Clear Patch on Clownfish

[downonthereef]

Hello, so this little fella is new, he's had a run in with the current clownfish in the tank, and aggression was only present for the first 10 minutes, they are yet to make friends though. This morning however, I had noticed this clear patch on his back? Is it a wound that's healing or a disease? Was not there upon acclamation and introduction?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

That clown really took the brunt of the aggression from the other clown, you must separate them and treat this little one. Just because you aren't seeing any fighting doesn't mean there isn't some still going on when you leave the room.

The problem is that the typical treatment would be antibiotics, to guard against secondary bacterial infection. However, there is no way to tell if the white patch is bacteria, or the start of a protozoan disease known as Brooklynella. I don't think this fish is in a condition to be treated for both diseases at the same time. So - I would move it to a treatment tank and dose with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic. Trouble is, you're in England. I just checked Amazon UK and couldn't find anything available! Melafix kept showing up in the searches, that won't fix this, it is just a tonic. You need something like Neomycin, Furan-2, or Kanamycin. There is a slight chance the fish can recover on its own, but it is pretty beat up - sorry.

Jay