Sick Clownfish. Help ID the problem please

[Kevin Day]

For the last two weeks we've noticed a small leision on the cheek of our maroon clown that has slowly gotten worse. It looks like scar tissue in that it is clear and slightly raised from the skin. Her cheek spine has nearly dissapeared into the puffy mass of tissue. The only other fish in the tank are two small green chromis that show no signs of any kind of infection. Her demeanor seems to be the same, her appitite is good. Tank paramaters are all normal. As you can see in the pictures, she hosts in a H. Crispa anemone. At first we thought she may have scraped her cheek on the rock and the sebae's sting may have irritated the injury, but this has been getting slowly worse over the course of two weeks. Any ideas what this might be and how I can help her get better?

 

[jersey1]

Hard to tell from the photo but it could be a bacterial infection. Best thing to do would be to quarantine the fish and treat with antibiotics.

Bob

 

[Reefguide]

Head and Laternal line errosion?

 

[Al G Blenny]

Good Book!! Talks alot about the different diseases Clowns are prone too, and specifically some info on Maroon Clown diseases. If the fish means alot to you I would suggest investing in this book, it is very helpful in more ways than one.

My guess is this may be the early stages of a disease called Brooklynella which Maroons get from time to time for unknown reasons (usually wild caught specimens prone to it). The symptoms are Thick, whitish mucus, rapid respiration, loss of appetite, faded color. treatment recomendations are a 15 minute freshwater dip, treat the tank with formulin, or let nature take it's course. It's a tough choice but I wish you all the best.

 

[denny]

Have you seen any further changes in the growth? My True Perc had a similar type of growth that started on the gill plate and eventually spread to most of the fins on the body. I tried various treatments from Rally to freshwater dips to physically removing the growths. They just returned and spread. Finally I did a massive H2O change in the QT and started feeding food soaked in Selcon. It has been about two to three weeks since I started feeding with Selcon and the growths are nearly gone. I hope to have the Perc back in the main tank in the next couple of weeks. Looks like it was probably lymphocystis. I guess the secret is for the fishes' immune system to get strong enough to overcome the disease. Seemed to work for me. I hope it works for you. Keep us posted.

Denny

 

[Anonymous]

treatment recomendations are a 15 minute freshwater dip

15 minutes? wow - i have never heard of doing that for so long. it seems at the most, i've heard anywhere between 30 seconds to 1 minute for fw dips. wouldn't a period that long kill the fish?

how long have you had your maroon, kevin?

 

[EmilyB]

Yes, Wilkerson recommends a 15 minute FW dip for Brooklynella.

I had wild caught 5" saddlebacks that were dipped up to 30 minutes with no problems 8O - larger clownfish seem to be very hardy indeed...

This looks like an injury to me, but I'd be likely to just keep the water conditions pristine, and feed healthily.

And just in case:

If you use formalin on a fish with open wounds or sores, it will be very irritating and can kill them.

delbeek

 

[Anonymous]

wow! 8O

and i'm scared to even dip a fish for 30 seconds.

 

[Anonymous]

You shouldn't be, hun. If you ever need help, you can call someone who's an old pro at the old f/w dip. Literally THOUSANDS.

Good catch, Em, formalin is caustic indeed. This doesn't appear to be HLLE at all, that seems to make holes, not "proud flesh" (a.k.a. keloid tissue).

However, if the fish is still behaving and eating normally, should we assume that it is Brooklynella, or should it still not be ruled out? I need to figure out where the heck my disease book is..:?