Clownfish Diagnosis

[sr3w]

Hey all - I've attached a photo that very vaguely depicts my big maroon's affliction. However, since I'm guessing you won't be helped by the picture alone, I'll describe:

It seems that she has a patch of greyish, mucousy skin just forward of her dorsal fin, with a little of the patch extending backwards onto the left side of the front dorsal. Additionally, there's a small patch at the tip of her right gill cover.

After a recent routine water test by my LFS, I've concluded that water quality is not an issue, but she's recently been moved from a connected tank into the one where I took the photo. (She had been observably stressed in the former tank.)

I'd normally suspect Brooklynella, but her mate shows no signs of discoloration or distress - I'll admit naievety on this assumption.

As for behavior: completely normal - she's going through the typical cleaning behaviors that I've been told are associated with breeding, is feeding regularly, and has resumed her distaste for my hand when I clean the glass.

Any suggestions on what the cause of this patch might be, and potential fixes?

 

[reefrunner69]

I like you would suspect brookynella first, but from the pick, it doesn't really look like B. hostillis. One of the signs is the sloughing of the slime coat and skin cells, it will look like it's skin is peeling off. The behavior is also not consistant with B. hostillis, the fish will usually become very lethargic. To be safe I would do a hyposalinity treatment. Lower the SG to approx. 1.017 (making sure to add buffer to maintain ALK and PH) over the course of a few hours. After 3 weeks, bring the SG back to normal over the course of a week.

My next thought is a bacterial infection, or a true fungus. Since true fungus' are uncommon in S/W, I would treat for a bacterial "fungus", with one of the maracyn products, if that isn't effective, then you could use Mardel's S/W MarOxy for the fungus. All treatments should be done outside the display aquarium.