Clownfish with patches, help!

nbua · Jul 6, 2021

I was gone for a week and left my roommate in charge of taking care of my fish and this is what my 13 year old clownfish looked like when I got back (see attached picture and video).

I read a bunch about coral stings but this looked worse than most of the images. Thoughts? No other fish have the marks. I have no anemones, but I do have soft corals, including a few newer ones. Everything else about the tank seems normal. I’ve had the tank 13 years and never had diseases so this is new to me.

HD_Reefer · Jul 6, 2021

Looks like hosting trauma to me. What are the new corals?

nbua · Jul 7, 2021

HD_Reefer said:
Looks like hosting trauma to me. What are the new corals?

This one is the newest one large enough. I forget what it’s called, sorry. I’m trash at coral names. Also my roommate said she saw the clown trying to make friends with it.

Jay Hemdal · Jul 7, 2021

nbua said:
This one is the newest one large enough. I forget what it’s called, sorry. I’m trash at coral names. Also my roommate said she saw the clown trying to make friends with it.

While it does look like severe hosting trauma, I also don't like the way it is swimming in the video, kind of waggling in the wrong direction. I don't know if that soft coral can sting - I usually see this issue with Euphyllia corals.
Is the fish still feeding o.k.?

Jay

nbua · Jul 7, 2021

HD_Reefer said:
Looks like hosting trauma to me. What are the new corals?

This one is the newest one large enough. I forget what it’s called, sorry. I’m trash at coralAlso my roommate said she saw the clown trying to make friends with it.

Jay Hemdal said:
While it does look like severe hosting trauma, I also don't like the way it is swimming in the video, kind of waggling in the wrong direction. I don't know if that soft coral can sting - I usually see this issue with Euphyllia corals.
Is the fish still feeding o.k.?

Jay

Is he not swimming like normal? He’s always looked like that haha.

I also got a hammer tip but that was a month ago or more. He’s feeding just fine.

If it is stings, do I do anything? Or does he know to just leave that coral alone now?

Jay Hemdal · Jul 7, 2021

nbua said:
This one is the newest one large enough. I forget what it’s called, sorry. I’m trash at coralAlso my roommate said she saw the clown trying to make friends with it.

Is he not swimming like normal? He’s always looked like that haha.

I also got a hammer tip but that was a month ago or more. He’s feeding just fine.

If it is stings, do I do anything? Or does he know to just leave that coral alone now?

So - I missed that this is a 13 year old fish. The odd swimming is likely age related. If these spots indeed showed up over a few days, then I would continue to say hosting trauma. However, older fish can develop skin lesions/cancer, but those grow slowly over weeks to months.
Jay

nbua · Jul 7, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
So - I missed that this is a 13 year old fish. The odd swimming is likely age related. If these spots indeed showed up over a few days, then I would continue to say hosting trauma. However, older fish can develop skin lesions/cancer, but those grow slowly over weeks to months.
Jay

Okay thanks! Is there something that I should do about it, like get an anemone? How do I help him? I was nervous of the anemone moving and stinging my corals so I didn’t get one.

Jay Hemdal · Jul 8, 2021

nbua said:
Okay thanks! Is there something that I should do about it, like get an anemone? How do I help him? I was nervous of the anemone moving and stinging my corals so I didn’t get one.

I don’t see that adding an anemone would help - clowns live full lives in aquariums without them.
Jay