White Spots on Clownfish, but no other symptoms

[Sharkbait19]

Hello,
For a few months, my black clownfish has had white spots come and go, although they looked more like mucous plugs than anything else. Yesterday, however, I noticed that these white spots were more numerous and looked more raised. This morning, there are even more. However, I cannot find any behavioral symptoms that would indicate a typical parasite. No flashing or heavy breathing, and she swims and eats just fine. If I were looking at these pictures without any background info, I would most certainly say that this would be ich, or even velvet. However, over the past few days there have been no changes to the clown’s day to day routine, or any of the fish for that matter. I’m quite puzzled by this, and though I am leaning towards playing it safe and putting all the fish in my quarantine tank (which is currently housing corals recovering from a separate incident), I highly doubt I’ll have any luck catching majority of them, without tearing the whole tank apart. Additionally, my angelfish has grown quite a bit since the last time in quarantine, so would certainly have a rough time back in there.
I would love to have some advice here, and what my best course of action should be. Are these still only mucous plugs, or is this starting to become an issue? Could this even be a bacterial or viral infection?

 

[Uncle99]

Looks very very much like ick. Sorry.
White to grayish oval spots, countable……
With ick they may come and go, that’s normal, but will be back.
Hypo, TTM, Copper all that works on fish, in QT.
I go the full 70 ish days fallow without changing temp.
That’s all that works.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Any chance of bacterial or viral tufts? Seems pretty consistent with that as well.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Any chance of bacterial or viral tufts? Seems pretty consistent with that as well.

Physician, heal thyself! (grin).

There aren't really "bacterial or viral tufts" - in the fish that show these, looking at the material under a microscope shows only mucus. Obviously viruses would be too small to see, but these mucus plugs don't show a contagion like a virus would. So IMO - they are just excess mucus, produced by the fish due to some irritation. We often see them for example, in hepatus tangs after a copper treatment.

That all said, this looks like ich to me (spots are pretty small). Your clowns may have just been managing ich, and then, the pendulum has swung a bit and the infection has picked up. What I do is try to take a picture to map the position and number of the spots. Then, each day, I take a picture from the same angle to see if the spots are changing location, or changing numbers. If they stay stable to 72 hours, more likely mucus plugs. If they move around and change numbers day to day, more likely ich.

Also - mucus plugs don't often form on a fish's fins, but ich trophonts do.

Jay

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Ich

 

[Sharkbait19]

Thanks, everyone. I suppose I’ll begin the transfer back to quarantine (sigh…)

I’ll move Luxo into QT tomorrow (was unfortunately a little busy today to do anything) and will catch the other fish over the following days (might be difficult to catch the goby and blenny immediately, but will hopefully be able to at some point). At least after all of this I’ll be able to once more declare the tank perfectly clear of parasites!

 

[Sebastiancrab]

@Sharkbait19 I suggest you purchase Hydroplex and give the fish a 10 minute saltwater dip which is low stress, gives relief, and will kill the bugs on them. You will still need to do the long term treatment Jay recommends in your hospital tank. Good luck!!

 

[Uncle99]

Thanks, everyone. I suppose I’ll begin the transfer back to quarantine (sigh…)

I’ll move Luxo into QT tomorrow (was unfortunately a little busy today to do anything) and will catch the other fish over the following days (might be difficult to catch the goby and blenny immediately, but will hopefully be able to at some point). At least after all of this I’ll be able to once more declare the tank perfectly clear of parasites!

Good luck Sharkbait19.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I’ll wind up using a 20 gallon tank that I was currently setting up for freshwater (was going to be a tank upgrade). I’m sure those fish can hold it out a couple months in their current 5G until this other issue is resolved.

 

[LAReefer4Life]

I’ll wind up using a 20 gallon tank that I was currently setting up for freshwater (was going to be a tank upgrade). I’m sure those fish can hold it out a couple months in their current 5G until this other issue is resolved.

Tank dividers work wondering in qt. I was sting several large angel fish in 20 gallon for several months no issues. Best of luck!

 

[Sharkbait19]

I set up the QT, but decided to let it cycle a bit before moving all my fish in. I’m going to begin moving the fish in today, though (at least all the ones that can be caught without dismantling anything). I’m concerned about the fact that the spots are looking more like a dusting than distinctive spots. So far, the only fish visibly affected are my two clowns. Is this just an aggressive amount of ich, or should I consider the possibility of something worse? All fish are still eating and breathing normally at the current moment.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Buy bacteria in a bottle and add more than the recommended amount. I think that is a much safer route than waiting for the tank to cycle. Also remember that meds take several days to start to have effect. I believe once you see sign of disease time is of the essence.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I set up the QT, but decided to let it cycle a bit before moving all my fish in. I’m going to begin moving the fish in today, though (at least all the ones that can be caught without dismantling anything). I’m concerned about the fact that the spots are looking more like a dusting than distinctive spots. So far, the only fish visibly affected are my two clowns. Is this just an aggressive amount of ich, or should I consider the possibility of something worse? All fish are still eating and breathing normally at the current moment.

That looks like ich to me - the spots on the pectoral fin are unique to ich, mucus plugs and flukes would be on the body, but rarely the fins. Lack of rapid breathing rules out velvet.

Jay

 

[Nanolifeuk]

Good luck ! My black and white clowns came down with ich a month or two ago. I was so worried for them but they were asymptomatic (as such) and just carried on. I focused on water quality and in 10 days it were gone. I did have some reef medic on standby and my tank had matured by then.

hopefully they can shake it off, with a bit of help and observation .

 

[Sharkbait19]

Buy bacteria in a bottle and add more than the recommended amount. I think that is a much safer route than waiting for the tank to cycle. Also remember that meds take several days to start to have effect. I believe once you see sign of disease time is of the essence.

I agree—I used media from my other tank, but really just didn’t want to throw all fish in at once and overwhelm the bacteria. Maybe I’ll buy bacteria in a bottle—I recall doing that last time.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Everything is in there! Let the treatment and fallow begin!
Interestingly enough, it took me only 15 minutes to catch all the fish, including the goby. Oftentimes it takes me 45 minutes just to catch Luxo when she’s being a bad clownfish! I guess I just know their behaviors so well at this point that I know how to trick them!

 

[Sharkbait19]

Before I begin copper—is copper okay for my Aurora goby? I’ve been reading mixed things as to whether it has any adverse effects on gobies.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Before I begin copper—is copper okay for my Aurora goby? I’ve been reading mixed things as to whether it has any adverse effects on gobies.

Copper power or coppersafe is fine. Get to a full 2.5 ppm dose in 24 hours and watch the ammonia closely.
Jay

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Did you mean 2.5 ppm Jay?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Did you mean 2.5 ppm Jay?

Thanks - typping on a phone is trciky, I have stubby fingers....
Jay