How to PREVENT lateral line disease

[melosu58]

I found this on one of my online sites. HTH

Head and Lateral Line Erosion (hole-in-head disease)

This disease can affect discus, other cichlids, and many saltwater fish. The fish develops holes in it's head and sometimes along its lateral line. Causes are unclear but as in any disease, stress and poor water quality likely play a role. The Manual of Fish Health states that HLLE is probably due to nutritional deficiency, especially of vitamin C. Fish in planted tanks rarely get HLLE, which supports the nutrition idea, since fish can nibble on the plants and obtain extra nutrition. Untergasser also observes that the protozoan Hexamita can be found in the lesions. Untreated cases can eventually prove disfiguring or fatal.

Remedy: First, make sure water quality is optimal and reduce stress. Stopping carbon filtration may help as it can remove nutrients from the water. Then feed a vitamin-enriched food, paying particular attention to vitamin C supplementation. For stubborn cases, some books suggest metronidazole (Flagyl) to eliminate Hexamita (a mildly pathogenic protozoan) from the lesions. Your mileage may vary with that one. Metrozole and Hex-a-mit are commercial medications with metronidazole.

[roka64]

Cool, I have the Untergasser book, great info in there!
He also states dry feed is useless after two months and should not be fed. "Atmospheric humidity decomposes vitamins and leads to mold and fungus."

[stephanieluis]

The best way to prevent this frustrating problem is to avoid keeping species that are susceptible to the syndrome. If you do keep HLLE-vulnerable species, then you will want to provide them with optimal environmental conditions, including: a fresh, balanced diet, artificial sunlight, preferred water temperatures and crystal clean water with frequent water changes.
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Stephanieluis

[DJLiquid]

I used a ground probe. It's a wire placed into the aquarium and connected to the nearby outlet (right into the little screw that holds your outlet cover on) It works. No problems after I installed that. Most LFS's sell them that carry salt water fish. My groupers were very susceptible.