Black spots on Clowns?

[tender]

Hi!
I read a post on a Norwegian forum about clowns which had developed black spots. I still havent figured out how to post pictures here, but if you click on http://akvaforum.no/forumimage.cfml?img ... 2Fforum%2F link, you will see a picture. Anyone here who could be bothered to click on the link and come up with any suggestions as to what it might be?

Kind regards
Marius Podolski

[Emma Turner]

Hi Marius,

Have a read through some of these old threads:

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=2148
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=11530
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=13182

Emma

[chefkeith]

Those spots look all too familiar.

It seems that some clowns get black spots after water changes or when they are moved from tank to tank. I think it's caused by stress. Either osmotic stress or emotional stress (like from chased around with a fish net).

High TDS seems to be a common factor.
Large water turnover seems to a common factor.
Zinc might be a common factor.
Mystery X seems to be the biggest common factor of them all.

I've done a few things to keep this problem from reoccurring in my tanks. I'm not sure what has helped but something has.

-I do very very slow drip water changes.
-Monitor TDS. TDS is kept in a range that I have specified for my tanks.
-Removed all the rocks that were leaching.
-Removed Zinc and/or Brass fittings that were used on my sink when I was doing water changes.
-Clowns are not allowed to sleep on the substrate floor or in driftwood anymore. They have plenty of PVC caves to sleep in now. This is so that they don't damage their slime coats.

I've had no more major outbreaks since I started doing these things a few years ago. I do see an occasion black spot or 2 crop up every know and then after adding water to the tank, but it's nothing for me to worry about anymore.