Hyper-melanization or black ich?

[mochaclownlover]

So I just noticed some black blotches on my female clown. Checked some photos from a week ago and I didn’t see them then. She is showing no signs of stress or irritation (still eating like a pig XD) (also she had a batch of fry hatch last night). Also when I’ve been feeding lately, she has been swimming back down to her nems through my frogspawn. Nothing has been added to the tank in months. From what I’ve googled and seen in other threads it looks like hypermelanization opposed to black ich, but figured I’d double check.
(Those white dots are the pods on the glass, scared myself for a second when I saw the photo XD)

 

[F i s h y]

So I just noticed some black blotches on my female clown. Checked some photos from a week ago and I didn’t see them then. She is showing no signs of stress or irritation (still eating like a pig XD) (also she had a batch of fry hatch last night). Also when I’ve been feeding lately, she has been swimming back down to her nems through my frogspawn. Nothing has been added to the tank in months. From what I’ve googled and seen in other threads it looks like hypermelanization opposed to black ich, but figured I’d double check.
(Those white dots are the pods on the glass, scared myself for a second when I saw the photo XD)

Beautiful pics. They look like normal pigmentation spots to me. Hopefully others will share an opinion.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Thank you! She's likes to be the center of attention so it's easy to get photos! XD

 

[mochaclownlover]

So after some further research, the spots appear to just be hyper-melanization( Thank goodness, I can breath again XD). This would make sense as the female clown is the only one who swims through the frog spawn and only she has the spots, not the male. My other hypothesis is that maybe there was some stress associated with the spawning this time more than usual and caused a laps in her mucus production leading to some stings getting through(not sure if that can happen or not, just a thought). The spots are also not raised and do not match the images of either type of black ich, plus there are no symptoms that would be related to it. I'll most likely just increase their LRS intake to keep her as healthy as possible. Some websites say the spots can go away after time or sometimes they stay, but as long as she's healthy&happy I don't mind. Any experts feel free to correct me if otherwise.