Black spots on clown fish!!!

[Trillaman954]

I woke up and noticed this today. Is it normal? They are eating just fine. It’s a 20 gallon sumpless hex with hob regufium for chaeto. I have:
2 clown
tiger pistol and wheelers goby
mandarin
lawnmower blenny
2 Mexican turbos
fighter conch
12hermit/snails

Corals
2 mushroom coral frags
2 zoa frags
1 Xenia frag

I did my tests today and noticed everything was off so I was going to the lfs to get a spinner check done and try to resolve the parameter issues and decided to do an overall consensus on the health of the fish and saw those dots. All the other fish look fine. Anybody know what they are? I just upgraded from the white led lights the top fin 20 gallon hex aio package came with to an ai prime had and it’s on acclimation mode for 6 days now on leos signature schedule. Tank is 3 months old. I’m very attuned to the tank and do tests ever 2-3 days and have time to tend to it daily.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I woke up and noticed this today. Is it normal? They are eating just fine. It’s a 20 gallon sumpless hex with hob regufium for chaeto. I have:
2 clown
tiger pistol and wheelers goby
mandarin
lawnmower blenny
2 Mexican turbos
fighter conch
12hermit/snails

Corals
2 mushroom coral frags
2 zoa frags
1 Xenia frag

I did my tests today and noticed everything was off so I was going to the lfs to get a spinner check done and try to resolve the parameter issues and decided to do an overall consensus on the health of the fish and saw those dots. All the other fish look fine. Anybody know what they are? I just upgraded from the white led lights the top fin 20 gallon hex aio package came with to an ai prime had and it’s on acclimation mode for 6 days now on leos signature schedule. Tank is 3 months old. I’m very attuned to the tank and do tests ever 2-3 days and have time to tend to it daily.

Do you mean the brown spots? Clownfish can get that from being stung by corals, but typically the corals that do that are LPS, and you don't have any of those listed.

Jay

 

[Trillaman954]

My parameters

 

[Salty_Northerner]

My clowns had the exact same pepper dark spots and no corals that sting. They also ate just fine and one day they didn't have a mark on them.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

My parameters

Those water parameters look fine. Well, the brown spots are not a symptom of any disease really, so I would attribute it to the melanin formation that that clowns form on their skin when stung - though I can't tell you what would of done that.

Jay

 

[Trillaman954]

Those water parameters look fine. Well, the brown spots are not a symptom of any disease really, so I would attribute it to the melanin formation that that clowns form on their skin when stung - though I can't tell you what would of done that.

Jay

Ok cool. I don’t have any stinging corals tho

 

[Trillaman954]

Do you mean the brown spots? Clownfish can get that from being stung by corals, but typically the corals that do that are LPS, and you don't have any of those listed.

Jay

And what’s out my ph and alkalinity? Seem off?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

And what’s out my ph and alkalinity? Seem off?

A bit low, but that isn't the cause of this. If you tank does not have good aeration, the CO2 can build up, depressing the pH. To test for that, take some water out of the tank, measure the pH and then aerate it heavily for 12 hours. If the pH goes up above 8, then your tank needs additional aeration.

Jay