Clownfish bruises or splotches

[shawtygotbass]

A week or two ago I noticed my clownfish has these dark spots, or blotches/bruising. Her other side has tiny amounts of the discoloration.

Does anyone have any idea what this is?

She’s behaving and eating normally.

Her and her mate have been digging trenches quite a bit lately and prepping areas for eggs. Sometimes she bumps into the rocks on the follow through, so it might actually be bruising?

I also have elegance and hammer coral, so I heard it might be stinging causing hyper pigmentation. She does often brush up against the hammer coral.

 

[vetteguy53081]

A week or two ago I noticed my clownfish has these dark spots, or blotches/bruising. Her other side has tiny amounts of the discoloration.

Does anyone have any idea what this is?

She’s behaving and eating normally.

Her and her mate have been digging trenches quite a bit lately and prepping areas for eggs. Sometimes she bumps into the rocks on the follow through, so it might actually be bruising?

I also have elegance and hammer coral, so I heard it might be stinging causing hyper pigmentation. She does often brush up against the hammer coral.

You said bruise and this is what we refer also as " Clownfish bruising" and seems to have effect on tank raised species and can be excess breeding or hereditary but what is observed is it either goes away and even worsens. While there isnt an actual cure for this, ruby rally pro seems to prevent worsening and is reef safe

 

[shawtygotbass]

You said bruise and this is what we refer also as " Clownfish bruising" and seems to have effect on tank raised species and can be excess breeding or hereditary but what is observed is it either goes away and even worsens. While there isnt an actual cure for this, ruby rally pro seems to prevent worsening and is reef safe

Do the fish end up being okay?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Do the fish end up being okay?

Stable. Did not get worse

 

[shawtygotbass]

Stable. Did not get worse

Do clowns generally heal from this bruising? Or do they generally pass away?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Do clowns generally heal from this bruising? Or do they generally pass away?

It's hit or miss. Some get better, but some die. Trouble is, there is no way to know if the ones that died did so from t he bruising, or if there was some other issue going on in the tank.

Here is a write-up I did on this issue:

CBD, Clownfish bruising disease:

Over the past two years or so, I've come across dozens of cases on a fish disease forum of an issue with clownfish that we have not been able to identify. I've never seen it on any clownfish I've had myself, but the issue seems most common on designer clowns, which I don't work with.

Basically, the clownfish show a pink or reddish lesion under the skin that is only visible on the white portions of the fish. The lesions don't seem to break through to the surface like Uronema does. Sometimes the fish dies (but may have had other issues?) and sometimes the fish gets better, but many of these cases were "lost to follow up" where the original poster never gets back to us with the outcome. One case has been seen with a copperband butterflyfish, again, the reddish lesion was only visible on that fish’s white stripes.

For the time being, I'm going to call it CBD - Clownfish Bruising Disease. It does not seem to be highly contagious, if at all. External bath treatments are unlikely to help, as the discoloration is clearly deep down in the muscle tissue.



I should reinforce this: although I call this a “bruise” there is NO evidence that this is caused by an injury….it just looks like a bruise due to the subdermal bleeding.

 

[shawtygotbass]

It's hit or miss. Some get better, but some die. Trouble is, there is no way to know if the ones that died did so from t he bruising, or if there was some other issue going on in the tank.

Here is a write-up I did on this issue:

CBD, Clownfish bruising disease:

Over the past two years or so, I've come across dozens of cases on a fish disease forum of an issue with clownfish that we have not been able to identify. I've never seen it on any clownfish I've had myself, but the issue seems most common on designer clowns, which I don't work with.

Basically, the clownfish show a pink or reddish lesion under the skin that is only visible on the white portions of the fish. The lesions don't seem to break through to the surface like Uronema does. Sometimes the fish dies (but may have had other issues?) and sometimes the fish gets better, but many of these cases were "lost to follow up" where the original poster never gets back to us with the outcome. One case has been seen with a copperband butterflyfish, again, the reddish lesion was only visible on that fish’s white stripes.

For the time being, I'm going to call it CBD - Clownfish Bruising Disease. It does not seem to be highly contagious, if at all. External bath treatments are unlikely to help, as the discoloration is clearly deep down in the muscle tissue.



I should reinforce this: although I call this a “bruise” there is NO evidence that this is caused by an injury….it just looks like a bruise due to the subdermal bleeding.

Thanks for the info. That’s an interesting read.

She is a designer clown, but I texted the breeder and she has never seen that before on her clowns.

Not sure if fish can bruise like humans can. But I was watching her and her partner prepare their nest. They have been doing this a ton lately as I believe she is becoming sexually mature (around 1 YO). But they have been digging sand pretty consistently. They do that thing where they kind of vibrate and dart through the sand to dig with their fins. I saw her swim into the rock work a couple times as she “finished her pass.” They are both also inspecting the rock/algae in that same area and trying to rearrange it, so they’re bumping into the rocks a bit while doing that.

It appears to be fading and her behavior is normal. She’s a glutton, as usual which is always a good sign.

I’ll keep an eye on her.

 

[shawtygotbass]

Do clowns generally heal from this bruising? Or do they generally pass away?

It's hit or miss. Some get better, but some die. Trouble is, there is no way to know if the ones that died did so from t he bruising, or if there was some other issue going on in the tank.

Here is a write-up I did on this issue:

CBD, Clownfish bruising disease:

Over the past two years or so, I've come across dozens of cases on a fish disease forum of an issue with clownfish that we have not been able to identify. I've never seen it on any clownfish I've had myself, but the issue seems most common on designer clowns, which I don't work with.

Basically, the clownfish show a pink or reddish lesion under the skin that is only visible on the white portions of the fish. The lesions don't seem to break through to the surface like Uronema does. Sometimes the fish dies (but may have had other issues?) and sometimes the fish gets better, but many of these cases were "lost to follow up" where the original poster never gets back to us with the outcome. One case has been seen with a copperband butterflyfish, again, the reddish lesion was only visible on that fish’s white stripes.

For the time being, I'm going to call it CBD - Clownfish Bruising Disease. It does not seem to be highly contagious, if at all. External bath treatments are unlikely to help, as the discoloration is clearly deep down in the muscle tissue.



I should reinforce this: although I call this a “bruise” there is NO evidence that this is caused by an injury….it just looks like a bruise due to the subdermal bleeding.

Hey Jay, just wanted to follow up as I saw in that large thread you don’t have a ton of follow up info on this subject.

My clownfish with the bruising fully healed. She never showed any signs of distress or discomfort and her bruising started to recede a few days after our last comms on this thread.

My theory is still either:
1. Hyperpigmentation: I see her swim through the hammer coral like twice a day when I’m watching. It was just large patches that don’t look like normal coral stings.

A week ago, I noticed a couple small spots that look exactly like what you’d expect from normal hyperpigmentation from a coral sting. It’s gone now.

2. Bruises from swimming into the rock work. Her and her mate still spend an hour a day preparing their nest and swim into the rocks on their follow through after moving sand all around.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey Jay, just wanted to follow up as I saw in that large thread you don’t have a ton of follow up info on this subject.

My clownfish with the bruising fully healed. She never showed any signs of distress or discomfort and her bruising started to recede a few days after our last comms on this thread.

My theory is still either:
1. Hyperpigmentation: I see her swim through the hammer coral like twice a day when I’m watching. It was just large patches that don’t look like normal coral stings.

A week ago, I noticed a couple small spots that look exactly like what you’d expect from normal hyperpigmentation from a coral sting. It’s gone now.

2. Bruises from swimming into the rock work. Her and her mate still spend an hour a day preparing their nest and swim into the rocks on their follow through after moving sand all around.

Thanks for the follow up, glad to hear your fish didn’t have any issues!