Clownifish stung by torch?

[Kmoriarty]

Hello all, I recently noticed the male clownfish has some abrasions on his side where his left side fin is, and his left side fin looks damaged. It does not look like a disease because the flesh is torn away a bit. He's swimming fine as well. However, he recently began hostin my torch coral and I was thinking maybe he is getting stung by it? There is no way it's another fish, all that is in my 40 gallon reef is the clown pair, a shrimp goby, and a mandarin. The only other possibility is that the female is being aggressive but I have not witnessed any aggression in over 5 months. The female Is clearly dominant and is much bigger in size. My main question is can the torch coral cause flesh damage? Thanks in advance for any help .

[Reefing Madness]

He ran into the rock. The clown now has a territory, and he'll go flying out when someone goes by the thing now. My money is on he wasn't watching where he was going.

[Kmoriarty]

That makes sense. I have a couple peppermint shrimp that make home in a nearby cave and they wander near the torch every so often. I did notice that the clown was in a different part of the tank last night though and not hosting in the torch. He looked more active than last night so that's a good sign. He also ate a bite of mysis too. I'll keep an eye on him. Thanks!

[leebca]

There have been reports that Torch Corals do in fact inflict stings on Anemonefishes. So, it could in fact be both things happening at the same time. Mostly, these 'stings' display as a black smudge -- indicating Hyper-Melaninization. Read through this post and just be on the look out and be prepared: Black Small Smudges on your Anemonefish?

[Kmoriarty]

Thanks leebca I'll give it a read. I plan to get some vitamin enriched foods to help his wound heal and I'm keeping a close eye. It very well
may be a combination of both problems because the clown hasn't been hosting in the torch for the last two days.

[Kmoriarty]

Great article by the way. I have noticed the black hyper-melanization on my female clown as well but she doesn't host the torch as much as the male. Looks like I'll be giving up my torch coral . It was getting a bit big for a 40 gallon anyways I suppose. Thanks again for the great insight.

[Reefing Madness]

Hope you don't see anymore swipe marks on him after you get rid of the Torch, that would be such a waste of a cool coral.