Clown - developed bruising on white of their body.

[Dukereefnz]

Clown - developed bruising on white of their body.
7 Days in QT tank.
All other fish are fine except these two.... both sitting on the sand bottom.

I have read that this is a weird thing...
Must be stress related is my guess... these two have been in my DT for 8 months... ICH?
All fish have been removed for ICH, they never showed any symptoms.

These are wild caught - lovely pair.
They are in a bucket with clean water - no Copper Power.... heater, small pump and air stone.
Lets see how they look tomorrow.

Makes me think I should not have pulled them from the DT and tried to manage the ICH...!
All other fish are fine...

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes, this bruising is seen on clownfish from time to time, usually newly acquired ones. It is only visible on the white or lighter portions of the fish's body. I have not see this on other species of fish. Although it looks like a bruise, there does not seem to be any injury related to the formation of the color change.

We do not know the cause. In some cases, the fish recover fine, in other cases, they die. I suspect, though, that the ones that died may have died from something else, so in effect, they died WITH these bruises, not BECAUSE of them.

I started a thread on this last year:

Clownfish bruising/lesion?

All, Over the past two years or so, I've come across dozens of cases on the fish disease forum here of an issue with clownfish that we have not been able to identify. I've never seen it on any clownfish I've had myself, but the issue seems most common on designer clowns, which I don't work...

www.reef2reef.com

Are your fish still eating well?
You say they are wild caught, do you know where?
Are you going to treat them preventatively with anything?

Jay

 

[Dukereefnz]

HI Jay,
These are from Pupa New Guinea.
Treating - no idea - I have nothing to treat them with.
Making them comfortable in fresh clean water with no other fish is the best I can do...
Eating - not really - but I will see soon when they wake up.... early here now.

Edit - they are not looking very good, they are having trouble swimming, they look terrible.

These were happy, healthy fish that have been in my DT months.. they were the first fish.
Only thing this could be is stress, water conditions or Ich...

I did read heater burn... seems unlikely - but both heaters are located on the bottom of the tank... so possible.
Being in NZ - the quarantine required for these fish is a long road before they get to the shop for sale.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

HI Jay,
These are from Pupa New Guinea.
Treating - no idea - I have nothing to treat them with.
Making them comfortable in fresh clean water with no other fish is the best I can do...
Eating - not really - but I will see soon when they wake up.... early here now.

Edit - they are not looking very good, they are having trouble swimming, they look terrible.

These were happy, healthy fish that have been in my DT months.. they were the first fish.
Only thing this could be is stress, water conditions or Ich...

I did read heater burn... seems unlikely - but both heaters are located on the bottom of the tank... so possible.
Being in NZ - the quarantine required for these fish is a long road before they get to the shop for sale.

Can you post a video? I'd like to see their demeanor and breathing rate.

A lot of wild clowns come from PNG. Here is my thumbnail opinion of fish from that region:

Papua New Guinea – Exports from this region of Oceania have been tried from time to time over the past decade. In late 2021, a new exporter has begun shipping from this region to the Philippines, for re-export to other countries. This exporter strives to be sustainable and uses net collecting techniques.

"Heater burn" is something that is sometimes suggested for fish health issues, but it simply does not happen - water pulls heat from a heater tube so fast, that the glass temperature is not very high - the fish would have to cover an expanse of the tube for a long period to even warm up much, and then, the fish would just swim away.

Jay

 

[Dukereefnz]

update.... clowns are looking much better...
The Mum Clown is just started to nibble at some food and is swimming around.
Dad Clown is much better also but still rests a lot...

Compared to a few days ago... my wife wanted me to stop them suffering...
Mum clown was pushing Dad clown trying to get him to move, but he would just lay there... very sad to watch.

But today...

 

[Dukereefnz]

 

[Dukereefnz]

 

[Jay Hemdal]

That is some of the worst “bruising” I’ve seen on clowns before . Looks like the entire tail stripe of the female and half the body stripe of the male is involved.
I wish we knew what causes this…
Jay

 

[Dukereefnz]

Hi Jay - sorry I did not get a video - no point getting one now I guess.
Basically they were breathing fast and just laying there leaning on things or on their side...
Still not eating yet... the female has a little.

 

[GrandmaReefer]

Has anyone uncovered more about this?

I woke up to two previously healthy clownfish (last night) covered in reddish bruises. One had died already, the other was desperately trying to swim and could not. I removed him to a QT but had no idea what to treat with. I’ve never seen anything like it until the photo above. Mine were mostly covered in these bruises. There were no other signs of disease or damage.

Unfortunately the second clown died not long after I removed him. I’ve had clowns for years and never seen this before. I initially suspected bullying by a surprisingly aggressive gang of Banggai cardinals but maybe not?

Sorry for the sad photo but I really don’t know what did this and it really bothers me.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Has anyone uncovered more about this?

I woke up to two previously healthy clownfish (last night) covered in reddish bruises. One had died already, the other was desperately trying to swim and could not. I removed him to a QT but had no idea what to treat with. I’ve never seen anything like it until the photo above. Mine were mostly covered in these bruises. There were no other signs of disease or damage.

Unfortunately the second clown died not long after I removed him. I’ve had clowns for years and never seen this before. I initially suspected bullying by a surprisingly aggressive gang of Banggai cardinals but maybe not?

Sorry for the sad photo but I really don’t know what did this and it really bothers me.

Sorry - we still don't have a cause for this. Somebody (at a public aquarium) is going to need to send out an affected fish for histopathology to try and figure out the cause. The aquarium I retired from is looking for cases in their own clownfish, but so far, they haven't seen it. I've never seen it myself before I retired.....

 

[GrandmaReefer]

Sorry - we still don't have a cause for this. Somebody (at a public aquarium) is going to need to send out an affected fish for histopathology to try and figure out the cause. The aquarium I retired from is looking for cases in their own clownfish, but so far, they haven't seen it. I've never seen it myself before I retired.....

Thanks. One day I hope to know what it was, but I guess for now it’s just carry on.

It’s too bad there isn’t a service for autopsy like ICP for water. We might learn more faster than waiting for strange diseases to show up in specific places.