[DMK]

my female maroon acts fine in terms of breathing, attitude and appetite. no heavy breathing or itching. the male is also fine. all fish ok but for last couple weeks i've noticed the female has what looks like cloudiness around her forehead and face alittle, and gill edges are white, no mucus. just the very edge though i haven't added any fish. last thing added was a RBTA on 2/14 which the clowns host. what could this be? i don't have a camera here. i was going to take out today and at least give a fresh dip but catching her proved way more difficult than i thought. way too much LR and i don't want to rip tank apart if i'm not even sure there's a problem. i am/have been feeding homeade recipe of fresh chopped clams, shrimp and muscles which are frozen into small cubes. they all get this every other day. other days are mix of flakes and full spectrum pellets. sometimes mysis. all foods soaked in selcon and zoe for a few hours before feeding. they get fed once a day, but am thinking of splitting feedings up to twice a day. should i be worried about this maroon?

[DMK]

the only thing i can think which maybe caused the cloudiness and white edged gills was, i added 8 new acro frags 2 weeks ago, around the time i started noticing this. i glued these frags to rubble pieces, and she was mad. around 6 or 7 times she slammed into whatever rock and frag i was holding, so hard she broke frag from glue right off rock. a few times she seemed to side swipe them also, instead of just head on. alot of force. i was surprised. i'm thinking, and hoping this is what caused these marks...

[leebca]

WELCOME TO REEFLAND!

Thanks for posting.

I think you are most likely on the right track. The signs/symptoms seem to self-inflicted injuries. You don't mess with the territory of a female Maroon!

The fish has got to heal on its own and that comes with your support. Part of what you need to do immediately is to feed better foods. The Maroon, like most Anemonefishes are omnivores. There isn't enough sea greens in the diet you have outlined. For some guidance on this, please refer to this (long) post:
Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition

Since you make some of your own foods, next time put in (5% by weight) spirulina. Then add bits of algae to the food, too. In addition offer daily a piece of marine algae, varying the colors. If the fish won't touch it, remove uneaten bits and keep putting in fresh. Unfortunately the fish are now trained not to eat their proper foods, so it will be a bit of a challenge to get them to eat properly.

The other nutritional thing is the frequency. They should be fed frequently, the right kinds of foods. If your schedule doesn't permit three feedings a day, then at least do two.

From the above reference, you'll find the general recommendation of feeding once a day with a fat soak (Selcon, Zoecon, etc.) and the next day, one feeding with a vitamin soak. That would be half the meals containing a soak of one or the other.

Since there is an injury involved, you need to help the fish immune system. Read this, acquire as much of it as you can, and include these into one of the two feedings that are not soaked, every day for a couple of weeks:
Fish Immune Boosters

Lastly, the fish has experienced damage to its outer coating/mucous. A solution to help repair it (containing aloe-like substances) is a good idea. These include: Pro Tech Coat Marine and StressGuard.

If the fish is not able to cope with the bacteria infection that the fish is currently on the edge of, you will need to catch it and treat it with antibiotics. If you care a lot for this fish, you should consider going ahead and setting up the hospital tank, obtaining a good antibiotic (like Maracyn Two for Saltwater fishes), and stand by to treat the fish for infection.

Keep us informed. Good luck!

[DMK]

thanks. i soak all in the selcon and zoe, which says heavy spirulina formula. it has spirulina, kelp, absorbic acid, vit's a, b1, b6 and b12, and niacin. the selcon is fatty acids and vitc and b12. i'll start smaller more frequent feedings and try offering more sea greens. i offer a piece of dry seaweed every other day for tang, but clowns have no interest. as far as adding something to help w/ her coating, i'm alittle concerned that it may be harmful to sps...? i don't know though. i tried catching her yesterday but i have so much LR and crevices and caves, it would be impossible without ripping rock work apart. hopefully she heals on her own. if not i may have to snatch her at night when she's in anenome.

[leebca]

Sounds like a plan. You may want to check out those products by searching for them on the Internet. Check to see what if anything they say about SPS.