Tang help! please

[jtxstate]

so im thinking of just giving up on tangs, which is a drag cuz i love them. My first was a yellow, dont really know what hapened but im guessing it jumped out and our dog Mia (pittbull mix, sweet dog ive ever met) had a fine $ treat after dinner. who knows what really happend, but the fish just went missing in a 55 gallon.
So later down the road i upgrade to a 75....nice setup, not a whole lot of problems...water quality good...running about 95 gallons with the fuge.

Kole tang...looked fine at the store, but within two weeks its got lateral line.
MHLLE! It sucks! He eats like crazy. all the fish get a combo of food once a day including seaweed sheets. Hes been like this with no improvments or any signs of it getting worse for about 2 or 3 months.

Then...I got a yellow mimic tang, it was to beautiful not to. Hes the boss of the tank, still small though, but bigger than the kole. The mimics about 4 or 5 inches and the two tangs get along. Well the other day i notice signs that the mimic is getting HLLE as well! I just dont get it.
Anyone had problems with this and found how to cure it?

Tank specs...
75 gallon mixed reef
40 long fuge with macro
Aqua C Urchin pro with mag3 skimmer
current outer orbet lighting w/ 2 150w reeflux 12k
mag 7 return pump and some 1200's for flow in tank

Fish...
3 yellow/blue Damsels
1 tomato clow
1 yellow watchman golbie
1 purple Pseudochromis
1 six line wrasse
1 kole tang
1 yellow mimic

Oh and if anyone wants to buy the tomato clown and a Healthy bubble tip, Im looking for a buyer, both are healthy and ive had them both for about a year, just ready for a change.

[alton]

I would check your tank for stray voltage.

[blueboy]

good call alton. i didn't even have any ideas on this one.

[jtxstate]

At one point i thought it might of been that so i got a grounding probe when the Kole Tang first showed signs a few months ago.

[txstateunivreefer]

pm sent on BTA

[alton]

Did you check for voltage in your tank and or did you check for voltage on your grounding probe on your receptacle? Sometimes we can actually add voltage to our tanks by using a grounding probe. This happened to one of our store owners who added a ground probe to his tank and it added voltage and current to his tank. Turned out his service ground wasn't good enough, so his tank was picking up the difference.

[jtxstate]

I never thought about that. How do i find out?

[jtxstate]

I dont even know if i grounded the tank right, now that i think about it. I know its easier than im making it but how do i do this. I have a grounding probe but im confused....does anyone have a diagram for dummies? step by step lol

[erikharrison]

http://ozreef.org/diy_plans/electronic_projects/grounding_probe.html

that oughtta do it.

you will probably need to ground to an outlet.

[jtxstate]

Ok im off the the hardware store to get a volt meter or something. Thanks guys.

on another note...you know it might be a problem when you check MAAST 5 times a day, and all you think about is Saltwater. lol I guess it seems we are a special breed... Ones willing to put the time, and $....and it always ends up being more $ than you planed lol, but I would say the reward of your own tiny slice of the ocean, your own ecosystem...and sneeking up on your tank in the middle of the night with a flashlight is well worth it...

[erikharrison]

TELL ME ABOUT IT! look how many posts in two months I've made!!!!

[txstateunivreefer]

ditto my fiance cks my ratio of how many posts i make if it goes up too much she gets mad :) oh well its worth it

[jtxstate]

OK i checked the grounding probe, its good so any other ideas on how to help my Tangs?

[kkutac001]

I remembered reading about the voltage thing, but also about diet and HLLE. From http://www.wetwebmedia.com/hllefaqs.htm, I quote Steven Pro:
"More vegetable matter, Nori fed daily plus some sort of herbivore diet like Formula II from Ocean Nutrition. I am sure San Francisco Bay Brand has something familiar. I am just use to Ocean Nutrition foods. You may also want to soak some of their foods in Boyd's Vita-Chem and American Marine Selcon. Again, there maybe similar products."
Another possible contributor to this HLLE problem is feeding terrestrial vegetables like romaine lettuce -- at least, that is what I've read on WWM. You mentioned nori sheets, but perhaps there is a vitamin deficiency at work here. I'm highly interested in whether or not you can turn him around. I hope you can. ..Karl

[jtxstate]

that came to mind when the kole came down with it, so i soak all the frozen food over night in Zoa.. i think thats right...? huh also i heard about some other reasons for HLLE, carbon dust in the water...its get in their digestive system and can cause stress in turn leading to HLLE. Another one was just the stress factor alone, such as working in your tank...moving live rock, placing corals, just to much human interaction. This is strange though because ive seen tons of Tangs, i guess one example would be the one in the prop tank at Finaddict in SA. Im thinking its the same as mine just older because its more of a chocolate color, but that fish seems to love people. Not only that but my fish dont seem to bothered if im working in the tank. One thing though...im thinking the kole tang might have got it from the carbon, but even thats a little hard to believe. I always wash any carbon i use, and im not even using any now. ahhhh i dont get it. This sucks for sure! I guess the only thing i can do now is try a different food. Oh and im also feeding with Ocean N. F II as well.....blah If i cant cure this... NO MORE TANGS. any more ideas would be great! thanks again guys