Black spot

[jerry h]

Hi
My pair of perc clowns have got black spots along the topside and fins. I have had them for over 2 years. Their behaviour has not changed but they do not look as bright as they were.
There have been no new additions in the last year.
Any help would be welcome.

[Horse29uk]

recently I added a UV to my tank after an outbreak of oodinium. My clown was lethargic and its color darker following the addition of the UV he was more active and his color changed to a more orange.

I also had black spot on my new kole tang I quaranteed and treated with a copper safe medication, I also gave a fesh water dip + a few spots of blue meth, temp adjusted and PH adjusted. He soon got better and parasites + fungus and whitespot gone.

Personally if blacks spots just on fins don't worry to much but if on body I would treat in a seperate tank with medication.

[jerry h]

Thanks Horse29uk
I shall keep an eye on them, but I think uv will be next move.
Cheers
Jerry

[Wombat]

Hi Spamula

There are two schools of thought re black spot in clown fish

one is that it is a parasite usually Cryptocotyle sp that uses turbo snails as a intermediate host then invades the fish where it waits from its definitive host usually a fish eating bird. These give very tight well defined very dark black spots

the other is malpigmentation associated with being stung by the animals they are hosting in. Here the spots are less intense in colour being more black grey and diffuse around the edges

It is hard to say what is happening here without photograph, however neither problem is particularly dangerous, all be it unsightly, unless large number of parasite invade the host. If that is the case then you will need to treat the clowns with an antiparasitic such as praziquantal available from your vet and get in a new population of turbo snails.

If it is malpigmentation due to stings from their host then it usually resolves on its own

[Horse29uk]

My fish were defo brighter with the UV. Maidenhead use UV and keep there fish at 1.17 sg becuase its harder for parasites to live in such lower salt conditions.

When I compared the fish in my tank to theres, I felt bad becuase there's were so much brighter in so many ways.

No I'm using Uv to keep parasites down and I'm currently running my fish only/invert tank at 1.21/22 with a UV. In small systems its better to use a UV for fish that get stressed ecspecially if your keeping a tang because they need more space and its no natural to be kept in a 200ltr or even worse lower system.

Whenever you go to lfs and buy coral or live rock your bringing new pathogens into your system that may eventually cause parasites and or disease.

[Wombat]

keep there fish at 1.17 sg becuase its harder for parasites to live in such lower salt conditions.........

No I'm using Uv to keep parasites down and I'm currently running my fish only/invert tank at 1.21/22 with a UV.........


salinities of 1.17, 1.21/22 are considerably higher than normal seawater, which is in the range of 1.020 to 1.027 are you sure you are really keeping your fish in SG 10 times that of natural seawater!

[Horse29uk]

I mean 1.017/ 1.020 sorry I'm sure you guys know what I mean