Black marks on my Clownfish PICS

CoralReefer1019 · Feb 22, 2018

I have noticed black marks on my clownfish? Is this normal? The fish are doing well, swimming and eating good. Water parameters and other fish are doing great.

kamakazian · Feb 22, 2018

CoralReefer1019 said:
I have noticed black marks on my clownfish? Is this normal? The fish are doing well, swimming and eating good. Water parameters and other fish are doing great.

Could just be their color scheme as they mature... How old are they?

Crabs McJones · Feb 22, 2018

Possibly black ich. Do you have a quarantine tank set up? I would do a quick freshwater dip and get everyone moved over to quarantine if it is black ich.
#reefsquad @Humblefish can recommend some treatment options and confirm diagnosis.

DSC reef · Feb 22, 2018

Looks like black ich unfortunately

CoralReefer1019 · Feb 22, 2018

kamakazian said:
Could just be their color scheme as they mature... How old are they?

They are about 4 months old in my tank got them very small

Midrats · Feb 22, 2018

Are they cozying up to any LPS corals? I've seen this happen from that.

CoralReefer1019 · Feb 22, 2018

crabs_mcjones said:
Possibly black ich. Do you have a quarantine tank set up? I would do a quick freshwater dip and get everyone moved over to quarantine if it is black ich.
#reefsquad @Humblefish can recommend some treatment options and confirm diagnosis.

don't have a QT tank the other fish look good

CoralReefer1019 · Feb 22, 2018

squareriggersailor said:
Are they cozying up to any LPS corals? I've seen this happen from that.

yes I have some LPS in the area of the tank they hang out at

CoralReefer1019 · Feb 22, 2018

DSC reef said:
Looks like black ich unfortunately

how do I fix this? I might need to treat the entire tank I dont have QT

DSC reef · Feb 22, 2018

Never had to deal with this personally. @Humblefish @eatbreakfast

jwstephens · Feb 22, 2018

Mine have a few as well and as mentioned, it started when they decided to change sleeping arrangements to some Zoa's.

Crabs McJones · Feb 22, 2018

CoralReefer1019 said:
how do I fix this? I might need to treat the entire tank I dont have QT

You'll have to get some kind of quarantine set up, it doesn't have to be big and expensive. A 10 or 20 gallon kit from petsmart or petco works great. You NEVER want to treat in your display tank because the treatment is copper, and if you dose copper in your display tank all your corals, and inverts will die.

CoralReefer1019 · Feb 22, 2018

jwstephens said:
Mine have a few as well and as mentioned, it started when they decided to change sleeping arrangements to some Zoa's.

how long have your fish been like this?

OhDumb · Feb 22, 2018

Mine get this as well when they snuggle up to zoas.

CoralReefer1019 · Feb 22, 2018

crabs_mcjones said:
You'll have to get some kind of quarantine set up, it doesn't have to be big and expensive. A 10 or 20 gallon kit from petsmart or petco works great. You NEVER want to treat in your display tank because the treatment is copper, and if you dose copper in your display tank all your corals, and inverts will die.

will it hurt the fish if I let it ride out

Crabs McJones · Feb 22, 2018

CoralReefer1019 said:
will it hurt the fish if I let it ride out

It could potentially kill them. If you want to ride it out i'd suggest getting some vitamin rich food with garlic. It may help boost their immune system and fight it off. The only downfall to that is it's always going to be present in your tank from there on out. So if a stressful event occures that weakens your fish's immune system, its just going to come right back and you'll be right back where you started.

OhDumb · Feb 22, 2018

Look up Hypermelanization. It's pretty common in clownfish.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/clownfish-hypermelanization.96328/

CoralReefer1019 · Feb 22, 2018

crabs_mcjones said:
You'll have to get some kind of quarantine set up, it doesn't have to be big and expensive. A 10 or 20 gallon kit from petsmart or petco works great. You NEVER want to treat in your display tank because the treatment is copper, and if you dose copper in your display tank all your corals, and inverts will die.

is it contagious?

Midrats · Feb 22, 2018

CoralReefer1019 said:
yes I have some LPS in the area of the tank they hang out at

I'd be willing to wager that this is your problem. I'm going to remove a wild perc pair from my tank because of similar issues. They are trying to take up residence in some extremely toxic wall hammers and getting stung.