Discoloration around mouth and gill plates on clownfish

[Tmm87]

Curious if this is something to be concerned about or not. This is the first time I've encountered something like this.

The two clowns came directly from ORA, went through about 5 weeks of observation before being introduced to the tank they're in now. The other inhabitants of the tank (Wheelers shrimp goby/pistol pair and a court jester goby) were also quarantined in the same fashion. Nobody has presented any issues prior to this. Everyone is eating and acting normal. Neither of the other two fish are showing discoloration like the clownfish have and it's localized to the mouth and gill plates. They do have some dark spots which look consistent with anemone stings as I've seen in all of my previous clownfish. No other signs of disease that I can see, the discolored areas don't appear fuzzy or bumpy. They only recently decided to move into the BTAs that are in the tank.

The clownfish were added to the tank 5 months ago shortly after the Court Jester and the Wheelers goby has been in there since last July.

The white flecks are not on the fish, the pistol is currently excavating.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

That isn't a symptom of any of the "regular" diseases. I presume the fish aren't breathing fast and are still feeding well? I wonder - could this just be discoloration from being stung by the BTA as they have begun to acclimatize to it?

jay

 

[Tmm87]

That isn't a symptom of any of the "regular" diseases. I presume the fish aren't breathing fast and are still feeding well? I wonder - could this just be discoloration from being stung by the BTA as they have begun to acclimatize to it?

jay

That's what I thought as they do have some of the typical dark spots from the stings. No odd breathing, no flashing, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, both are aggressively eating any foods offered, no indication of weight loss. None of the other fish are showing symptoms. Figured it was worth inquiring as I've never seen it before and couldn't find anything that looked similar in my searches.

 

[Danroo]

Check your waters, my female also had a slight discoloration, same as yours nothing out of ordinary but it’s coming back after a month.

 

[Tmm87]

Check your waters, my female also had a slight discoloration, same as yours nothing out of ordinary but it’s coming back after a month.

Water is good. 10ppm Nitrate, 0 Nitrite, 0.02ppm Phos, 440 cal, 1250 mag, 9.8 Alk. Temp stays at 78. Bi-weekly 2 gallon water changes (10g tank).

I'll definitely keep that in mind though and maybe bump the changes to weekly for the time being.

 

[Fennel]

Odds are, vibro. It is saltwater after all.. but idk.

 

[Danroo]

Probably should be fine, mine also showed slight discoloration when it was new.

 

[Tmm87]

Odds are, vibro. It is saltwater after all.. but idk.

Isn't that a bacterial infection? I'm seeing no signs of anything being physically wrong with them. No injuries to them. I guess it's possible I just didn't see something, but they're on my desk and I work from home so I see them every day and they're pretty inquisitive so they're always watching me.

 

[Tmm87]

That isn't a symptom of any of the "regular" diseases. I presume the fish aren't breathing fast and are still feeding well? I wonder - could this just be discoloration from being stung by the BTA as they have begun to acclimatize to it?

jay

Figured I'd give an update since it's been a couple weeks. The discoloration is basically gone, there's still a little bit just over their top lips. In these last two weeks I noticed them cleaning the rocks near one of the BTAs that they frequent so I'm wondering if this egg laying prep practice is what caused the discoloration to begin with. I know they're not ready for eggs as they're still quite young, but at least it puts my mind at ease that there's nothing wrong with them and can potentially help ease the minds of some others if they end up having a similar issue.