I have only ever had one clam until this summer. I bought a maxima clam maybe three years ago from Pacific East Aquaculture. It has been extremely hardy it was one of the survivors of my tank crash and has bounce back and forth in different tanks no issues ever. I assumed that clams are easy to keep based on this experience alone, although had often heard people say they are not easy.
On our field trip to PEA I bought another because I had to have a sparkling bright Blue Maxima to accompany my other one. This clam seamed to be bullet proof right from the door, the mantle was always wide open and was growing. Very quickly over the past two weeks it gradually started to close up detached from the rock and is now I believe dead. (Happened over the course of maybe 10 days)
The only change I have made was to put a torch in close vacinity to the clam.
I see no evidence of pyramid snails and the other clam is in perfect health.
Can a torch sting and kill a clam? I had never given it a thought. The torch is closer to several different Caulastrea (trumpet/candycane) and brushes right up on them with no issues. I know torches are known to have a decent sting and are also capable of putting out worse sweepers but didn’t think they would feel threatened by a clam. I would not be surprised to see them fighting with the trumpets though.
Does anyone have any experience with clams being killed by other coral?
Any other ideas on why a seemingly healthy clam would die so fast?
To be honest, I’ve had bad luck with the last several clams I got from PEA. Not saying it isn’t me that’s the common factor here, but…
I’ve not heard about a clam getting stung by other corals nearby. Mine is currently covered with zoas and it is right next to a mini carpet nem. I suppose it is possible, but I can’t recall hearing about that happening. Is it possible the foot was damaged? You have another clam, so I wouldn’t guess a parasite.
I am keeping a close eye on the other clam, Looking for signs of parasites, I am not sure what to look for other than pyramid snails.
I’m not in a big hurry to replace that one but just wish I knew what happened. The tank parameters have been very consistent since the spring and I have been real careful to dip and watch all new introductions carefully.
I dipped my surviving clam in Bayer for about 15-20 minutes (after doing some research, I found out this is possible with no ill affect to the clam) as a precautionary measure a few days after my last post.
I didn’t notice anything falling off or in the water afterward.
Although it would have been hard anyway because the Bayer makes it very cloudy and i did scrub the rock and chipped off some tube snails.
Fast forward to today, I noticed all of my astrea snails have an accumulation of pyramid snails hanging off of them.
What the heck?!! I am convinced that the dead clam must have come in with them and now polluted my tank.
I guess I will have to loose all of the snails and have to dip the clam again, the clam is gonna get his very own tank until I am confident that the pyramid snails are gone. This is gonna take some doing, very frustrating.
Wow donovan sorry to hear about this. I am always very nervous any time I add ANYTHING to my tank. There have been so many instances when my tank was doing really, really well then I add something and boom now I have an issue I didnt before. I have had squimosa (sp?) Clams in the past with no issues, at least that I knew of. I’ve always been hesitant to get a blue maxima because theyre expensive, but also I heard water and light parameters are a big deal with them. I hope this issue comes to an end for you soon.
P.S. I have an extra 40 br in my garage if you need an extra tank to set up temporarily.