Crease on Clownfish

[NotReefsafe]

Hello!

I bought my first saltwater fish last week--a pair of black ice snowflake (?) clowns. The male has what appears to be a crease starting from just above his head to the middle of his body on both sides. He acts perfectly healthy. The female looks completely normal. I'm wondering the reason for this crease. Is this a common deformity in captive bred clowns? Is this a result of inbreeding? Is it something else? Thanks

Note: I realize a pic would be great here but I haven't yet figured out how to take a good pic that shows the crease.

 

[Rtaylor]

I have no idea what you mean without a pic.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Sounds like you are describing the lateral line of the fish. This is a sensory organ on all fish which basically gives them a spider-sense. It’s how fish dive into rocks and evade your net so precisely.

 

[NotReefsafe]

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I can't see that well in the blue light, but that looks like a very skinny fish to me. Is it taking food, and if so, what is it eating?

 

[NotReefsafe]

I am feeding "Sara marine granules" pellets once a day. The fish is taking food. That was the food recommended by the lfs upon purchase.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I am feeding "Sara marine granules" pellets once a day. The fish is taking food. That was the food recommended by the lfs upon purchase.

I would switch to feeding twice a day, and using frozen mysis shrimp instead of pellets.

 

[NotReefsafe]

appreciate the help, thanks!

 

[Sharkbait19]

Fish definitely looks thin. My guess is that the thin fish is showing the lateral line more prominently.

 

[NotReefsafe]

Thanks, good to know that it is not a permanent issue. How can I balance between not overfeeding and making sure this fish is healthy? These clowns are the only fish in the tank.

 

[jabberwock]

How many gallons? How old is the tank? Frozen mysis usually comes in little frozen cubes like an ice tray. Start with 1/4 of a cube twice a day. If they are cleaning all of that up, go to a half a cube. Do you have any clean up crew? They will deal with leftover food. I like nessarius snails.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Be sure one isn’t stealing food from the other. Females are known to do this.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Just so you know, this "crease" you're talking about is really the atrophy/degradation of muscle tissue behind the head. This is almost always quite a bad sign when it comes to fish health, as it implies the fish hasn't been getting adequate nutrition for quite a while, and is essentially breaking down its muscle tissue to fend off starvation. With clowns, this is somewhat easy to remedy as they often eat well and don't have a fast metabolism for a marine fish, but if you ever see this on something like a wrasse, butterflyfish, angelfish, tang, etc., stay far away from that fish unless you are confident you can bring that fish back "from the brink".