clownfish has white spots on mouth

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jbeatts

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 9, 2019
Messages
29
Location
California
My reef tank has two clowns in it. The black and white clown seems to have some white spots on its mouth. I didn't see them this morning (6:04 pm right now) when I dosed a small amount of sodium carbonate. I made sure to monitor the alkalinity and pH as I added the solution as not to increase them too quickly. Could the dosing have caused the white spots or is it a disease or infection? Hope the pictures are visible. The white spots are mainly on the upper lip but there is a speck or two on the bottom.


Please any thoughts help. That clownfish is my life!!!
 

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1. I would like to know why you are dosing. There aren't any coral I can see, water changes will do just fine.
2. I see a lot of algae on the back wall. I'd point towards poor water quality as the reason your clownfish is sick.

Treatment will require a hospital tank and a copper based medication.
 
1. I have corals. They are not in the photos. One leather and three mushroom. I am dosing for low alkalinity and pH. I do a weekly three gallon water change on the 20 gallon tank (more like 18 gallons).

2. Even if all my water parameters are ok it can still be considered poor water quality? The clownfish itself is eating the same and there are no respiration issues, or any other indicators of disease apart from the white spots.

For treatment what medication should I use? Is it okay to dose medications for a disease even if you're not sure if a fish has it? I don't actually know what the disease is if any.

Thanks.
 
Don't dose for pH. Just re adjust the powerheads to get more oxygen into the system and more CO out. It'll level itself out as it goes up and down during the day. If you want it to be more stable, you can run a refugium or turf scrubber in the sump on an opposite lighting schedule as the display.
And yes. Tests give us false readings all of the time. At many points, people can just look at their system and tell what is wrong. If you have algae, it is feeding off of phosphates and nitrates in a system. Detectable or not, they are there as it needs it to grow.
In terms of medication, copper based medications are what will treat this...if it is still there than it is sick. Treat in a hospital tank and not in the display as copper is deadly to all inverts and corals. It should not be harmful to the fish if done correctly. With that said, people put fish through this treatment before going into their display tanks every day. It will be just fine to do to a healthy fish.
 
Could I use an air pump to increase the oxygen in the tank? How much would an algae scrubber cost?
 
I added a refugium and adjusted the powerhead anyways, but I think I was being a nervous Nellie and the Clownfish is fine. The white spots have cleared and I think it may have been caused by fighting and locking jaws. The fighting has subsided and the fish seem to be working out who is the female.
 
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