Black spot

[btuck]

I have a false perc who seems to be getting black spots across his/her body. Are the black spots that are associated with black spot disease raised or are they more flat. The ones on my perc look flat. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Brian

 

[flip_3_6_0]

I think black spot disease is more common in tangs. It sounds like they are hosting a coral or a really strong anenome and just having a melanin (sp?) response that is very common in clown fish.

 

[NaH2O]

Brian - I believe the black spots from a turbellarian infection are raised. Here is a link about them, followed by a quote from the article: Black "ich", Black Spot, Turbellarian Infection

It should be noted that anemonefish may develop black spots on their skin through contact with corals, corallimorphs, zoanthids and anemones with which they are not familiar. These spots tend to be larger and less uniform than those from turbellaria.

Also, this thread: Clowns Turning Black, Why?

As flip posted, it could be an effect from a coral or anemone. Has the clown been hosted by an anemone or coral?

 

[btuck]

Thanks for the info everybody, the spots don't seem to be like Nikki's quote as "uniform" as what I would expect also some of the spots are larger, I haven't noticed any hosting but I could be wrong. I'll continue to watch them. Thanks again

 

[btuck]

The clown seems to be hanging out near a bubble coral that I purchased a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps that could be the culprit.

 

[Terry B]

Flip is right. It is common to see darker spots in the coloration in clowns that try to use corals as a host. It probably won't hurt the fish, but it may not look good.

Terry B

 

[btuck]

Thanks for the info everybody, the dark spots are still there, but don't seem to be affecting the fish. They are still trying to host the coral though.

 

[snobanker]

I have a false perc that also has black spots like you're describing. My other one has no spots. They are both hosting in my metallic brain. He has had the spots for many months with no other noticable ill effects. It swims and eats fine.