Black Spots on Clownfish

[jonewald]

Recently, I have noticed black spots on my clowns. I originally believed this was from an aiptasia that had gone unnoticed in my tank behind some rockwork. The aiptasia is gone and the spots remain. Could this be black ich? The clowns have remained otherwise healthy and are eating and swimming as normal.

Below are pictures of the clowns. They aren't the best but it isn't easy to get them to keep still.

 

[jonewald]

Anyone have any input? I'm going to try a freshwater dip tonite I suppose just to cover the possibility of it being black ich.

 

[tsprice82]

My clown fish has the same thing hope someone can help

 

[tsprice82]

I just added a new fish to my tank, thought it might be stress from this fish. Did you make any changes to your tank?

 

[tsprice82]

Did some searches on "Black Ich" or Paravortex, which seem like the most probable disease. The cure is freshwater dips and quarantine. I caught both of my infected clowns and they are now in the QT.

 

[jonewald]

I agree that Paravortex is the most probable culprit at this point. Just odd that it has shown up now as I haven't added any new fish or corals to the tank in over 3 months.

Will freshwater dip my clowns tomorrow as I couldn't get a spare heater tonite. Will post what results I find.

 

[jonewald]

Both clowns made it through a 10 minute freshwater dip with methylene blue just fine. Will post any updates on if the black spots begin to disappear.

 

[dragon76mom]

the black spots are from getting stung zoos bubble tip some thing he is rubbing on or swimming in i thought the same thing they should be fine

 

[Rondelet]

It doesn’t look like black ich (Paravortex) to me. The spots don’t look very discrete, which would be more characteristic of black ich. I agree with dragon76mom, the spots look like hypermelanisation from contact with an unfamiliar cnidarian (stinging invertebrate). If the fish appears otherwise normal and is eating, I would just give it some time and see if the spots resolve on their own.