Clown with black splotches.

[wax32]

Hi, I've searched the forums and haven't found anything like this other than possible melanism situation from stings. I've gotten a pretty good picture of her. She started getting black splotches a month or so ago. She is steadily gaining more of them. She acts totally normal and eats just fine. Any clues?

 

[beth]

Hypermelanization. Take a look at the picture in the Diseased Fish Thread at the top of this forum.
Can I have that picture for future posting on the forum?

 

[wax32]

You sure can. I read that thread. I was hoping that's all it was. So my fish should be ok then?

 

[beth]

Well, he's having a reaction to something so I would not say entirely ok, but its not fatal.
He'll just have the hives forever. What is he hosting?

 

[wax32]

Nothing at all. I don't have any anenomes. I have a frogspawn, a hammer, a fox, a pearl bubble, some GSPs, zoos and shrooms (no large or hairy ones). I have never seen either clown attempt to host anything in the tank. They don't even brush through anything that I have ever noticed anyway. At night they sleep up near the top corners of the tank.
This is the female of my pair. The male has one spot near his tail.

 

[wax32]

Here is the two of them. Both pictures were taken just yesterday.

 

[wax32]

I should note that the pair haven't totally bonded yet. They still occasionally twitch and dash at each other, but not often. They have been together in the tank about 2 months. The "male" is a little bigger than half the size of the "female" although that isn't obvious from the picture.

 

[lefty]

What do you feed your clowns? Sometimes nutrition deficiencies can cause black splotches. Other than that, if your water quality is good, it could just be genetic. Clowns are also known to get "age spots" of sorts.
Oh, and nice pictures!
-lefty

 

[wax32]

Thanks!
They eat: Marineland Bio-Blend, Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 and 2 pellets, Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 frozen globby things , and real frozen shrimp chunks. (Ok, mostly the other critters in the tank eat the shrimp but they sample it.) I also use nori for my bi-color blenny and crabs but the clowns don't seem to be interested in that at all.