Clownfish Transitioning....Or Sick??

[jkap]

Hi Everyone,

I've had two clownfish for about 6 months. The larger and more dominant one has been fading in and out of color rapidly for the last few days and sticking to the sand bed. It will look solid in color at one moment, then I will check a couple hours later and will look extremely pale, almost translucent, then back to looking normal a few hours after that. I've been looking through pictures of things like brooklynella and it doesn't look like that at all. Its skin surface still looks healthy and the paleness is uniform across the entire body. Is this stress related or could it be transitioning? It doesn't appear to be gasping like something is wrong with its gills. Just appears to be tired. All of the other fish appear fine. The other clown looks normal but is concerned and keeps checking in on the other, sometimes mimicking.

I plan on doing a 25% WC today and changing out the Purit. The only outside factor I can think of is that I had the lights on a dimmer setting a couple days ago while acclimating 2 new frags.

Water params:
Temp=78
Sal=1.024
pH=7.7 (I've been struggling to get this up)
Alk=9.2
Calc=445
NH3=0
NO2=0
NO3=~15
PO4=~.03-.06

 

[ScubaFish802]

I am not familiar with this myself but let me see if I can signal someone who is - @ReefSquad @Jay Hemdal

 

[jkap]

Update:

I just took these pics now that the lights are on. Looks better than ever even though the previous pictures were taken just a few hours ago. It's also swimming midlevel in the tank which it wasn't doing at all yesterday. Last night it looked so pale that I mixed salt overnight to be prepared to set up my isolation tank. It's really hard to beleive that all of a sudden it looks so healthy.

 

[ScubaFish802]

Also any ammonia?

Update:

I just took these pics now that the lights are on. Looks better than ever even though the previous pictures were taken just a few hours ago. It's also swimming midlevel in the tank which it wasn't doing at all yesterday. Last night it looked so pale that I mixed salt overnight to be prepared to set up my isolation tank. It's really hard to beleive that all of a sudden it looks so healthy.

That is very interesting, almost looks like a completely different fish. Hopefully someone here will have an answer for you

 

[ScubaFish802]

I see a Chromis in one of the pictures, any chance any other fish are being aggressive towards it and stressing it out?

 

[Bleigh]

I've not seen that either. I know clowns are strange. At one point, my clowns were getting translucent spots on their body. They were attempting to host a euphyllia. Once they gave up on the idea, the spots went away. I assumed it was due to stings, but maybe it's something they do?

Are there certain times of the day she gets pale? Or is it totally random?

 

[Mical]

It must be clown fish week, lots of clown fish questions. Regarding yours "color changing" (at least from my limited experience) is usually related to stress. In the pics it looks pretty healthy. My Gold Nuggets do that occasionally. Re: your prams - I'd bring the SG up to 1.026 (make sure you calibrate your refractometer)

 

[j.falk]

Clowns will pale out during rest mode and sleep in the bottom corners of the tank. Mine do that all the time. If the fish is still swimming around and eating fine, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Bleigh]

Hi Everyone,

I've had two clownfish for about 6 months. The larger and more dominant one has been fading in and out of color rapidly for the last few days and sticking to the sand bed. It will look solid in color at one moment, then I will check a couple hours later and will look extremely pale, almost translucent, then back to looking normal a few hours after that. I've been looking through pictures of things like brooklynella and it doesn't look like that at all. Its skin surface still looks healthy and the paleness is uniform across the entire body. Is this stress related or could it be transitioning? It doesn't appear to be gasping like something is wrong with its gills. Just appears to be tired. All of the other fish appear fine. The other clown looks normal but is concerned and keeps checking in on the other, sometimes mimicking.

I plan on doing a 25% WC today and changing out the Purit. The only outside factor I can think of is that I had the lights on a dimmer setting a couple days ago while acclimating 2 new frags.

Water params:
Temp=78
Sal=1.024
pH=7.7 (I've been struggling to get this up)
Alk=9.2
Calc=445
NH3=0
NO2=0
NO3=~15
PO4=~.03-.06

It does look like it's making a vigorous slime coat in these pictures. If it gets pale like this again, can you look specifically at that?

 

[jkap]

She is definitely the head of the tank so I would be surprised if any of the other fish are picking on her. The Chomis also have their own rock structure claimed so there shouldn't be any territory disputes.

Yesterday it was paling in and out all day which is what concerned me and reached the palest a little after the lights went out last night.

The clowns had been hosting a Duncan which has since almost completely receded (most likely from the abuse from the clowns). I moved it to another area to see if it would heal and the clowns have left it alone. Its definitely possible she could have been exploring other corals and was stung. That would make sense to me and I hadn't thought of it.

I will still do the water change today and keep an eye on her.

 

[j.falk]

When clownfish get stung by corals their scales have dark brown/black spots on them...they don't pale out.

 

[jkap]

When clownfish get stung by corals their scales have dark brown/black spots on them...they don't pale out.

Thank you for the pic. That's definitely not the case so it's good to rule it out.

 

[jkap]

Update:

Her color is back to being very bold during the day. She is still getting somewhat pale at night and sticking to the bottom of the tank. For about two days she wouldn't show much interest in eating but today she ferociously went after food as she normally does and appeared to be acting in her usual manner.

 

[Uncle99]

Some fish pale their colour at night.....crap.....colorful fish get eaten first.
I have a Mandarin, 5 years, looks dead on the bottom at night.
If it swims and eats normally, just keep an eye on him.
When a fish gets sick, he either dies or gets better, not back and forth.
He may find the bottom, a comfortable spot to stay

 

[UnderseaOddities]

@jkap what do you feed themmarre you using a buffer and topping off daily with fresh ro 0tds? Try supplementing mysis shrimp or nori with selcon or zoecon,vita chem for an imune system boost theyre are a bezutiful pair it almost looks like the blackspots are black ich but i know it probably isnt that,sometimes they can get black spots from paly stingor it could be hyper melinaztion from birth,the pale thing and the fin flick is a predatory thing damsels do sometimes but if it proceeds it might be a good idea to dose kannaflex or and aswell as melafix