Mystery Spot

[usmcmarc]

On Thursday I noticed a spot on my Maroon Clowns tail. It looked like a bleach spot, or a faded area. Like a light dull orange. It was in the center, toward the yellow band at the tail, and could be seen on both sides. I made a note to keep an eye on it

I came in today, and it's gone. No trace of anything. Any Ideas?

 

[Devilishturtles]

I've had weird things like that happen to my clownfish before too. If they get stressed in any way at all, they would get discolorations and sometimes a few white bumps on their fins, then a few hours later it would all be gone and they'd be good as new. Saw this a few times and they've been alive for a few years now.

No idea what causes it, sorry. Stress is my only guess.

 

[melosu58]

I`ve seen it also most of the time in the morning and by noon it`ll be gone.

 

[usmcmarc]

Yeah..this morning I see another spot in different place on the tail. It's 11:22am now, still there. I will keep an eye on it.


1:00pm and it's gone! Think I'm gonna name him Harry..as in Harry Houdini...

 

[Devilishturtles]

Haha, good thing it's gone!

 

[usmcmarc]

yeah..it's weird. I see more show up, and later they are gone... Gonna do more research on this and see what I can find

 

[usmcmarc]

Now my Flame Angel has a white spot on his dorsal fin toward the front and on his tail fin. Again it is on both sides so it's not something on the fin...it's some sort of discoloration of the fin.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I didn't realize how many fish you had in that 29g until you mentioned the Flame Angel. Is your "My Info" up to date?

I'm just a newbie myself, but it seems like you have a bunch of fish in there, and perhaps the spots are due to stress? Anyone else think that, or is it just me?

 

[usmcmarc]

I have a total of about 10 inches of fish (rounding up). I thought it was 2.5 inches per gallon.

Obviously I must be wrong.

The Flame Angel swims all in and out and thru the rock. Swims around most of the day.

Clown hangs out in one spot most of the time, swimming around every now and then.

Firefish Gobey mainly hangs out in the rock, swimming out every now and then.

Blue and Gold Damsel Has a spot in the rock that he likes to hang out in, but spends most of his time swimming all around.

The Damsel was an unexpected occupant. MarineDepotLive sent it accidentaly with my xmas tree rock and snails. I couldnt send him back. So I'm going to ask the LFS if they will take him.

 

[MT79]

I thought it was 2.5 inches per gallon.

I wish! The general rule of thumb for SW is 1" of adult fish per 5 gal tank volume to maintain good water quality over time.

Blue and Gold Damsel Has a spot in the rock that he likes to hang out in

Watch this fish carefully. They can be very aggressive and stressful to tankmates. Taking it to the LFS is a good idea IMO.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I've seen 2" per gallon and 5" per gallon in books. Along the lines of the watts/gallon for lighting, I think the "rule of thumb" makes a lot of assumptions - tank size, filtration, skimmer, pwcs, etc. For smaller tanks though, I'd steer towards the 5" per gallon side of it because you don't have too much water to dilute things down.

Also... I've always assumed that rule is based on "adult" fish length - not the length they are right now. By my back of the envelope calcs, you've got over 20" of fish in there.

As MT79 commented - I also was curious if that damsel was giving your tankmates grief.

 

[usmcmarc]

I'm giving the damsel to LFS today. He's about 2.5 inches. I gave been watching him, and I'm sure he's the culprit. He keeps nipping at the others. I just hate to give it to the LFS, cause I know they are just gonna sell it for $30 or something. When I told him about it he said "I'll give him a home" but did not offer any compensation. Oh, well. Everyone else seems happy as pie. Corals are all doing well. So maybe just removing the damsel will be enough. BTW..the spot is gone on the angels fin.

 

[usmcmarc]

Damsel has a new home. Still see those spots on the clowns tail every now and then. But there is no more fighting. Flame Angel swims around minding his own business and the clown hangs out in his usual spot, coming out every now and then. So things look copesetic so far.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Are the spots still white? Or are they darker spots?

Just curious because after reading that you have a frogspawn and bubble, it made me wonder if the clown isn't brushing up against it when it's sleeping and getting "burned" a little. I believe coral "burns" will show up as a dark spot though.

 

[usmcmarc]

No, these look like fade spots...like a little bleach hit the fin. then it's gone in a few hours...it moves all over too.