White spot and swollen gill on clownfish

Prairiereefer · Dec 26, 2020

Hello,
I just noticed awhite spot on the side of my one clownfish. Seems more like a swollen gill possibly due to a sting but wanted to get other opinions. He's still very active, eats normally, and has no issues swimming. Here are some photos, they aren't the best as he does swim around quite a lot and rather quickly so hard to get my phone to focus. Hes in a 120 gallon and seems to have paired with my true percula clown. Multiple other fish in the tank, see my banner picture. No other clowns affected. Total 6 clowns in the tank, all have been in there just over a year with no issues, all added at the same time. All help appreciated!

Jay Hemdal · Dec 26, 2020

Tough to see in the pics. Is this fish a long term captive? An iodine deficiency can cause thyroid goiter that will cause one or both gills to flare like that, but you don't normally see that in fish unless they are older, and fed a diet lacking iodine.

Jay

Prairiereefer · Dec 26, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
Tough to see in the pics. Is this fish a long term captive? An iodine deficiency can cause thyroid goiter that will cause one or both gills to flare like that, but you don't normally see that in fish unless they are older, and fed a diet lacking iodine.

Jay

Yeah unfortunately my s10 couldn't keep up with him too well. I bought him a little over a year ago at the lfs. Don't know where they got it but likely captive bred. They get new shipments in all the time. This one is maybe 1.5 years old.

Jay Hemdal · Dec 27, 2020

Prairiereefer said:
Yeah unfortunately my s10 couldn't keep up with him too well. I bought him a little over a year ago at the lfs. Don't know where they got it but likely captive bred. They get new shipments in all the time. This one is maybe 1.5 years old.

Probably not old enough to be goiter. Captive clowns do sometimes develop growth irregularities due to inbreeding or systemic issues during the rearing process. These usually show up pretty soon, but I have a group of black ocellaris that didn't show swollen gills until they were about 4 years old.
That said, there could also be an infection going on here, its just that the lack of any other symptoms tends to lead me away from that diagnosis....

Jay