Blue Hippo - MHLLE tank size vs. light quality

[MAGDRL Mom]

Hi Lee,

I am visiting my son in PHX right now and he recently purchased a 300gal tank set up with it's occupants. The Blue Hippo has MHLLE. The diet, water quality, and stray voltage issues have been addressed and whatever appropriate action taken.

1. Would it be better for the tang to be transferred to the 90gal reef tank with the halides, or to be left in the 300gal swim tank with pc's?

2. Will letting more natural light into the room be of any benefit since it is filtered light?

Lee, it should also be noted that my son plans to upgrade the lighting in the 300 gal tank, but since it is acrylic has limited options. The light system I am looking into for him I think is going to be cost prohibitive until AFTER the wedding and honeymoon in October.

 

[leebca]

Sherry,

If you're sure you're dealing with MHLLE, then you've addressed a few of the possibles. I still say it is mostly nutritional.
In order of what I think is most likely:
Vitamin deficiency (A and/or C)
Poor Nutrition
Chronic Stress
Poor water quality (including high levels of dissolved organic matter and/or nitrate)
Activated carbon (either removing something the fish need or the dust clogging the pores on the fish)
Retrovirus
Hexamita
Amyloodinium-like dinoflagellate
Stray Voltage (is your system grounded properly?) [the article below disagrees with this one]

See this article for more info on MHLLE:
MHLLE. Are you sure the fish is getting the proper foods AND supplemented with vitamins and fats? It takes a fish a fair amount of time to recover from MHLLE.

I just returned from Germany and saw some of the worst cases of MHLLE I've ever seen. I honestly didn't know it could get that bad. :shock:

1. The longer the length of the aquarium, the better the Tang will thrive. I'd keep the Tang in the longer aquarium when the aquarium is properly matured. This should also keep space stress on the fish, out of the MHLLE formula.

2. I assume you're question is in regards to MHLLE. The lighting has never been attributed to be the cause or cure of MHLLE.

Lighting for an acrylic aquarium only has to be such that the heat doesn't affect the acrylic properties. There are many fine DIY projects, if your son is so inclined. There is a very large LFS in Phoenix (at least when I was there 5+ years ago) that might be able to show you lighting options. They also sold reptiles, if I remember correctly. I bought a particularly nice piece of (dead skeleton) coral from there I use as a center piece in one of my FOWLR aquarium.

I hope your son enjoys the purchase.

 

[MAGDRL Mom]

Will you PM me the name of the store? There are several over near Chandler, he says, and we are going shopping Saturday.

 

[Rod Buehler]

Vitamin C deficiency is the first thing that came to my mind. Broccoli is high in Vitamin C and most tangs love it. It has been proven that Vitamin C helps with HLLE. I know that Lee is not a big fan of land based foods (from another thread that I couldn't post in) in our tanks, but sometimes land based foods are the best source for some of these vitamins.

 

[leebca]

Actually Rod, brccoli is my only exception IF it has been blanched and only the flowers are being fed.

 

[leebca]

Sorry Sherry. I wasn't being politically correct in not posting their name. I would have posted it if I remembered it.

It was a very large pet store. Maybe the Yellow Pages would show them up? I'll try/You can try to Google them, too. They didn't have a large marine fish inventory when I was there, but they were going to remodel. They had a good selection of equipment, however, and as I remember, some knowledgeable help. But. . .that was a long time ago.

 

[leebca]

From pet store listing in the Phoenix area, I find one called Amazon Aquarium & Pet that seems to fit the description of the one I went to. The store was spacious and sold reptiles as well as tropical fish. I hope they have expanded their marine section.

 

[Rod Buehler]

Actually Rod, brccoli is my only exception IF it has been blanched and only the flowers are being fed.

A little carrot is nice for the provitamin A carotenoids. which will also help with HLLE and coloration of the fish

 

[MAGDRL Mom]

Well, I think I got him set up pretty well by the time I left. It will be interesting to see the rate of reversal when I go back in October. That poor tang did not even know what the algae was when I put it on a clip in the tank. The triggers ate it better than the hippo did.

When reading up on the specifics of HLLE, I did learn that yellow tangs (can) present differently with HLLE. I recently bought out a system that had a yellow tang and the dorsal fin is split. Now that I know that is HLLE, I will be adding additional vitamins. At least this one knows what nori is.