Sore on clownfish

Kristopher Conlin · Apr 8, 2022

I just noticed an area that seems to be a wound and missing scales on the tail of my female clown. The area around it seems slightly raised as well. The lighter color patch near the tail has always been there and is part of her coloration.

She is acting normal other then scratching on the rocks which I only noticed her do once after watching for quite a while.

The only fish in the aquarium are two clowns and it's been that way for three years.

Any ideas what this could be?

vetteguy53081 · Apr 8, 2022

Looks like a bacterial infection from an injury or bite.
While treatment would be Seachem Kanaplex, keep an eye on it as often saltwater fish have the ability to heal and quickly should this be from injury.
Hard to tell from pic under heavy blue but do the fish have little dots on them that looks like salt grains or is it your glass?

Kristopher Conlin · Apr 8, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
Looks like a bacterial infection from an injury or bite.
While treatment would be Seachem Kanaplex, keep an eye on it as often saltwater fish have the ability to heal and quickly should this be from injury.
Hard to tell from pic under heavy blue but do the fish have little dots on them that looks like salt grains or is it your glass?

No dots on the fish I just need to clean my glass haha.

So for now should I just keep an eye on her to see if she heals? Catching her will be difficult with the nem in sure. I can order Kanaplex now just in case I need it.

vetteguy53081 · Apr 8, 2022

Kristopher Conlin said:
No dots on the fish I just need to clean my glass haha.

So for now should I just keep an eye on her to see if she heals? Catching her will be difficult with the nem in sure. I can order Kanaplex now just in case I need it.

Keep an eye, yes and good call on acquiring meds in case

Jay Hemdal · Apr 9, 2022

Kristopher Conlin said:
No dots on the fish I just need to clean my glass haha.

So for now should I just keep an eye on her to see if she heals? Catching her will be difficult with the nem in sure. I can order Kanaplex now just in case I need it.

Just a side note - black clowns really show excess mucus very clearly. If this were a orange clown, you likely wouldn't see much at all. It may be less serious than it looks.

Jay