Clowns sick ???

Neil H

Neil H

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Hi guys,

I have two percula clowns, the orange on the clowns seems to be turning black????

other than the change in pigmentation, there appears to be absolutely nothing else wrong with them..... eating well, very active around the tank....

Any suggestions as to what this may be??? should i be worried? :(
 
Well if they eating thats a good sign! maybe just keep an eye on him.

How old are they, could it not be them maturing?
 
I will try take some pics now and upload them tomorrow morning !!

I have had them for a month or so.... they are relatively small so i dont think they re maturing
 
here is one of the clowns .....

91148cfe318db886.jpg
http://www.marineaquariumsa.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=4623
 
yes and no, it seemed to encroach from the edge of the orange but there were also spots of black ...?
 
by any chance did you buy them from VIP pets in northgate?

i have a set of clowns that has black spots on it and the colour also has slipped to being a bit darker. so i got a feeling i might have the same issue...
they are happy as, and eating like pigs!
just the colouring seems to be slipping. NOWHERE near as bad as yours...

i got my clowns around 2 months ago.
are your percula clowns? if so, so are mine.

maybe the guru's can help out here?
 
Yes to all questions Furbz, but i have only had them a month or so ......

other than the coloration, there appears to be nothing wrong, and certainly my other fish show NO signs of infection?? if indeed it is an infection????
 
i got a feeling it might have come from the same batch of fish.
when i bought my clowns they had tons of the things! it wouldn't surprise me if there were a few left over.
i got the same case in my tank. all my other fish are healthy and happy.
its very strange.

GURUS???
 
Neil - there is NOTHING wrong with your clowns. They are becoming sexually mature. As soon as clowns become sexually mature their coloration darkens/blackens..... (this does depend on clown-to-clown - individuals)....
 
jacquesb said:
Neil - there is NOTHING wrong with your clowns. They are becoming sexually mature. As soon as clowns become sexually mature their coloration darkens/blackens..... (this does depend on clown-to-clown - individuals)....
Click to expand...

this include black spots?
 
Furbz - there is indeed a fish disease called "black spot disease". BUT, in the case of blackspot disease, the spots start off on the fins. And they do not change the overall coloration of the fish's skin-color. They are just a few tiny black spots on the same coloration fish.
Black spot is basically very much like white spot (marine ich) - not that they are caused by the same or similar micro-organisms..... but their appearance and location of infecting the fish are similar.... they just have a black/grey coloration where white spot is white'ish.....
And as with whitespot the fish usually scratch themselves against anything and everything they can find, as well as start breathing heavily later on. They also tend to loose their appetite....
 
Thanks Jacques,

My clowns were in group of about 20 in the pet shop, but now there are only 2 in my tank, has this isolation brought on the change? furthermore, does this indicate that the clowns have paired off??
 
No Neil - neither the fact that they have been moved from a group of 20, to only 2 will trigger such a response. Neither is it any indication specifically that they have paired off....

Quick question: Is the one growing bigger than the other? If so, it would be the female of the 2. Their sex can change, but there will always only be one female in a group. The female is always the biggest one.
Secondly, if they have indeed paired off, you will see the smaller one behave very strangely, in a strangely submissive way (funny shaking movements). This is the male's way of showing submissiveness to the female.....
You would also see the female sometimes chasing the smaller male around.... not far.... but nothing really aggresive.... just "to show who's boss".....
 
they are very similar sizes but the one seems slightly larger .... but negligable, and at this stage i have not noticed any strage behavior from the smaller one!

Thanks for the help jacques
 
Hi, I had something similar happen to one of my clowns. I have read a lot on the internet, and it is called melanism(do a search, lots of threads and awnsers).It generally happens when they host or get stung by corals. Is yours hosting in something? Mine were perfect orange until is got a hammer coral. The more dominant one that stayed close to the hammer developed black blotches (not as bad as yours). I have also read that Zoa’s could do the same.

Anyone else have some comments?
 
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