clownfish age spots?

[pastina]

my OC' clownfish has always had black freckles but lately they have been spreading out, mainly on his belly and under his neck. hes about a year old.
they are large black spots, not round and perfect but kinda like the way a dalmation dogs spots are, some of them connect creating an oval spot.
hes growing and acting normal, nestling in his zoa "bed", fighting with the other clown and eating like a pig and begging for more food.
i looked up all diseases including black ich and it doesnt look anything like that. ill try and get a pic of his belly tomorrow (hard to get closeups of detail)
is this just normal for clowns? to go through a color change? maybe hes part percula clown? if thats possible
the other clown hes in with is a black and white OC, i dont notice this on him at all. the black and white clown is the dominate one for the record
(waters good, nitrate is zero)

[icebear]

i wonder if the zoas are causing some sort of irritation?

[partobe]

bump

[pastina]

Originally Posted by icebear

i wonder if the zoas are causing some sort of irritation?

you may have something there
he really gets nestled in them, and he does rub his belly on them

[icebear]

its the only thing i can think of. kinda like a zoanthid hickey. he may be rubbing his slimecoat off trying to nestle in something thats not so plush, but i don't recall if zoas have much of a 'sting', i mean, i got more of a jolt feeding my condy anemone and felt no tingle or anything when i touched the zoas.


i don't know why nobody else has tossed another idea in here.

[c9miles]

I read somewhere that it's caused by the clownfish trying to host certain corals. My clownfish hosts my hammer coral, and his stomach and sides always have black spots. He never had them before he started messing with the coral. I dont think it's bad for the fish, otherwise I would think he wouldn't keep doing it. Hope this helps.

Chad