Is this normal? Is this disease? Help a noob today!

[scott_richards]

Hi everyone.

My brother has gone away on holidays and asked me to take car of his tank for him. As usual with me, whenever I am left in charge of something I know NOTHING about, something will inevitably go wrong. So leaving aside the issue of a crab eating one of his fish (not really my fault, still feel bad though), I am left with another issue.

I noticed the other day that his male clownfish had some black markings on him. Today I notice that the female has them too and the male's seems to have gotten worse. After trying to explain it to my brother, he just told me to use his login and post a picture up on this forum.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~stevenr/clowns.jpg

I know the pic is not that great, but hopefully you can see the black spots on the female, and the black areas on the male?

Can someone enlighten me as to whether the fish are diseased, or am I just an idiot? Or could it be both?

Regards,

Steve

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Does he have an Anemone? If so , these black marks could be from the fish being in contact with it. Its called Hyper-melenization [sp?] Check out the pictures in this link

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127010


As long as the fish is behaving normally [normal for a Clown, that is] I would not be concerned.


P.S.
Your not an idiot! I wish I had someone as observant and caring as you to take care of my fish when I'm gone:( Most fish sitters would have overlooked that

[Angela Short]

Other corals can cause the marks also, not just anemones :) This has happened to my clowns with a cup coral and frogspawn.

[scott_richards]

Yup, that hyper melaninization looks just about right!

Could explain why the male is a lot worse off, he practically sits in the anemone 24/7.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated!

-Steve