Clownfish Grey Spots / Patches

[Semipermeable_Potato]

Hi All, I've got a relatively new tank (~8 weeks old) that I added in my first 2 ocellaris clowns into 2 1/2 weeks ago. So far they have all been well, however I noticed 3 days ago the morning after their 2nd water change, one of the clowns started to develop these grey spots on it. I see a couple on its head, and a few mid body or so. No signs of it anywhere else on the fish, the other fish looks healthy. If I had to describe it, I would say grey lumps, kinda fluffy.

Tank params are as follows:

SAL:1.026
T:78f
A:0
N:0

I've been looking around, but having a hard time nailing down what it is. The behavior has been normal so far, but the spots do seem to be growing daily. not by a lot, but for sure not getting smaller or going away. Attached a few photos, lump on the head is the largest, and showed up first. Thanks for any advice you can give on this!

 

[blaxsun]

Flukes?

 

[Semipermeable_Potato]

Flukes?

I don't think so, but hard to tell.

I'm not seeing any of the common symptoms
(Cloudy Eyes, Breathing, Fraid Fins, No eating, etc)

But that dosen't mean those might develop of course.

 

[agame2021]

Flukes?

That was my first thought

 

[blaxsun]

That was my first thought

It's hard to tell from the images, but a short freshwater dip would be one way to find out for sure.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I don't think so, but hard to tell.

I'm not seeing any of the common symptoms
(Cloudy Eyes, Breathing, Fraid Fins, No eating, etc)

But that dosen't mean those might develop of course.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That isn’t flukes, your fish could of course have flukes, but as you said, the symptoms would be different.
Bacterial infections are usually subtractive - that is, they eat away at the tissue. Fungal infections are additive, as it grows, it adds bulk to the fish. Fungal infections are also often gray in marine fish.
That said, fungal infections are much rarer in marine fish than in FW.
My treatment of choice is a 75 ppm formalin dip daily for 30 minutes. Getting formalin as a home aquarist is difficult though.
Jay

 

[Semipermeable_Potato]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That isn’t flukes, your fish could of course have flukes, but as you said, the symptoms would be different.
Bacterial infections are usually subtractive - that is, they eat away at the tissue. Fungal infections are additive, as it grows, it adds bulk to the fish. Fungal infections are also often gray in marine fish.
That said, fungal infections are much rarer in marine fish than in FW.
My treatment of choice is a 75 ppm formalin dip daily for 30 minutes. Getting formalin as a home aquarist is difficult though.
Jay

Thanks for the welcome!

You may be spot on, the more I read up on fungal, the more I'm thinking the spots match what I'm seeing. Your also spot on that getting formalin is a pain. I'll have to do some digging and see if I can't source some up somewhere. I found a couple links in a few other threads on some promising sources.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks for the welcome!

You may be spot on, the more I read up on fungal, the more I'm thinking the spots match what I'm seeing. Your also spot on that getting formalin is a pain. I'll have to do some digging and see if I can't source some up somewhere. I found a couple links in a few other threads on some promising sources.

Just avoid what they call 10% NBF (Neutral Buffered Formalin). I've heard that can be toxic. You need 37% formaldehyde gas in solution - that is considered 100% formalin. To dose it, you multiply 75 ppm times the volume of the dip and then divide that by 266 to get milliliters of formalin: So - 75 ppm x 5 gallons divide by 266 = 1.4 ml. It is really toxic, so take care using it.

While I've only used formalin to treat this issue in marine fish, hydrogen peroxide might work and is a lot easier to get. Here is an article on its use. I would suggest trying a 50 ppm dose for 30 minutes, and then go to 75 ppm for 30 minutes the next day if it seems well tolerated.

Use of Hydrogen Peroxide in Finfish Aquaculture

Hydrogen peroxide is commonly used as a disinfectant for cleaning wounds in people, writes Roy P.E. Yanong, associate professor and extension veterinarian, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences,…

thefishsite.com

Jay

 

[Semipermeable_Potato]

Just avoid what they call 10% NBF (Neutral Buffered Formalin). I've heard that can be toxic. You need 37% formaldehyde gas in solution - that is considered 100% formalin. To dose it, you multiply 75 ppm times the volume of the dip and then divide that by 266 to get milliliters of formalin: So - 75 ppm x 5 gallons divide by 266 = 1.4 ml. It is really toxic, so take care using it.

While I've only used formalin to treat this issue in marine fish, hydrogen peroxide might work and is a lot easier to get. Here is an article on its use. I would suggest trying a 50 ppm dose for 30 minutes, and then go to 75 ppm for 30 minutes the next day if it seems well tolerated.

Use of Hydrogen Peroxide in Finfish Aquaculture

Hydrogen peroxide is commonly used as a disinfectant for cleaning wounds in people, writes Roy P.E. Yanong, associate professor and extension veterinarian, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences,…

thefishsite.com

Jay

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a shot and report back what I find