I have an ocellaris clownfish, maine mocha clownfish and skunk cleaner shrimp. I got the two clownfish together when they were young and around the same size in December 2019, since then the maine mocha has grown 2x the ocellaris's size and for a couple months now they have been doing their twitch dance at one another. The maine mocha has always chased the little one around occasionally but never damaged any fins or stressed him out.
But for the past week or so the chasing as become constant and the male took some minor fin damage. I noticed the ocellaris had become much more pale, showing concerning signs of stress and I bought plastic mesh to divide the tank between the two, but that same day the fighting stopped altogether. But since my ocellaris had taken damage and much stress I still divided them to give him time to recover. I divided them yesterday during my water change and he has already gained more color and I noticed his front fins were not transparent anymore.
But today his tail fin has lost a lot of color and now looks spotty, since this happened after the separation the cause can't be stress from fighting right? His behavior is normal and he ate fine yesterday. So maybe stress from the divider? Illness?
If better pictures are needed let me know.
How long have you had the fish? Do you know if it was wild caught, or tank raised? Got the ocellaris and maine mocha together as juveniles from my
LFS in December 2019.
2. How long has the fish been in the tank? What are the tank mates? Any aggression? Never any violent chasing or fighting aggression but the maine mocha has always occasionally chased him around.
3. Is the fish eating? If so what does it eat? The fish eats twice in small increments with marine pellets and small flakes.
4. What are the water parameters? pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, SPG? (actual numbers please: posting high, average or normal is not helpful) What saltwater test kit are you using? pH is 8.0, ammonia 0-.25 closer to 0 on the chart, definitely does not match .25, nitrite 0, nitrate 0-5.0. Used the API saltwater kit.
5. Is the fish showing any physical signs of disease, grain of salt size spots, discoloration, ragged fins, misting or spots on the fins, cuts, cloudy eyes, etc? No fin rot just random spots of lost of color on tail.
6. Is the fish "flashing" (scratching or rubbing on rocks, decorations or substrate)? No.
7. How is the fish acting? Is it swimming around, or just hovering in one spot or corner of the tank? The fish is exhibiting usual behavior and eating patterns.
8. Did you use quarantine? If so for how long and did you have a need to treat for any ailments? Is it in qt now? Are you currently treating with any medication(s)? It is not in qt, not currently being treated with anything.
10. What size system? What type of filtration do you use? Do you have any live rock or sand?
Hob filter, sand and live rock.
11. Do you use any additives? Have you used any sort of meds in the main tank? No meds have been used.
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