Black Ich or clownfish hypermelanization?

[hllb]

The look of this is kind of in between the two. I’m guessing this is hypermelanization because the clown has zero other symptoms and there isn’t a single spot on his white stripes. There is no anemone in the tank though and I’ve never seen him try to snuggle a coral. There is a galaxea and hammer near where he hangs out though. I did treat the tank with Prazipro, about 36 hrs ago, just in case. If it was black ich would the dots disappear quickly after treatment, or no?

 

[NoahLikesFish]

im intrested. my clarkii did something kinda like that near the brown parts on him and it looks like there is stippling of brown between his brown & his yellow scales and its pretty cool. no symptoms of anything

 

[Sharkbait19]

Is it fuzzy or raised or just spots?
@Jay Hemdal

 

[hllb]

Is it fuzzy or raised or just spots?
@Jay Hemdal

Just spots - I can’t see any raised spots at all

 

[Sharkbait19]

Possibly just stings then, though that’s a lot of spots…

 

[hllb]

Possibly just stings then, though that’s a lot of spots…

It really is a lot! The other side has a little bit less, but still quite a few. There is a tomini tang in the tank (along w 6 other fish) and no one else is showing any sign of it.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

It really is a lot! The other side has a little bit less, but still quite a few. There is a tomini tang in the tank (along w 6 other fish) and no one else is showing any sign of it.

LOTS of spots there, but I think it is hypermelanization. Clownfish just aren't really prone to turbellarians (black ich).

Jay

 

[hllb]

LOTS of spots there, but I think it is hypermelanization. Clownfish just aren't really prone to turbellarians (black ich).

Jay

I wonder if he rolled around in my galaxea or something. It’s the only coral that I think has enough polyps that close together.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I wonder if he rolled around in my galaxea or something. It’s the only coral that I think has enough polyps that close together.

Probably was the galaxea, the clown’s just looking for a host coral.

 

[hllb]

Probably was the galaxea, the clown’s just looking for a host coral.

I had an anemone for like a year and he NEVER even went near it LOL. I lost that guy, maybe due to low pH. My clown goby lives in my big duncan, but this guy, I've never seen him try to live in a coral. But, I added two larger fish recently and perhaps that freaked him out a bit (even though I've never seen them be aggressive). Hopefully that's all it is, anyway.

 

[hllb]

Thought I’d share an update on Emo Nemo (my kids named him). He continues to be perfectly fine but covered in spots. I’ve had this fish almost 2.5 years but after being moved to a new, bigger tank (which has 2 additional fish over what was in the old tank), he’s apparently picked up new behaviors. I noticed that he’s made a sand bed in the new tank, right behind my hammer coral. And yes, I’ve now seen him trying to snuggle the hammer so that’s where the spots likely came from.

Since both these things are new but typical behavior, do you think he’s more comfortable in my new tank or is he feeling threatened by new tank mates so staking out his own little corner? I have seen him chase other fish out of his little area.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Looks like the hammer belongs to him now!
Yep, hosting/territorial behavior, which is completely normal for clowns. They like to pick a spot and chase everything out of it.

 

[hllb]

Looks like the hammer belongs to him now!
Yep, hosting/territorial behavior, which is completely normal for clowns. They like to pick a spot and chase everything out of it.

So funny that it took him 2.5 years!

 

[Derrick0580]

My clown did the same thing and today is actually mostly black with a little orange. Happy and healthy. Hosts a frog spawn even though there are two nice big rainbow bta’s in the tank….

 

[hllb]

My clown did the same thing and today is actually mostly black with a little orange. Happy and healthy. Hosts a frog spawn even though there are two nice big rainbow bta’s in the tank….

He must prefer his new color palette

 

[TheWB]

My clowns live in a big patch of Nirvana Zoas and they are both covered in black spots just like yours. Definitely hypermalanization from the stings of that hammer or whatever else it’s rubbing itself up against. Yours look much better than mine do.