Are you wondering why black spots are appearing on your clownfish? Is it possible that the spots may be fatal to your fish? In this article, I will review what black spots could mean for your clownfish.
Why Do My Clownfish Have Black Spots? Black spots appear on clownfish when they are exposed to corals. The coral stings the clownfish, resulting in black pigments all over its body.
However, the black spots are not fatal to the fish, and might not affect its behavior in any way.
How to Treat Clownfish with Black Spots
You can treat affected clownfish with black spots by dipping it in a formalin bath and then continue treatment in quarantine tanks for the affected clownfish, or you can leave them if it’s not a bacteria infection.
If the tiny Paravortex turbellaria flatworms cause the black spots, you could easily treat the fishes by simply dipping the clownfish in a formalin bath that has been carefully prepared.
After which you then proceed to treat the fishes in separate tanks to prevent them from affecting other fishes. You can keep them in quarantine pending when they eventually lose the black spots or appear to be feeling better and less skittish.
You might also need to study your fish when it develops black spots as the spots might have been caused by its seeking residence in the coral, which might have stung it resulting in black pigmentation, which is not fatal to your clownfish and won’t result in a behavioral change.
You can also treat your clownfish with pazipro if you think a flatworm has caused the spots. Pazipro is often used to treat Tapeworms, flatworms, and flukes – it is regarded as a great fish dewormer.
However, take care not to put pazipro in your display tank. Pazipro is acclaimed to be well equipped to prevent parasites and other infections from affecting your fish. It has been well developed to ensure that it doesn’t lead to alteration of biological filtration.
How To Use Pazipro
Below are the steps to be adhered to when using pazipro for water treatment on your clownfish:
- Ensure to treat the entire tank. I.e., do not quarantine
- Start with the largest water change you can afford
- Resume normal filtration by removing carbon and add Pazipro for 5 to 7 days
- Once the first treatment phase is complete, ensure to carry out at least 75% water change and wait for four days before adding another dose; however, do not return carbon yet.
- Once this phase is completed, you can then return the carbon and allow water to filter.
Reasons your clownfish has black spots
Your clownfish could develop black spots due to reasons such as exposure to corals that stings the fish or an indication that the tank water is due for a change.
Below are common reasons why clownfish might have black spots:
- Exposure to corals
- Skin sensitivity
1. Exposure to Corals
The clownfish do not normally reside in the coral as it is not considered a natural habitat for it. However, the fish could be forced to seek refuge in the coral if there is no presence of an anemone in the water to serve as a host spot for it.
The coral often stings the fish leaving black spots (hypermelinization) on its skin. A build up of the black spots on the skin means that the clownfish must have been repeatedly exposed to the coral, which would lead to black pigments appearing on its body from repeated stings.
2. Skin sensitivity
Black spots or patches appearing on your Clownfish could be an indicator that your tank water requires constant changes.
The tank water is often riddled with waste chemicals from unprocessed fish excretion arising from overstocking or overfeeding of the fishes which could result in black spots on the fish’s body as its skin reacts to the presence of unwanted microbes in its water.
Therefore, when you notice this, you should endeavor to change the tank water as soon as possible to prevent asphyxiation of the fish.
How To Prevent Clownfish From Getting Black Spots
You can prevent your clownfish from getting black spots by ensuring that you constantly change the tank water once it is due for a change or by keeping an anemone in the tank.
Constant water changes
The body of the clownfish is considered to be very sensitive; therefore, if you intend to prevent your fish from developing unusual spots, you can resort to treating the water in which they frequently swim to cleanse it of chemicals that possibly lead to poor skin reaction.
You can also opt for frequent water changes, which would help ensure that you only keep fishes in water that have the presence of healthy microbes that would ensure their waste are well processed to allow for healthy water conditions.
Keeping an Anemone
Clownfish are naturally attracted to anemones, a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculacea. Clownfish are sometimes called anemonefish – implying the extent of the relationship between the fish and the flowering plant.
The implication of this is that without the presence of the anemone in the tank water, it is likely that the fish would seek refuge in the coral, which could sting it, leaving black pigments on its body; therefore
To prevent this, you might opt to ensure that you keep an anemone in your aquarium so that your clownfish can easily use it as a host spot rather than seek refuge in the coral.
The presence of black spots on your clownfish is not necessarily an indication of a health condition and would most probably not be a fatal situation; therefore you could watch your fish constantly to ensure that it doesn’t get skittish and have any behavioral change which might be typical to an infection.
Otherwise, you might leave the clownfish to continue swimming in the tank.
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