What is this disease and will it kill my fish?

[XrayGuy]

I am new to saltwater (2 months) and I noticed last week that my neon damsel has what appears to be some sort of flesh eating disease around its eyes that is making a trench of sorts where eyebrows would be. Its also spreading a little too. I didn't really think too much of it until today when I noticed my coral beauty is now starting to get the same thing, but none of the other 12 fish in my tank have any signs of it. I tried doing some research and the only thing that sounds kind of like it is HLLE (head and lateral line erosion) or HITH (hole in the head) disease, but I'm not sure. Has anybody seen this before? Will this kill my fish and is it contagious? I would like to know if I need to remove these two fish. Thank you for any input you may have.
Oh and sorry for the kinda poor pics...the fish doesn't like to stay still for the photo =)

[smtank]

Google Laterial Line Disease (Hole in the head disease). Exact cause unknown. Possibly related to nutrition problems, stress, pathogen, stray voltage.

[XrayGuy]

So I did the google on lateral line and it appears that my fish are probably lacking vitamin C (and possibly some others) due to the fact that I only feed frozen brine and mysis that doesn't have vitamins added to them. I will be buying some Vita-Chem which should supplement the missing vitamins and get my fish back to healthy. Thanks for the input.

[alaska clowns]

Regarding food choices..... I have had good success feeding my fish lots of variety. I rotate what I feed: I use frozen brine (I get the spirulina brine); frozen mysis; frozen blood worms (occasionally - but look for the ones that say they are free from parasites); frozen formula one and formula two; good quality flake food; good quality pellet food. I also regularly soak whatever I'm feeding them in either Selcon, vita-chem, concentrated garlic drops, phyto-plan, or sometimes a combination.

I feed them every night, which might be excess for some tanks, but I haven't had any issues with water quality (I've fed them like this for a year). My fish are happy

Good luck nursing your fish back to health!

[XrayGuy]

Originally Posted by alaska clowns

Regarding food choices..... I have had good success feeding my fish lots of variety. I rotate what I feed: I use frozen brine (I get the spirulina brine); frozen mysis; frozen blood worms (occasionally - but look for the ones that say they are free from parasites); frozen formula one and formula two; good quality flake food; good quality pellet food. I also regularly soak whatever I'm feeding them in either Selcon, vita-chem, concentrated garlic drops, phyto-plan, or sometimes a combination.

I feed them every night, which might be excess for some tanks, but I haven't had any issues with water quality (I've fed them like this for a year). My fish are happy

Good luck nursing your fish back to health!

Thank you for your two bits. I will have to try a rotation. One of the things you mentioned, the garlic drops, I already put a drop or two on each frozen food cube. I have never fed these fish flake food - I may pick some up and give it a shot. I also feed once each night and have no problems with water quality (according to my LFS guy when I have him test my water once a week or so). Hopefully these guys will get better, especially my coral beauty.

[alaska clowns]

I think some people don't use flake food because it can add phosphates to the water, but for my tank, I like a little in moderation, because it gives me some variety for the fish.

Do you feed any kind of algae to your coral beauty?
I've had trouble before getting tangs to eat off algae sheets (they were a little skittish of the sheet blowing around in the current, and I was also afraid if I left it there, a piece would break off and clog my overflow), so I used scissors to cut very small pieces into the cup that I was mixing/soaking their food in. Then I introduced it at feeding time, and even my clownfish liked it.
Hope your fish recovers!

[billsreef]

A two month old 55 gallon with 12 fish is not only very new (and likely still unstable water quality), but also overstocked if those fish are anything other than very small. What are all the other tank mates? Also what are your water quality parameters for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? Damsels aren't commonly susceptible to head and lateral line erosion (HLLE), so water quality issues or fighting between fish are the most likely culprits.

[billsreef]

Originally Posted by alaska clowns

I think some people don't use flake food because it can add phosphates to the water,

All food with protein has phosphates. Phosphate is integral part of any and all protein So like with many things in life, feed in moderation

[XrayGuy]

Originally Posted by billsreef

A two month old 55 gallon with 12 fish is not only very new (and likely still unstable water quality), but also overstocked if those fish are anything other than very small. What are all the other tank mates? Also what are your water quality parameters for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? Damsels aren't commonly susceptible to head and lateral line erosion (HLLE), so water quality issues or fighting between fish are the most likely culprits.

My tank was set up with live rock, live sand, and live water (I know thats not really a thing but you know what I mean) from a show tank at my LFS, so I barely had a cycle at all. My ammonia and nitrates are 0, I do not know my exact pH other than my LFS guy says it is optimal every time I have the water tested (weekly). I do weekly 5 gal water changes. FISH - 2x 3 stripe damsels, 1x yellow tail damsel, 1x neon damsel, 2x ocillaris clowns, 1x dragon goby, 1x coral beauty, 6x green chromis, 1x cleaner shrimp, 1x brittle starfish, 1x emerald crab, some nass snails, turbos, some hermits and thats about it for fish/inverts. Most of the fish were added after 1 month of the tank being set up (once I got the good green macro algae). None of the fish are breathing heavy, having problems eating or anything at all, nor do they seem to be hostile to each other.

[bertoni]

I would keep maybe 5 fish from that list in that size tank, no more. It's horrendously overstocked. Is this the goby that you have?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...26&pcatid=2526

[billsreef]

All those damsels in a small tank is a war waiting to happen, if it isn't already. Especially those 3 Stripes, they are particularly mean and get to a pretty good size.

[mallorieGgator]

Looks like hole in the head. I would also sell all of your damsels and keep just 3 chromis if that's what you want. Once damsels reach adulthood (yours will likely be 3-4 inches long each) they get VERY territorial and VERY destructive. I had a pair in my tank right after my cycle that the LFS let me borrow. Well I returned them in less than a week because the female was nesting in my sand bed(kicking up sand everywhere) and the pair would constantly fight. I had them in a 55 gallon tank and they filled it up. They were about 4.5 inches long. Keep your goby (unless it's the fresh water dragon goby 0_o ) and your coral beauty, and a few chromis and that is all you should really have.

[TripleT]

Get some frozen preparations for omnivores, and also for pygmy angels.

[marti224]

Definitely "Hole in the Head"...I had the same issue with my blue hippo tang and was recommend by my LFS to supplement Selcon(vitamin C) with my food. I would suggest soaking mysis shrimp in Selcon and feeding.

[XrayGuy]

Originally Posted by bertoni

I would keep maybe 5 fish from that list in that size tank, no more. It's horrendously overstocked. Is this the goby that you have?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...26&pcatid=2526

This is the goby I have...it was sold to me by my LFS as a Dragon Goby. It keeps my sand super clean, but annoyingly crop dusts any frags that I put in the sandbed.

[XrayGuy]

Originally Posted by billsreef

All those damsels in a small tank is a war waiting to happen, if it isn't already. Especially those 3 Stripes, they are particularly mean and get to a pretty good size.

I think that I will be removing the damsels as a few of you have recommended. Also at the same time I will take out the chromis too because I would rather get one or two more cool fish instead of all of them. I just need to either buy or borrow from my LFS a fish trap so that I can get the buggers without having to take all my rock out (I JUST re-scaped a couple weeks ago and I have everything just right). I tried catching a couple with a net a little bit ago, but all the fish went to their hiding spots =/ . Thank you for your advice.

[XrayGuy]

Originally Posted by marti224

Definitely "Hole in the Head"...I had the same issue with my blue hippo tang and was recommend by my LFS to supplement Selcon(vitamin C) with my food. I would suggest soaking mysis shrimp in Selcon and feeding.

I just ordered some Vita-Chem which looks like it does pretty much the same thing as Selcon from what I read. Hopefully it helps!

[jechew2]

Good choice on decreasing the number of fish in your tank. That may have caused the initial problems you described. Damsels are attractive but most are not good tankmates.

[bertoni]

Hmm, I don't know what species that goby actually is, but it might be safe enough. I wouldn't worry about it.

[XrayGuy]

So, after ordering an acrylic fish trap on ebay, I successfully used it to get all the damsels and chromis out except for 2 chromis...I think I can live with those. It took like 2 hours to trap the other eight fish - it was like real fishing though, I had a beer in hand, the bait set, and I just had to wait for the fish to go for it In regards to the goby, I did some research and found out that it is called a Bullet Goby.

[XrayGuy]

Hopefully my other fish will be quite happier now that they have more room to claim territories and the water should be a little cleaner due to less waste. Maybe the corals will benefit from that too.

[sn4265]

I like that Bullet Goby. I think I'll be adding him to my wish list. Some research on him will definitely be in order down the road too. Good luck with the treatment. This also reminded me that I need to start stocking up on some food variety and come up with a feeding scheme for when I start stocking the tank, hopefully this weekend.