possible sick clown, looks dirty, please help!

[sinner's girl]

I got home on saturday, that night i feed the clowns, noticed that The top of the big clown looked dirty. it's splaticy black. Not her whole body! the new webcam sucks and i can't get a pic with it. My laptop will be here next week, can get a pic then.
had to leave for the weekend, just got home, went to feed them, it's worse.
both clowns are eatting and moving around like normal. Healthy appatite.
The little clown looks normal.
I have no clue. nothing has been adding to the tank since the last clown which was mid jan.
All inverts are fine, moving around and eatting.
last water change was around the july 4th. Amonia, nitrates and nitrites were zero, ph was low.
I can't test the water right now b/c the test kit no longer works, we will be getting a new one.
We've had this clown about 1.5 years, was tank raised. Doesn't look like the little fish is picking on her. nor is there a crab or anything to hurt her.
if it matters there is a lot of algea on the glass, and the fish have not been fed well over the summer. (i had no control over that and it will NEVER happen again, I'm home for good).
Ask anything else i forgot to add, i know that's not a good disribtion but it's the best i can do.
Thanks! any and all info is great! if i see a pic i could tell if it was it.

 

[sinner's girl]

how long does it take for the clowns color to change, it seems kinda rapid, but it reminds me of old clowns I've seen in various tanks. Yes they are breathing, eating normally and no scratching.
thanks,
Sinner

 

[beth]

Sexual maturity and the mating season could well be the situation. What are your water readings?
I'd do a water change and some tank maintenance. It never fails that if I leave my tank for a few days, no matter how good a shape it was in when I left, the fish seem to know something is amiss and get sick.
What are you feeding the fish?

 

[sinner]

i hope they start mating , I saw a guppy thank with many little babies running around which was so cool.
Sinner

 

[sinner's girl]

thanks beth and terry for your reply.
amonia, nitrites, and nitrates are at zero. Not sure about ph, was told it was within range but on the low side. was told it wasn't low enough to worry about. sorry i don't remember the number (i need to start writing this down.) I cleaned the algea in the tank (timer wasn't working so lights were on for a few days stright).
The fish are feed frozen brine.
The big clown (the one that looks dirty) is more aggressive towards the little clown than normal, but the little clowns seems to be ok. They are the only fish in the tank.
Other then the color of the big clown (which is twice the size of the little one) the clowns seem normal and heathly. they are active, don't appear to be breathing heavy or slowly.
It's Tuesday night the clowns color doesn't seem much different then it was last night.
I'm very happy no one thinks the fish is sick. I didn't either (since it was eatting and swimming) but got worried when i noticed how much the color changed in two days.
I'm back home so they're getting attention again. I'll keep a close eye on them for the few days and see what happens.
One question. If it's Sexual maturity does that mean the two clowns have paired up? they were bought at two different time about a year apart.

 

[beth]

Terry is right. Brine shrimp to fish is like chocolate to us---they love it, but they can't live off it.
Get a good deal more variety in that diet. Also, get some Zoe or Zoecon and add a few drops to the fish food an hr before feeding.

 

[sinner's girl]

No one has ever told me they needed more then Forzen birne shirmp. But if variety will help them be heathly then I'll what they need.
Thanks for that tip. Btw, the 'dirtiness' isn't as dark as it was...

 

[beth]

All fish need variety in their diet, just as we do. Personally, I provide my fish with a variety of fresh seafoods from the grocery store, and dried seaweeds. I food process this with Zoe or Zoecon, then drop a small glob onto a cut piece of foil, store in well sealed container in the freezer until used. This is good, nutritious foods that actually costs less than all the hobby packaged foods you would need to get to supply an adequate diet to fish [hobby food isn't cheap].

 

[sinner's girl]

fresh seafoods? what kinds? how much of what?
lfs doesn't have Zoe or Zoecon. got bloodworms (tetra Nature's delica whole bloodworms) from wal-mart. the clowns didn't seem to like it much last night, but ate it tonight.
still trying to find out if the brine shrimp we feed them has added nutritians...lfs was out...but it's less than $6 for a package that last us a very long time.
thanks