clown loaches with strange spots!

Svetlana

Svetlana

AC Members
May 11, 2008
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Cyprus
Hi.

I got 5 clowns in my tank for about 4 years now with no problems in the process :) For the last 1-2 months they got strange spots which do not seem to bother them at all, clowns look just as happy and food greedy as usual!
Details about spots:
the spots are only on top of the fish from the nose till the fin
they don't spread and don't appear on any other part of the fish
they also don't pass to any other fish
spots look similar to extreme case of ich (very close to each other) but they are greyish colour and don't glitter like ich spots do

Any ideas what it might be?

Will appreciate ideas - till now I can't find any posts about anything similar.
 
Do the spots look sort of like dark freckles? If you do an internet search on "clown loach" and freckles or "black spot," you'll get a lot of hits. I researched this about a year ago, when I owed clowns, and I never got a definitive answer about what was going on. I posted about it on loaches.com: http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=13182&highlight=
People there suggested that the spots were related to total dissolved solids in the water, and they said I shouldn't dump new water in the tank during water changes but slowly drip it in. I did this, and the spots did indeed clear up, whatever they were.
If you post a pic of your fish, I can try to tell you if the spots look like what were on my clowns.
 
the spots are more light grey colour - and they definitely don't show anywhere except top of the nose - I will try to get a pick if they stop running around for a sec :)
 
That's a good looking clown!
If you click on the link in my first post, you can see some pics I put in the loaches website thread. The first one shows my clown with a grey little nose. The grey patch started out as freckles, but the freckles became so numerous that they formed a sold patch.
See if it looks like your guys. The spots on mine turned out to be harmless. In fact, I noticed later that the clowns could lighten and darken the spots at will, just like they can make themselves pale when they are stressed or angry. So I know, whatever the spots on mine were, they were part of the clowns' own pigmentation.
 
checked out your photos, but the one with the clown is a bit too small to see for sure. I succeed to get quite a good pick I think - have a look if it looks like the spots yours had - I also think that the colour of spots does change - sometimes I can see them very well, other days much less.

On a photo the spots show on a clown at the bottom of the pic (the white dots in the water is food).

DSC02261.JPG
 
I think those clowns look healthy. I don't know why the pic on the other thread was coming up small, but I'm reposting it here:

IMG_0476.jpg


The spot on his nose is actually cluster of gray freckles. The freckles seemed to increase as the clowns got older, and some of them went away after I started dripping my water in during water changes.
I think, if your clowns' spots lighten and darken along with the rest of their coloration, then this is just part of their skin. If the spots were parasites or some other topical ailment, then I doubt they would change shade.
But the moderator Lupin is the loach expert--hopefully he'll see this thread soon and give you some more feedback. :)
 
LeahK said:
The spot on his nose is actually cluster of gray freckles. The freckles seemed to increase as the clowns got older, and some of them went away after I started dripping my water in during water changes.
I think, if your clowns' spots lighten and darken along with the rest of their coloration, then this is just part of their skin. If the spots were parasites or some other topical ailment, then I doubt they would change shade.
Click to expand...
True. These are actually tubercles as correctly identified by is300zx. Nothing wrong with that. It's part of their body anatomy.
 
Thanks! that really helps, plus now I have an idea about male/female mix and can stop worrying about those spots being sign of some disease! :)
 
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