Is my clownfish stung, or sick?

[Kellie in CA]

I've had a tank-raised False Perc for about a year and a half now, it has always been very healthy and active. About a week ago I brought home another fish for the tank, a much smaller wild-caught False Perc. They immediately took to each other and spent all of their time swimming around together.

Now here is the problem....the tank-raised fish never had any hosing tendancies. He would always just sleep in the corner at night. Well, the wild-caught fish fell in love with the giant frogspawn and started hosting it. So, the tank-raised fish followed him and started hanging out in the frogspawn too. The wild-caught clown has gotten the usual black spots, but seems to be in decent health besides a few torn fins which are healing nicely. The tank-raised clown looks to be badly stung as his face looks like it's peeling (like a bad sun burn) and although he is still eating, he seems a lot more lethargic than usual. Even though he is all messed up, he is still going in the frogspawn and I have seen him sucking on the tenticles. I'm getting worried about him.

What do I do? Is he being stung, or is this a sign of disease? When the new fish was introduced, I did notice a few Ich spots on both fish in the first few days, but fed them garlic enriched food and it seemed to go away. My 2 cleaner shrimp may have been of help too.

 

[elegance coral]

It's hard to say exactly what the problem is, but clowns using frogspawn as a host can cause problems for both parties. If I were you I would separate them, or provide the clowns with their natural host so they will leave the frogspawn alone.

 

[Kellie in CA]

Both fish were looking a bit better when I got home from work today. The tank-raised fish is a bit more active than he was yesterday, and they are both eating well. But, they are still loving that frogspawn!!! I can't really seperate them, but I can look into getting them an alternate host. I have never had an anemone before, but my tank is establised (a year old this month). Any suggestions?