Sick fish encountered...

Below is a photo of a clownfish I saw on one of the reefs in Sharm el Sheikh,

problem was 25% of all clownfish on this reef looked the same. In all cases,

were the other anemone fish in the anemone in good normal health with no growths

or skin colorations and seemed that only 1 fish in a pair were in affected.

There were also some of the groupers affected. The groupers had 20 to 40%

of their body surface covered in white. It looked like somebody bleached

part of their skin white.

Have anybody else seen something similiar else where?

Could this be some kind of chemical in the water or is this just a disease

the fish had?

This looks nasty. My fish disease knowledge is pretty limited but, the high percentage of anemone fish affected, in combination with the grouper story, doesn't look good. Have other wetpixelers been diving here recently so we can get an idea of how long ago these symptoms have started to appear?

Bart

jeez... from an aquarist's point of view... fin rot, raised scales, popeye and the beat up lips. That's like several different problems; parasites, disease and being beaten up! Hope its not an epidemic!

Were the groupers white as in their scales were raised and puffy with excess mucus or puss? or was it just parasites? Pretty much all of our large groupers here in california (black sea bass, broomtail) all have tons of copepods and isopods all over their body.