Sick Clowns round 2...

[Slakker]

Hey all,

Looks like this may be yet another "sick clown" thread for me. My Female Ocellaris (I've had her since April) seems to be having a rough time again. After a long battle with what I presume was Ich (Hyposalinity treatment eventually cleared them up) they've been back in the main tank since June (and the tank has no other fish in it.)
They were doing well up until today, when I notice she's got some darker blotches in her stripes, and she appears to have a slightly increased slime coat. She looks to have some light grey, translucent blotches on her, most visible near the tail. Unfortunately, I am unable to get a great picture with my camera, but here's the best i can do:

You can actually see pretty clearly what I'm talking about. The dark blots show up really well, and you can kind of see the lighter areas. Behavior is normal, she's eating well. I did see her scratch up against the sand once earlier today, but haven't seen anything else outside of the ordinary.

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't tested the water in a while, but I did a 10% water change on Saturday, and also minorly changed the aquascaping. All else in my tank looks fine, so I'm inclined to think my water quality is okay (will test when I get back from night class, however.)

Naturally my mind goes straight to the worst case scenario, Brooklynella. However, this seems incredibly unlikely, as they are both CB, and nothing new has been introduced to the tank since the Zoa frag you see in the background of the shot, and that was at least two months ago. I have noticed the two of them hosting in the frogspawn more than usual lately, so I wonder if it might be somehow related.

For what it's worth, I'm using RO/DI water for water changes and top off. I've been feeding frozen mysis and cyclopeeze, formula 1 flakes, and every so often I crush up an herbivore pellet for them. Temperature has been a little high lately (reaching 85 yesterday and currently sitting at 82) and photoperiod is about 6.5 hours with 175w Hamilton 14k.

Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated. I do have the Quarantine setup from the last time they were sick that I could break out again, and am totally willing to do so if they need to be treated. Of course, I'm hoping someone will just say "Oh, that's because she's been hosting the frogspawn. She'll be fine," but I fear and am prepared for the worst.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Slakker]

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[reefman13]

I have to tell you.........................













You are pretty damn lucky
It sounds just like the symptoms my O.clown had when she started hosting Zoas, and has now left that for anthelia. Those blotches are from the stings from the coral, and the slime like coat is from her, (mucus probably) just trying to protect herself from the sting of the frog spaun.

Her rubbing herself on the sand is also something almost certainly related to the same thing.

However, if it is to worsen, don't even hesitate. Go out to the store (or order off line) some medication and QT her. But I am almost certain she will be fine.

 

[traveller7]

I would hold off on any changes unless lessions, loss of appetite, or accelerated breathing show up. Until then, keep up with the water maintenance, feed small portions more frequently and keep us up to date.

Cheers.

 

[Slakker]

Thanks for the input, guys.

The only reasonable conclusion I can come to is that she's reacting to the sting of the Frogspawn. I may yet do another small water change in the next couple of days just to help her out a bit, but I came home after a night of class and meetings to find that I had left the room light on...sucks for the clowns if they had planned on sleeping, but it did allow me to take a gander at her, and it looks like most of the weird coloration had faded.

I'm thinking that perhaps a combination of the slight stress of having her rocks rearranged and hosting the frogspawn was the cause. I've borrowed a pretty nice Nikon SLR (D40x) from a friend, so hopefully I'll have some better pictures tomorrow.

Once again, thanks for popping in...even if it turns out that I'm overreacting.

 

[Tyler.L]

you have the worst luck...i feel for you man hopefully it turns out to be nothing though

 

[Slakker]

Well...all seems to be well today. Here she is (much better camera this time...still not a great picture...)

Weird coloration is gone, all behavior is still normal...still eating like a pig.

Perhaps it was a false alarm!

 

[Tyler.L]

thats good that they're looking better for sure.

the only thing is they're pretty snubbed nosed or is it just the pic?The male also looks like his lower jaw is bigger than his top lip?

 

[Slakker]

The female is a pretty good specimen, but the male does have his share of breeding deformities. His lower jaw is a little longer, and he's got pretty badly bent gill plates. He never holds his dorsal fin erect, but he always acts normally and eats well, so I can only assume he's healthy.