*Black marks on my Clownfish* PICS

[CoralReefer1019]

How fast did this appear and has it be growing or is it nearly the same size as it was when you first spotted it?

I ask because I´m not sure that this is any primary attack from any microorganism.

I suspect that this is a secondary effect from a mechanical damage or from slime damage caused by stung of a coral.

When a fish gets a mechanical damage and / or damage to the mucous layer, it will be open for secondary bacterial infections. The unspecific defence system responds by sending macrophages to the injured area in order to fight the attack. In many fish – these molecules do not engulf the attacker (as in mammals) – instead they release their radicals (often H2O2) in the wound in order to lyse the attacker. This will also give tissue damages. To control these tissue damages – the fish use melanin – a potent antioxidant. The result of this will give dark brown or black patches in the fish skin. Normally – they not disappear with age.

I´m not say – that this is what´s happen with your fish – but it could be one explanation to consider

Sincerely Lasse

It has happened over the past week, both clowns have the dark marks/spots but only the larger clown has it more significantly on its body. You have a very good point after reading your response. I thought clowns don’t get stung by corals. They are swimming fine and eating. One thing I have noticed is more aggression when other fish enter there area of the tank. The whites of there body are clean without any black marks. This makes me think it’s not black ick

 

[Mycota]

Mine got this when i added toxic green palys to my tank. It took a few weeks to start receeding. Was really bad at first. Has never fully gone away for me.

 

[Stephen Glover]

If they are not acting sick dont worry about it. My naked clown has some of these marks.

 

[paperdesk]

Mine got this when i added toxic green palys to my tank. It took a few weeks to start receeding. Was really bad at first. Has never fully gone away for me.

One of my clowns developed a few spots like this recently too. And, now that you mention it I did inject kalk into about 6 or 8 green Palys recently to try and kill them off. I wonder if there could be a connection?

 

[John3]

My friend had a clown get stung by a torch it was rolling in. The sting marks were darker/black and showed the most in white areas. The clown didn’t seem to care though and would keep rolling in the torch.

 

[Maritimer]

As KJ, Lasse and a few others have suggested, this looks like hypermelanization due to coral stings to me. It's not uncommon among clownfish, nor is it, as far as I'm aware, particularly dangerous to them. (They might appreciate an anemone, but it's not essential.)

If "black ich" ever shows up, it'll look more like a sprinkling of black pepper. It's actually a turbellarian worm, and is susceptible to Praziquantel. Prazi-Pro is _somewhat_ reef-safe, but may wipe out any feather-duster or other ornamental worms.

~Bruce

 

[Mycota]

One of my clowns developed a few spots like this recently too. And, now that you mention it I did inject kalk into about 6 or 8 green Palys recently to try and kill them off. I wonder if there could be a connection?

Yeah probably. The spots got way worse on mine when i moved my pallys and dropped them into a crevice and had to work them out. They created a slime on them that came off and was in the water column in large chunks for a few hours.

 

[mort]

As KJ, Lasse and a few others have suggested, this looks like hypermelanization due to coral stings to me. It's not uncommon among clownfish, nor is it, as far as I'm aware, particularly dangerous to them. (They might appreciate an anemone, but it's not essential.)

If "black ich" ever shows up, it'll look more like a sprinkling of black pepper. It's actually a turbellarian worm, and is susceptible to Praziquantel. Prazi-Pro is _somewhat_ reef-safe, but may wipe out any feather-duster or other ornamental worms.

~Bruce

I'll add my name to the hyper melanization most likely list.

If you suspect black ich then take lots of picture of the fish from day to day as the turbellaria worms which infect the fish are capable of movement, so the pattern can change day to day. Whereas with hm it shouldn't.

 

[CoralReefer1019]

Appreciate everyone’s help and advice, if black ick is similar to white ick which looks like salt specks on the fish I’m not experiencing that issue. I don’t have any black salt like specks or dots on my clowns. I moved away some of the zoas and LPS from the area they hang out inside the tank. I’m leaning towards Hyper Melanization thus far. I just hope it clears up and they can regain normal coloration in time. They are eating and doing well at the moment.

 

[CoralReefer1019]

I want to add a anemone in that area for them, but I don’t want the anemone to travel inside my tank lol, I was thinking of placing it inside a black reef safe basket and see what happens...that was just a suggestion

 

[mort]

HM is a bit like acne, not the prettiest, comes to us all but normally fades in time. Clowns can however change pigment through their lives, some naturally darken as they mature and some may lighten. My original ocellaris clown pair were bright but after ten years the female developed a dark back. It's just one of the interesting things about them.

 

[JROD79]

how do I fix this? I might need to treat the entire tank I dont have QT

If its a copper treatment is recommended, you can not treat the main tank. The copper will kill your corals i believe. Go get youself a cheap small tank 10 or 20 gal and set up a qt tank.

 

[davocean]

I've seen marks like this from coral stings, pretty certain what this is.

 

[LbulletM]

+1 on coral stings. My female is still determined to host my Euphylia.