Hippo Tank Sick?

[cybercron]

Hello,

I have had my hippo tank for about two months. I noticed a little white discoloration above the eyes when I first purchased him/her. My LFS said it was normal and that they often get "banged up" in shipping. The white discoloration is slowly increasing. Now my LFS says my Tang has lateral line disease. They sold me a supplement called Selcon Concentrate to mix in with my frozen brine. I attached a picture of the Tang. Please tell me if I am on the right track. This is my family's favorite marine friend.

Thanks!

 

[e-cat]

never seen any thing like that before, i know they get whiter around the face but i think thats something else.

 

[reefrunner69]

Your tang appears to be suffering from HLLE, there are many suspected causes of HLLE, but no one is for sure. Make sure you are maintaining optimum water conditions, your tank is using a grounding probe and your feeding a healthy diet for your tang. Sometimes soaking their foods in Selcon or another supplament high in HUFAs will slowly reverse the condition.

 

[cybercron]

I don't have a grounding probe . I did a google search and it seems I may have missed that chapter in the saltwater/reef How-to. I will pick one up tomorrow. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Tigerlily]

Reefrunner, I've never heard of a grounding probe either. Is that something all SW tanks (even nano sized, with 1 clownfish) should have? What about FW?

TIA!

 

[reefrunner69]

If you use electrical equipment for your tank (ie; filters, heaters, skimmers etc...) you should have a grounding probe, it will remove stray electrical current from the water. One of the theories of HLLE is that it is caused by stray electrical current.

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm researching SW tanks now; I just read about that (grounding probe) this afternoon! Reefrunner, is one also required for FW aquariums, since we're on the topic? My 5.5 gallon has a 25-watt heater and a sponge filter, run with a Tetratec 12 air pump.

 

[reefrunner69]

I would run them in any tank I had FW or SW, but I couldn't tell you whether it is recommended for FW or not, however, it only makes sense to me that you would want to remove stray current from FW the same as you do from SW.

 

[An t-iasg]

Thanks, Reefrunner!