Clownfish laying on sand.

[Lelegance]

I have had this pair of clownfish for about 10 months, and they have been doing well until lately. My male clownfish spends his time around the wavemaker, or in the spot shown in the video:

He eats fine when its time to eat, however he then spends the rest of the day at the wavemaker.

At nighttime, the clowns will sleep together in the same spot that the male sits on the sand, but i only see the laying on sand before feeding, so in the morning to mid afternoon.

Im hoping this is not an early sign of sickness, however i have a 5 gallon tank that has been set up for a couple months if needed.

Salinity-1.026
Temperature-80-81
Ammonia-0
Nitrates-1
Phosphates-0

Looking at the male’s top fin, i can see two white “flakes” that stick off the fin, and and what i think is a decent sized white spot on the belly, where it is black. I havent noticed the spot on the belly before, but it could just be a marking.

 

[Spare time]

Post pics under white light only

 

[Reefing4L]

Hard to see with your blues, but here's a good link to compare for yourself with the common fish diseases:
https://humble.fish/community/threads/fish-diseases.3/

 

[jamesb07]

following

 

[208reef]

What is your pH?

Is the salinity and temperature stable throughout the day/night or are there fluctuations? Have you added any new equipment, tank mates, or made any major disruptions to the ecosystem lately? Do you have some surface agitation to help bring oxygen into the water?

Temp is a bit on the higher end imo...I usually aim for the 76-78 area. Higher temps mean fish have to work harder to extract oxygen out of the water, which increases their metabolism and can reduce their life span.

The immune system of fish get compromised and allow disease like you may be observing when some parameter is not stable and is widely fluctuating. Keep checking things.

 

[Lelegance]

What is your pH?

Is the salinity and temperature stable throughout the day/night or are there fluctuations? Have you added any new equipment, tank mates, or made any major disruptions to the ecosystem lately? Do you have some surface agitation to help bring oxygen into the water?

Temp is a bit on the higher end imo...I usually aim for the 76-78 area. Higher temps mean fish have to work harder to extract oxygen out of the water, which increases their metabolism and can reduce their life span.

The immune system of fish get compromised and allow disease like you may be observing when some parameter is not stable and is widely fluctuating. Keep checking things.

Ph is 8.0, salinity and temperature stay stable throughout the night. I am lowering temperature right now. No new equipment, newest tank mate is a royal gramma about 4 months ago, long before this happened. I had a tank crash about 2 months ago, and only some of my coral survived. My fish were fine right after that, and i have only seen this behavior recently in the past week. Plenty of surface agitation, and i will test daily to monitor water parameters.

 

[Lelegance]

Hard to see with your blues, but here's a good link to compare for yourself with the common fish diseases:
https://humble.fish/community/threads/fish-diseases.3/

Thank you, it looks similar to some small lymphocystis. Im not entirely sure though. Reefbeat wont let me sign in right now, im waiting for costumer support. I will get photos in white light eventually

 

[208reef]

Also, how new are the clown fish?

Ph is 8.0, salinity and temperature stay stable throughout the night. I am lowering temperature right now. No new equipment, newest tank mate is a royal gramma about 4 months ago, long before this happened. I had a tank crash about 2 months ago, and only some of my coral survived. My fish were fine right after that, and i have only seen this behavior recently in the past week. Plenty of surface agitation, and i will test daily to monitor water parameters.

How big is the tank?

 

[Lelegance]

Also, how new are the clown fish?

How big is the tank?

25 gallon tank, i have had the female for over a year, and both of them together for 10 months or so.

 

[208reef]

Do you ever see the royal gramma chasing it off? They tend to be pretty territorial. Or do you ever see the bigger clown going after it?

Beyond that, as long as it's eating, I would just keep an eye on it. Sometimes clowns host weird things like powerheads. It may just have an affection for that spot in the sand. When clowns host anemones, anthelia, or corals sometimes they just pause and stop swimming in it for bits of time.

 

[Lelegance]

Do you ever see the royal gramma chasing it off? They tend to be pretty territorial. Or do you ever see the bigger clown going after it?

Beyond that, as long as it's eating, I would just keep an eye on it. Sometimes clowns host weird things like powerheads. It may just have an affection for that spot in the sand. When clowns host anemones, anthelia, or corals sometimes they just pause and stop swimming in it for bits of time.

They are not hosting in any coral, and the royal gramma is not territorial at all. The female clown bullies the male often, though. You sure that white bumps are normal, and laying down with heavier breathing is too? Just want to catch diseases early. Someone had similar issues and their clown randomly died a month after the post. Would rather not loose a fish so early on.

 

[208reef]

It's hard to see the scales of the clownfish with the lighting and how white the fish is, but is it just a couple spots or does it seem more like slime? Has the number of spots increased? If more fuzzy/slimy looking it might be Brooklynella hostilis, although usually you see that more in freshly shipped clowns, not ones established as long as yours.

The other thing you could try is lowering your salinity a hair. Bring it down to 1.025 for a day or two and then maybe down to 1.024. This will make it a bit easier for your clown to breath and lower salinity tends to halt some disease.

Last resort would be to proceed with setting up that QT tank and doing an ich treatment (assuming it is just white dots and no slime).

 

[Lelegance]

It's hard to see the scales of the clownfish with the lighting and how white the fish is, but is it just a couple spots or does it seem more like slime? Has the number of spots increased? If more fuzzy/slimy looking it might be Brooklynella hostilis, although usually you see that more in freshly shipped clowns, not ones established as long as yours.

The other thing you could try is lowering your salinity a hair. Bring it down to 1.025 for a day or two and then maybe down to 1.024. This will make it a bit easier for your clown to breath and lower salinity tends to halt some disease.

Last resort would be to proceed with setting up that QT tank and doing an ich treatment (assuming it is just white dots and no slime).

These are the only spots i see, and it has not increased. Seems to be flakes of sort, and the one on the belly is more like a wart. Im lowering salinity right now.