Amphiprion mccullochi, the Mcc's have landed:D .

Ryan, do you have access to a good bio lab?

I know it is exterme, but these are exterme clownfish too... Try and get a swab of the spot and get it under a scope. If it doesn't look like a creature, get the swab off to the lab and see if it is fungus or viral or what.

Since they likely brought it with them, you might poll your mates with latz to see if anyone else has seen anything like it.

So you are going to nail a spawn in a few days... Not bad. Sounds like this species is going to be better suited to captive life than we could have hoped for. What did you say the water temp was again where you collected them?
 
I'm not 100% sure but I think I could get this to someone in a lab. I was talking to a fish vet of sorts a while back about a bacterial problem and he suggested culture and sensitivity to determine the cause and a cure. I suppose he would be a good place to start. The only problem with that is that I don't seem to have the spot any more. The lowered SG seems to have knocked it out overnight.

I have been meaning to say I am not sure if they did bring this with them. There is a chance I introduced it via fresh food. I had some tricinctus butterflies I collected with the Mcc's in the same QT system and I used mussels and oysters to start them eating. Is it possible this introduced this problem? No other Mcc tank has shown any sign of this and they were all packed in the same water. The only difference I could see that could have caused this is stress. With every other pair they were placed in full reef style tanks and all seemed to settle in much better then this pair.

I can't believe it myself, but it may be possible these guys might spawn, I wouldn't believe it myself if someone had told me this might happen so soon, but everything I know about clowns tells me it could be possible. What I just saw when I tried to take a pic of this possibly blocked female might even add more weight to this. This female just went to the toilet in front of me, so does that mean no blockage. It isn't a very good shot but here is a pic of the female with the suspected blockage taken today.

Picture739b.jpg
[/IMG]

I thought it might be sensible to include one of the mystery spot, just in case.

Picture710b.jpg
[/IMG]

I meant to say, thanks a lot for all your help.
 
Oops, I forgot to say. While I was there, the temp ranged between 24-26c or 75.2-78.8f and the divemasters over ther confirmed it did go as low as 18c or 64.4f in winter. One divermaster I talked to over there also said that the temp in the lagoon went as high as 28c or 82.4f in high summer and depending on the tide, I haven't confirmed this yet but after seeing how low and calm it gets on low tide, often in the middle of the day I wouldn't be too surprised if this was true.
 
It means no blockage in the vent, but doesn't rule out the ovipositor. But as long as she is showing smooth curves without unnatural lines I would be less concerned.
 
Of course, I should know that. She does look normal, very similar to how my melanopus clowns look when they are getting ready to spawn.

Did anyone have an idea what that above spot is? While I still can't see any more on those clowns, the male of the pair is still off colour and doesn't have a normal appetite.
 
Glad some good news came after the bad ones. If the female spawns that would be a nice way to start the semi new year! Be sure to follow up with pics of spawning when it happens.
 
Well I finally have a id for that mystery bug that was affecting one of my pairs, notably the male, they are skin or gill flukes. I ided them under a microscope so I am fairly certian of this. So the next step is treatment, I am stuck between treating this as effectively as possible but also avoiding a harsh treatment.
My options are FW dip (they have survived in SG of 1.010 so far), formalin or trichlorfon. What does everyone think? I have not treated flukes before and can find little info on them, so any info would be great.
Thanks, Ryan.
 
Ryan,

I have used Clout(by Aquarium Products) over the years for flukes and worms.

Can't use with inverts or liverock, it contains(or did contain) trichlorphon(Dylox).

I have yet to see it not take out flukes.

Good luck.
 
Thanks Scott,
When you have used it before do you use it in a bath, or just treated the infected system? I don't suppose you know if it has much of an effect on biological filters?
Ryan
 
Ryan,

I used it bare tank o the best effect. It is quite effective in killing just about any invertabrate in rock and sand. It may leave bacteria alone, but I only risk using it in a freshwater tank since the ammonia toxicity is less at a lower pH.

Not sure what options you have for systems, but if you use it in a "main tank" consider it sterile and not to be invert safe for quite some time....maybe years.

I prefer to treat my charges in a bare tank, with 3" pvc pipes for shelter, mechanical filtration, etc.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks again Scott,
All the info is very helpful, exactly what I was looking for. They are in a bare QT type system with clay pots as shelter, so I guess it is as good a place as any to treat them. That's interesting that it could make a system not safe for inverts for years, very useful to know.
One thing I should have asked is what kind of period do you need to treat them for. From what I gathered, trichlorphon wipes flukes out fairly quickly.
Thanks for the help, Ryan.
 
IME the flukes appear gone in a day or less but I go at least 2 days after they finally "disappear" and show no signs of distress for good measure. Most sources of trichlorphon require daily treatment and don't have lasting effects. If you are using a different source of trichlorphon, it may not have as bad a long term effect on inverts.

I have had issues with inverts in post "Clout" treated tanks, so I don't even try. It could have been something else, but it was not worth further diagnosis in my situation.

Either case, stock up on good carbon for the run after and don't be shy about changing it every 3 days for a bit.
 
That is a fairly quick treatment, it's good to hear. I suppose it isn't that big a deal about not using this system for inverts, I can always keep it as a QT system or turn it into a grow-out system once larger scale QT isn't needed.

It's a new day, so I better go grab some trichlorphon and get these clowns sorted. I think once these guys are treated I can finally say this trip/adventure is finally over and if nothing goes wrong I might just get away with this with a 100% survival rate:D .

Thanks for your help Scott.
 
Best of luck and always plan on finding a more resistant version of a the pathogen......less disappointing that way :)
 
That is a good point, you never know what might have evolved down Lord Howe way.
The Mcc's have been treated with the trichlorphon and within hours the male became more active and I swear his colour has improved.
 
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