Problems with Perc

[fishfood]

I just noticed that my perc has black spots on its stomach that look like mold or fungus. I've had him for about two years now and I recently moved, at which time I lost about 80% of my acros. Everything else looks fine. I've never been one to test the water regularly just go off of what some of the corals look like. I guess i need to know what the black marks could be.
Thanks in advance
Drew

 

[beth]

Provide some more info about what you feel the problem is. Size of spots? Are they raised? Spreading? How is the fish behaving, eating, etc.?
Can you get a pic up?

 

[fishfood]

Eating normal but has started to rub againts the bottom of the tank a little bit(not much). I haven't noticed anything else different. They are not raised. It looks like black mold that you see from water damage on wood. That is the best i can describe it. Other than that i have no idea. It is just on his stomach and a little on his fins. Maybe something from my move last month but i didn't notice it until earlier this week. You over look things like that when your acros are dying. That might be a factor but I only lost acros and nothing else. Tested everything and it was all ok. I shocked the acros under my MH and i think that was one problem plus lenght of time in a holding tank. In "shocked" i mean i had them out of the MH for almost two weeks and didn't reacclimate them porperly. Hopefully that will help you help me because i can't really tell you anything else. Nothing odd has happened and i haven't added any new fish for a few months.
Drew

 

[beth]

Unless you actually see something "growing" on or "attached" to the fish, it is likely nothing to worry about.
Be sure that you water quality its good, including pH, etc. Keep an eye on it and see if something develops. With the scratching, the fish may be developing ich or some other parasite. Do you QT fish before introduing them into display?

 

[fishfood]

This fish was introduce a while ago and was put in a QT. All other fish are also put in a QT. I can't tell what the stuff is but it doesn't look normal to me. Its something that just popped up in the last few weeks.

 

[fishfood]

I just wanted to update you on the black spots on my perc. I found a thread on -- where others were having a similar problem. It looks like the reason is corals the clowns are hosting in. Mine went from a large Sinularia to a candy cane coral to recently some Orange Zoos. The spots only started showing up when it started playing in the zoos. They are not use to the punch of a zoo and these are actually a scar or something. This is a quote from that thread, "Zoo's seem to me to be the thing that causes it most frequently, and as others have stated, it will go away with time and she will not get any more." Well I'm moving the clown to a new tank shortly and have purched a green bubble tip anemone so hopefully it will take to that and stay away from the zoos. Just thought it was some interesting info for everyone.

 

[beth]

I have heard that as a "theory", just as I have heard others refute that. My clown hosts in zoos, rics, toodstool and leather with no spots. It could be that a certain type of zoo may cause this.
If you are suspious, try removing the colony of zoos, or just relocating them to a spot that the clown won't visit and see what happens.