Advice on HLLE

[LeanneP]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

IMHO, there are 2 things that cause HLLE;
-Lack of trace elements ( usually caused by over-use of carbon )
-Carbon introduction to the DT

If I'm wrong, I hope someone will chime in

I'd suggest you pick up some trace elements for the HLLE, and keep your Carbon and GFO running
These 2 are readily available to me, so I linked them for you

Brightwell

Zeovit

From what I've read, you can usually run your tank with both reactors running without issue, but there are some cases/times when the trace elements can be stripped enough to show up on your fishies

The Carbon is the culprit when you get HLLE in tangs, BUT, it's usually caused by carbon entering the DT, not by the use of carbon
Make sure you thoroughly rinse your carbon before turning your reactor on.
If this helps at all, I put my media in a bag and wash it out with RO water, under my RO spout in a bucket, until it runs clear. Sometimes it takes 10g to rinse the media, but it's worth it
When I put my reactor back online, I run the outlet into my socks for a couple mins. That's it

Dose the linked trace elements and all should be good

Of course, I'm just a newb, so take this for what it is ... my 5 cents

Good information Greg. I dòn`t use carbon all the time but I will be more careful about rinsing it when I do.

Leanne

[Stones]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sounds like I have been on the right track with upping the feedings, soaking in garlic/selcon and giving the fish more types of nori and more often.

After reading about the possibility of carbon causing HLLE, I removed all of my carbon from the reactor as a precaution. Even though I've been running carbon for years with no ill effects, I'm willing to give it a try to help speed the recovery of this fish. I'll also be running a very fine felt filter sock for the next few weeks to help remove any residual carbon that may have entered the display tank after changing out the media a few weeks ago.

For those of you feeding broccoli or zucchini, do you cook it to soften it up prior to feeding or just wash it well and toss it in?

Originally Posted by fishoholic

My king angel gets it, carbon IME has nothing to do with it. I haven't changed out my carbon in almost a year and never noticed it getting worse when I did in the past. I have high nitrates and phosphates so I always though that might have something to do with it.

The one thing I noticed that helped was feeding a bit of nori every day. When I fed the nori every day for over a month I noticed it pretty much completely healed up. Then I cut back to 3-4 times a week. After awhile I ran out of nori and didn't get to the store for awhile and noticed the HLLE not only came back but was worse then before. Now I try to remember to feed nori more often but lately I've been lazy and slacking with my tank so my poor angel still has it.

Thanks for the info Laurie. Did your king angel recover fairly well from its bout of HLLE? I'm worried about permanent scarring on my blueface as the HLLE and associated pits seem to be getting progressively deeper. I'll definitely have my wife start feeding nori every day when I'm away from home at work in order to prevent this from happening again but in the mean time I guess I'll just keep the feedings up and feed extra nori.

[gregzz4]

When I fed my FW fish vegetables, I blanched them
The link is a bit of a more intensive method, but much better than just throwing them in the microwave
Use RO water, not tap water, if possible

What you're doing is softening the raw veggies without losing the nutrients

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Stones

Thanks for the info Laurie. Did your king angel recover fairly well from its bout of HLLE? I'm worried about permanent scarring on my blueface as the HLLE and associated pits seem to be getting progressively deeper. I'll definitely have my wife start feeding nori every day when I'm away from home at work in order to prevent this from happening again but in the mean time I guess I'll just keep the feedings up and feed extra nori.

Yes he did. Maybe a tiny bit of pitting that was barely noticeable but he pretty much fully healed. Unfortunately when the nori ran out and I got lazy about buying more it came back with a vengeance after a few weeks. My goal for myself is to feed nori everyday to help clear it up again. My problem is my big trigger loves the nori so he often gets it before the angel and tries to take my fingers off in the process. Part of the reason I'm not motivated to feed it daily.

[i have crabs]

I have a yellow tang that got it about 8 years ago, happend after a large ich outbreak I did the low salinity thing and ended up having nitrates go through the roof from die off and that's when it started for me I cleaned up the water and started feeding selcon and other vitamin additives and it stopped but she is badly scared up and it never healed, she has the color back but the scaring got pretty bad,

[Stones]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

Yes he did. Maybe a tiny bit of pitting that was barely noticeable but he pretty much fully healed. Unfortunately when the nori ran out and I got lazy about buying more it came back with a vengeance after a few weeks. My goal for myself is to feed nori everyday to help clear it up again. My problem is my big trigger loves the nori so he often gets it before the angel and tries to take my fingers off in the process. Part of the reason I'm not motivated to feed it daily.

Thanks Laurie. Since the pitting isn't very deep on the blueface as of yet, I'm hoping it can make a full recovery without much permanent scarring. Like your situation, I've got 5 other large tangs and a bluethroat trigger that all want in on the nori making it difficult for the blueface to get the majority of the feeding. An entire sheet of nori pretty much goes missing within 30 seconds of entering the tank.

Originally Posted by i have crabs

I have a yellow tang that got it about 8 years ago, happend after a large ich outbreak I did the low salinity thing and ended up having nitrates go through the roof from die off and that's when it started for me I cleaned up the water and started feeding selcon and other vitamin additives and it stopped but she is badly scared up and it never healed, she has the color back but the scaring got pretty bad,

Sorry to hear your yellow tang suffered permanent damage. My yellow tang which also suffered minor HLLE symptoms has pretty much fully recovered aside from a scarred dorsal fine. Not sure if this was a result of the HLLE itself but I'm guessing it was a fin nip from one of the other fish that never healed properly due to the HLLE being present.