Clownfish displaying white dots on body and bumps on head

[DocPalmer]

Hello everyone-

I put my two clownfish through my customary 2 week quarantine/observation and didn’t notice any irregular behavior, discoloration, loss of appetite etc. so they have since been put into my display tank. The day after (9/6/21), I noticed the female clownfish had some white spots on her along with what looked like chapped lips. I had seen her nip at the male a couple times, but they otherwise are very friendly towards each other so I didn’t think much of it. I was also guessing it may just be stress do to moving to a new home. Now she has some white bumps on her head and I am getting concerned. She’s very active, eats well, and shows no signs of labored breathing.

Should I put her back into quarantine and treat for (what I’m guessing to be ich or brook; but I’m inexperienced to definitely know one or the other), or continue observation? I have provided some pictures below. I apologize in advance - she is very active so it was hard to take pictures.

I appreciate any advice!!!

 

[DocPalmer]

These were my water parameters before I added the clowns. I did a 30% water change (30 gallons) immediately after.

 

[threebuoys]

Are the spots still there?
What other fish are in the tank?
I take it you did not use copper during the 2 week quarantine?
Can you take some pictures with white light? Difficult to see anything under the blue.
Maybe @Jay Hemdal will have an opinion with better lighting.

 

[DocPalmer]

Are the spots still there?
What other fish are in the tank?
I take it you did not use copper during the 2 week quarantine?
Can you take some pictures with white light? Difficult to see anything under the blue.
Maybe @Jay Hemdal will have an opinion with better lighting.

Hello - thanks for replying. Spots appear to be gone, bumps on the head are as well. I did not use copper during the quarantine; I’m new to the hobby and just had the fish isolated for 2 weeks for observation (didn’t see any irregularities during that period). The tank has 2 clowns, 4 green chromis, 1 royal gramma, a strawberry conch, cleaner shrimp, and various snails. During this entire time the fish has been extremely active, never lost its appetite and is not displaying any behavior consistent with an illness based on my research (no scratching against rock/sand, no swimming into power heads etc.). Part of me truly believes it was just due to stress.

She is so quick it’s hard to get some good pics! But in these you should be able to see she no longer has bumps on her head or dots on her body. I understand the ich life cycle and that if it is that, it could reappear in the coming days.

 

[threebuoys]

Glad to hear things appear to be improving, but, keep an eye out for the spots returning. The Crypto life cycle particularly in the early stages will often appear to be improving because the trophonts will naturally drop off of the fish as they age. Unfortunately, this results in the reproduction stage that results in the spots reappearing a week or two later. At that time, all of the fish in the tank are vulnerable. As the crypto population grows you may notice the spots in different locations but they never all go away, the infection beccomes more severe and treatment will be necessary.

 

[DocPalmer]

Understood - I’m planning to make arrangements for my quarantine tank (to treat newcomers appropriately as appose to just observing them). In the event this does turn out to be ich, what size tank do you think would be appropriate to temporarily house and treat my fish while I starve the parasite in the DT?

Beyond that- I’m guessing your hunch is that it may be ich?

 

[threebuoys]

I use a twenty gallon, , but I have to be careful not to overload it. The fish you have are small and a 20 gallon should work fine.

What size tank do you have?

At this point, I don't really have a hunch one way or the other, I just think you need to be prepared if you see anything unusual.

 

[DocPalmer]

I have a 15 gallon with sand and rock, but would of course remove and add pvc to treat with copper if need be. I imagine that should be my new quarantine strategy moving toward anyways though

 

[DocPalmer]

Just an update: All my fish are still acting great. Fat bellies and plenty of activity.

 

[DocPalmer]

Update: Royal gramma has mysteriously passed. If ich was the cause, I saw no visible signs. He was “paralyzed” on the sand when I woke up but still breathing. I captured him in the net and suspended him in the tank to recoup (he had similar behavior when I initially added him to the tank; normal new tank stress from my understanding). Unfortunately he didn’t make it. I think this confirms the need to go fallow for 3 months and treat my remaining 2 clownfish and 4 green chromis with copper in a hospital tank. I am assuming the clown passed along whatever she had. Sucks…