Clowns turning black

[yankeereefer]

I have 2 false percs, one added months before the other. The original one had small black spots along his dorsal fins - We named him Freckles-

Freckles had a tankmate, YCG that ultimately went carpet surfing. Bought another clown to pair with Freckles - The new clown was bigger (slightly) and kind of a "nemo" orange - He was added a week to week and half ago.

The new clown has begun turning black from front to back from lateral line up to dorsal fins. Freckles too seems to have become slightly darker.

I've read that these might be "scarring" from getting used to hosting, but neither host anything in my tank. Although, after lights are out, they sometimes hover above some xenia. Could this be it?

any other thoughts?

Thanks in advance!
Yankee

 

[RokleM]

Pictures? Black ICH?

 

[stykthyn]

do you have any zoanthids in your tank?

 

[yankeereefer]

roklem- I will put up some pix this evening - Took a few last night and ran out of time to upload this morning before work

stykthyn - I do have zoas, palys and yellow colony polyps in my tank, but the clowns don't really go near them. As mentioned before, I have xenia that they sometimes sleep around. I also have a frogspawn and shrooms

I've been doing some reading on the web - I don't think this is black ick - Black ick appears to be more like smaller, well defined spots-

My clowns look like they've been spray painted; darker from the top and fading as it gets towards the middle.

Another clown forum / thread suggests clowns suggests clowns darken w/age. Maybe, but I'm not sure that's it either. In 2 weeks time the new fish has gotten significantly darker.

Could it be something to do with the fish morphing from female to male or vice versa (resulting from new pairing)?

On a side note - My YCG never got any type of marking on it and he sat on everything in my tank, nor did I ever see any adverse effects to my corals as a result

 

[yankeereefer]

here's a pic of the original clown that I had on file somewhere else. He's still about the same, perhaps a little darker now. You can kind of see the darkening (not the spots) between his first white band (around neck) and dorsal fin - This is what my new clown has, only much darker and going back to the last band before his tail

 

[ClownReef®]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8316472#post8316472 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RokleM
Pictures? Black ICH?

Black ich on clowns is like saying breast cancer on males..so NO!

Those black spots appear when they rub against zoas for example..sometimes they try to adopt a patch of zoas if they have nothing else (i.e an anemone) to host..They will go away with time.

 

[yankeereefer]

I figured as much -

BTW - I think males (human species) can (although rarely I think) get breast cancer

quote from cancerindex.org:

"Male breast cancer is uncommon, men account for approximately 1% of all breast cancer cases. Incidence in Western populations is under 1 case per 100,000 men, though rates reported in some African countries are much higher. The majority of male breast cancers are of the infiltrating ductal type, this is where the cancer has spread beyond the cells lining ducts in the breast. In many respects male breast cancer is similar to that found in women, though in general men tend to be older than women at diagnosis. Treatment tends to be the same as that for women with breast cancer of the same type and stage."

 

[ClownReef®]

..Exactly.