE thought of that too...he does have some white around the eyes...which is a sign of HLLE, but I didnt think that would affect the fins as well. I even installed a grounding probe in case there was any stray voltage which I have read may be one factor in HLLE.... Thanks for your help
I had a hippo tang that had eroding fins due to hlle. Hlle can definitely do that.
My hippo has been recovering over the last year. I can no definitively say what caused it. But anecdotally I think it was heavy metal in my water. After not being able to figure anything out because my water appeared fine on every hobby grade test available I sent a ICP test in, and found copper and a few other elevated metals in my water. Once I corrected the problem, she seemed like a different fish all together. Much more calm and chill, and the erosion stopped and fins started to grow back. The hippo was the only affected fish. Every other fish looked fine the whole time.