Freckled ORA Extreme Misbar or disease??

[bexarhunt]

My ORA Extreme Misbar Clowns like from one day to the next have developed black spots everywhere....Is this common? Or could there be something wrong with them? Do they have a disease that I need to treat immediately? Both have black freckles all over. I have had them for a couple of months. They have always been solid orange until a couple of days ago they just appeared. Both at the same time! One clown is larger than the other and has always been. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

[Kristy]

Oh no, I sure hope it's not black ich. I've never seen it myself so I'm not sure (knock on wood). Do a search on it and see if you can find out more about it. I know Erik (ScropiNO) managed to get a fish or two over black ich a while back and Ace recently lost some due to this.

Do they seem otherwise well?

[bexarhunt]

They are eating and none of my other fish have any signs...will research! Thanks!!

[mikedelgado]

those are some cool lookin clowns!

[Jonthefishguy]

It is not a disease. What you are seeing is Hyper Melaninization; burn marks from coral that clownfish get over time when they rub themselves in corals or inverts such as frogspawn or zoas. Its just a reaction (burn if you will) from the toxin from the coral or inverts. Nothing to worry about.

[ErikH]

If I had to guess I would say black ich. Buy a cleaner wrasse or shrimp. Neither are guaranteed, but if it is black ich death would be certain, so it's worth a shot.

[ErikH]

Are they raised bumps or just specks?

[ErikH]

oh nvm jon chimed in.

[bexarhunt]

WOW! I just read something similar doing a google search on Talking Reef Community referring to the clown's reaction to being stung by spsl. There are no bumps, just specs but on both. Thanks so much for the feedback and info! Good thing we have some folks who know this stuff and can teach us all a thing or two!!!

[Richard]

On clowns, you can always tell the difference between black ich and hyper melanization because black ich would affect the entire fish including the white areas. Whereas with hyper melanization the white areas will never show black spots since those areas do not have any pigmentation.