Ich??? **pics**

[Alexander]

Hey guys I came home tonight and immediately was freaked out when i looked in the tank. Jack has this for lack of better word "deal" on his gill. Is this for sure ich? If not, what is it? Also, ideas of what i should do to treat it other than crossing my fingers and riding it out? he is a little too big for a QT of any kind. Thanks in advance guys (and girls)

 

[RyanG]

Aleander that sucks that Jack is ill. Looks EXACTLY like what is going on with CGoodmans Vlamingi.

https://www.livingreefs.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment/14153-eye-bump.html

Havent had any updates on that situation yet.

 

[ccCapt]

Definitely not ich. Could be the start of HLLE.
btw...not sure this was mentioned on cgoodmans post, but besides diet, water quality plays a big role in curing HLLE. Lots of big fish in a tank with a crappy skimmer can lead to poor water quality.

 

[Alexander]

ive been doing water changes about every other week and have a Deltec skimmer. so i think everything should be good there.

 

[ccCapt]

I've also read stray voltage can cause HLLE. Any chance one of your pumps or ph's might be leaking voltage? Some of the original Koralias ,the 2's & 3's, had problems with stray voltage.

 

[Doc]

first off, let me wish jack a speedy recovery. I am confident he will make it.

It is not ich. As for HLLE, I have seen it in my fish in the past, but it never looked like that. It tends to look white and washed out along the body lines of the fish. If it is, t is an easy fix. Good diet and water quality fixes it everytime. Lots of nori and emerald entrée and HLLE goes away in a week.

This looks like an infection. They can start with just a scratch from hitting a rock or a tiny parasite. Regardless, treating the tank with melafix takes care of just about every infection but oodinium. It is not velvet so you are ok. Buy a couple bottles, follow the directions and turn off your skimmer. It is reef safe and will take care of jack in a week or so. I have seen this before and melafix took care of it. Good luck my friend.

-Doc

 

[Alexander]

I've also read stray voltage can cause HLLE. Any chance one of your pumps or ph's might be leaking voltage? Some of the original Koralias ,the 2's & 3's, had problems with stray voltage.

This morning i went out to the garage and grabbed a my multi reader out of the toolbox. i attatched both ends to individual metal coat hangers and dropped them in the water to test for voltage. There was less voltage than the hangers would even pick up off my hands, so it doesnt seem like there is any ammount of extra voltage, though i did read this was a cause. and i did put in some Koralias but the were 2 4's about 3 weeks ago.

 

[Alexander]

I definately agree that what is by his gill is prob not HLLE, its something that definately needs to be taken care of though. What has got me worried additionally is these "scars" or so i thought from rocks, which now im wondering if they are HLLE starting on his head. it could be in my head but it almost seems as its gotten worse over the last year or so. here is a better pic of his head too. I will prob give melafix a whirl, but if anybody that has experience with HLLE can give me input on these "scars" that would be greatly appreciated too. (its the area just above his eye)

 

[Doc]

honestly, it looks like the same stuff to me as what is on his gill. Give the melafix a whirl, starting today if you can, and see what happens in the next week. If it is head and lateral line erosion, an extra week will not do anything to make it worse. It takes forever to kill a fish from HLLE. I am trying to find you a link of a good picture of HLLE that I have seen, but it is not as large and thick a line as I am seeing on Jack. Good luck my friend

-Doc

 

[Alexander]

honestly, it looks like the same stuff to me as what is on his gill.c

The head is like gash style, and the gill is something that's actually rising off the surface of his skin. So one is I guess for lack of better description, concave and convex. The gill really looks like a lesion or parasite where the head just looks like a big fleshy wound/scar. Maybe its hard to tell from the pics, or on an iphone if that's what you are on. I assure you they look different.

 

[Bifferwine]

That does look like Cgoodman's vlamingi.

I don't think you tested for stray voltage right. You have to put one prong in the round (3rd) hole of an outlet in the wall, and the other prong in the tank.

 

[Alexander]

Biff I used a voltage meter directly in the water. I'm not sure how much more effective you can get than that.

I'm kinda confused on exactly what your suggesting I do.

 

[cgoodman381]

Just saw this post. That looks exactly like my vlamingi in the early stages of whatever she has. When it first appeared I treated with pima and melafix. Other then that I havnt done anything else rather then making sure shes eating well.

Keep it updated with what you do and what works! Heres some great links on stray electricity iv been looking at.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/weekly/aa101602.htm

I had one other but cant find it now.... Check that one out and test the way is sais and see what happens.

 

[Bifferwine]

That's exactly the article I was going to link to, cgoodman! That's the method I used to check for voltage in my tank. And I had a lot of electricity running through my water :(. Luckily I was able to catch it before it killed anything.

 

[Alexander]

Thanks a lot cgoodman. Glad we have our little support group, yet sad we are having these problems

 

[Bifferwine]

God, as long as Jill doesn't force me to join! That's one Vlamingi club I would prefer to not be a part of.

 

[Alexander]

Ah, after reading that it makes sense biff. Thanks cgoodman and biff. I will check that asap. I'd check it right now but I'm at work and haven't quite figured out how to make money magically appear, however once I figure it out how to do that I will promptly share that secret.


I did read somewhere that running carbon can potentially cause HLLE. Does antbody know the validity to that. I run carbon 24/7

 

[Bifferwine]

That's not one I've heard. I've heard A) improper diet, B) poor water quality, and C) stray voltage. I'd be interested to see someone validating that idea.

 

[cgoodman381]

Iv heard the same as biff... Iv been running carbon now, but when it started forming I wasnt running any carbon.

 

[Alexander]

Here is the little article I read about it on about.com this is where I read it. And its the only place I've seen it.


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