Clownfish - Sick or Not

[BostonBlenny]

New to reef keeping, have a pair of clownfish I recently added. Just noticed this small white mark on back half of one’s side. Is this a disease? Or just a scrape or a mark from the other clown slowly asserting dominance and nipping etc? Any help in ID-ing is appreciated!

Behavior is normal, eating normal. FYI this one did go through overflow of AIO one night and spent the night in the filter cup of my AIO chamber so did have a traumatic event a few days ago.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

New to reef keeping, have a pair of clownfish I recently added. Just noticed this small white mark on back half of one’s side. Is this a disease? Or just a scrape or a mark from the other clown slowly asserting dominance and nipping etc? Any help in ID-ing is appreciated!

Behavior is normal, eating normal. FYI this one did go through overflow of AIO one night and spent the night in the filter cup of my AIO chamber so did have a traumatic event a few days ago.

I think that your conclusion about it going into the AIO chamber and being damaged may be correct - and that this is a minor injury from that trauma.

I don't see any ripped fins that are often associated with two clowns fighting.....how do they behave around each other? Any chasing? Are they trying to avoid each other?

 

[BostonBlenny]

New to reef keeping, have a pair of clownfish I recently added. Just noticed this small white mark on back half of one’s side. Is this a disease? Or just a scrape or a mark from the other clown slowly asserting dominance and nipping etc? Any help in ID-ing is appreciated!

Behavior is normal, eating normal. FYI this one did go through overflow of AIO one night and spent the night in the filter cup of my AIO chamber so did have a traumatic event a few days ago.

Ty for the reply Jay!

They’re pretty friendly, I added them at same time. One seems to becoming dominant but it’s very minimal chasing for short burst a couple time during the day. The tank is in my home office so I’m watching it a lot and it’s just a couple times throughout the day for like 2-4 second bursts. Otherwise they just clown around the power head, overhead together a lot, sometimes separate for a few mins but typically they’re together / near each other.