Clown fish - Nostril eroding

[map95003]

I've had 2 false percula clowns for 2 yrs now (mated pair), they live is a pink/green LTA. I also have a hippo and yellow tangs and a 6-line wrasse. I haven't added any fish to my tank for over 1.5 yrs, I haven't added any corals in more than 6 months. I noticed today during feeding that one of my clowns is missing a lot of the tissue around it's nostrils, almost like it's eroding to the bones, the area is white. The holes in his nostrils are wide open. I also notice that the fleshy parts on his dorsal fin are starting to recess, almost where you could see the spikes from the bones in his dorsal fin.......any ideas what this could be? All other fish are OK.

 

[Giglamesh]

are they wild caught?

 

[map95003]

are they wild caught?

Not sure. If I had to guess I would say no, they were tiny when I bought them from petco 2yrs ago. They've always been healthy and since I haven't added anything to my tank recently, I'm a bit surprise that disease would show up now.

 

[Giglamesh]

ah what are there colours like

smaller is wild caught bigger is captive bred

 

[map95003]

ah what are there colours like

smaller is wild caught bigger is captive bred

Ok, so I got the same situation, mine are exactly like yours. The bigger one has the problem. The front of his face, the space between his eyes and mouth (I'm guessing those are nostrils), the holes are wide open and the tissue looks eroded and white. I'll try to get a pic when I get home from work today...other than that he seem's OK, eating and acting normal.

 

[Giglamesh]

i was just thinking it may be http://www.masa.asn.au/masawiki/index.php/Brooklynella if its eating away at the skin but i think the clown would need to be wild caught

 

[JHemdal]

Unlikely to be Brookynella after this length of time in captivity, with no previous issues. At first I was thinking head and lateral line erosion (based on the symptom of the soft tissue between the fins eroding) - but pretty much ruled that out because clowns are mostly resistant to HLLE, so you would be seeing it on your yellow and hippo tangs first.

Waiting on a picture of course, but I'm leaning towards a necrotizing bacterial infection. I've seen these really gouge out large holes in fish. Difficult to treat because the infection is so deep.


Jay

 

[map95003]

Hey guys, here's a pic of the clown, it's on his face and dorsal fin...please let me know what you think it is and what I should do about it...thanks.

 

[map95003]

bump...anyone? It doesn't look like brook, more over every thing I read about brook says the fish would pretty much die within 48 hrs if not treated...this clown has been like this for a few days now and swimming and eating like normal.

 

[map95003]

well of all the reading I've done online I can't seem to find anything similar to what my clown has....on the positive side, I just fed the tank to make sure he's eating ok and he seem normal, eating and swimming around like normal, it even looks a bit better today - today is the 3rd day since I noticed it.

 

[CaliO]

I recently bought two fasle or Ocellaris Clownfish they act*d for 12hours and went into the main display without a problem, eating within an hour. Today I notice the same sort of nostril erosion. At first I thought they were just really large but the other clowns nostrils are specks compared. The fish size are large 1 3/4" ish... No pics needed, the above are exact...

Any suggests?

 

[schepisi]

Having the same problem. Brought home a 2.5 inch Ocel on Friday. When I got him home I noticed a large hole at his nostril area. Does anyone know what this is? Is this a deformation, an injury, a bacterial. Thought of treating with Melafix or Mar 2. Any suggestions?

 

[MrTuskfish]

i was just thinking it may be http://www.masa.asn.au/masawiki/index.php/Brooklynella if its eating away at the skin but i think the clown would need to be wild caught

If these fish were in the same tank at Petco, they probably were tank bred. Tank bred fish are not immune to brooklynella, they just have less chance of carrying it. In most cases, they have never been exposed to it, so they can't carry it....same principle as ich. However, breeders are constantly introducing wild fish to their systems and LFS mix juvi tank bred clowns with other fish. Brook could be caught by the clowns in either case.

TO THE OP:
On the subject: I don't think this is brooklynella either. Brook is a very contagious, fast spreading, and fast killing disease. The other clown, and probably other fish would have it by now as well. I have no good guess on what this is, but fish can have all sorts of cancer-type problems, deformities, diseases and infections that are impossible to identify. Reaction to anemone or coral stings aren't impossible; especially if some other cause has weakened his immune system. I'd get him into your QT and treat with a wide-range antibiotic if he gets worse, which seems inevitable. I have a Semilarvatus butterfly that developed a dime size open sore that wouldn't heal. It was in QT, no antibiotic helped and it was getting worse. I took the fish out and used a Q-tip to put iodine in the wound 3X a day. I still have the fish and he's doing great. I have also used petroleum jelly based human antibiotics (Neosporin) on a couple of infected wounds (from a Clown trigger) and it worked very well. THIS IS NOT A SUGGESTION AT THIS TIME.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Having the same problem. Brought home a 2.5 inch Ocel on Friday. When I got him home I noticed a large hole at his nostril area. Does anyone know what this is? Is this a deformation, an injury, a bacterial. Thought of treating with Melafix or Mar 2. Any suggestions?

We're getting two problems going on the same thread and this will get very confusing for us old f****. Could you start your own thread and include a pic, if possible?

 

[CaliO]

NOTE ;

I have my clown in the main tank without any medications and it's been a week or so and the clown in question seems to be doing fine. I'm going to leave him and see what happens.

 

[CaliO]

Almost 2 months later and Clown fish is doing great the nostrils never "shrunk" But look healed.

 

[CaliO]

UPDATE: Clown Is still alive and doing great.. Never did seem like he was sick.. Just deformed.