black spots on Clown, ick or stings? (mycobacterium marinum?)

[jimmy_beaner]

So, noticed some of these little black spots on the clownfish today... and am just trying to make sure that it's nothing to panic over. Nothing has been added to the tank in ~1 month and there are only two clownfish in the tank.... they've been there for around 3 months. I can see maybe 7 black spots on the dominant fish, none on the submissive.

This same fish also seemed to have a larger black spot (like a beauty mark?) on the other side for a couple weeks but it seems to have gone away.

My girlfriend was diagnosed with a mycobacterium marinum infection on her hand (I guess rare, but can occur with open cuts on the hand when you reach into the aquarium). I don't know if this might be related or not. The clowns typically eat cyclopeeze every day or every other day. My other thoughts are that it could be sting marks. I've never had ick in a freshwater or my saltwater tank, so I don't know what to look for. They have been acting normal and tank parameters are stable as always.

Temp. 79
pH - 8.2
Salinity - 1.025
Ammonia, Nitrite - 0
Nitrate ~ 0
Alk - 9 dKh
Calc - 460

Sorry for the bad pic... I'm in a hurry for class and focusing a macro lens can be tricky when the fish won't stop swimming (or even slow down)

 

[Samcro]

what does the clown host in? frogspawn, a leather or any other softie's? often they will try to host in something like a nem and these things will sting and give clowns these black dots all over. nothing to worry about if this is the case.
it could also be your clown is maturing and getting more color to him/her.

 

[jimmy_beaner]

they frequent the water output nozzle right now..... though I'm hoping they'll move to something more... organic (maybe they are?)

 

[ovrboost]

you know what i saw a similar thing at the lfs, I didnt know what to think. It was in their big DT, and several they had 3 clowns that had the same thing.

 

[jimmy_beaner]

Also, if it were stings, would any of the corals be culprits? We have candy canes, open brain, blastomussa merletti, zoas and palys. I've never seen anything from the blastos, zoas or palys. Small (1/4") tentacles come out of the candy canes and open brain but they don't frequent them much. They typically swim by where ever we are or the water output nozzle. But they roam the tank too

 

[mr.iacuessa]

my clowns looked like that for a while, thats when they were hosting my zoas, i dont think its anything to worry about, as soon as they start hosting an anemone, you should see the spots start to go away

 

[Anarchy bananna]

mine has the spotts too.

 

[jimmy_beaner]

weird, I never seem them near the zoas (and that's in Biocube 29). May have to watch a little more carefully. Could a RBTA make marks like that?

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

My SA Fancy Ocellaris have lots of black splotches all over their chests. It might be additional black coming in or it might be the frogspawns they're hosting.

 

[jimmy_beaner]

I saw them near the zoas a bit tonight (I had to sneak into the room to catch them). Most of the little spots are gone already.