added a crocea clam 12/4/08 big jump was planing on a squmasosa should have stuck to that. but had to have it looked great evean grew a bit till a bout a day ago stated to brown a lil didnt think to much of it but to day it became lathargic and seems sucked it and is a sort of lopsided mantel.
75 gal tank 4 4ft vho
brodcast feeding phyto chrom from brightwell as per dr mac
clam is on current highest spot 8 or 9 inches form top of water
clam has some pink maby a sponge on its schell heard this could be bad?
water qualty is
80*
1.026 sg
ph 8.4
alc 2.0 meql
amm 0
no2 o
no3 0
cal 420ppm
water quality has been stable and checked often
one yellow tang and a bunch of frags 75 pound of live rock form established tanks
any ideas guys ? any more info needed ?
ps this post writen by jon hand jen would have been more legable but is curentaly re testing
bummer. sorry too hear. jon and icy will walk you through this one i am sure. i dont know much on clams but was thinking of getting one when i find one cheap later on. well it was nice having you over and hope all frags and clam pull through. talk to you later this week. will see tank wensday or thursday nite.
Hey guys… first, thanks for taking care of the tank for us.
For the clam, did he attach to the rocks at all? If not, try lifting him up in the water and looking with a magnifying glass or good eyes for small, cone shaped snails where the foot is. Since it is fairly new, it may have come in with some of these parasitic snails.
My 2nd thing would be try to spot feed him some phyto. To do this put a small tupperware container over him upside down, and then put they phyto in with it so that it all stays around the clam.
For the sponge, I have heard that it may be bad or that it may not be. If you are worried about it, the quickest way to get rid of a sponge is to either scrape it off or expose it to air.
The only other thing I could think of is just leave it alone for a day and see if it gets worse. Ours has had a few days of PMS ocasionally and just lookes pissed for no apparent reason.
Give me a call on my cell if it doesnt look any better tomorrow… we are back in town finally.
I’m going to leave it alone for the rest of the night and take a good look at it tomorrow. The clam has not attached yet, which I thought something might be wrong, but not too sure.
Last week, it was looking really good, great color, and the mantel was open really wide…but at the begining of this week the color was a little darker and the matle not open as big.
Then, last night we changed the powerheads, which also changed the flow, so that could be part of the problem too.
usually when stuff is going fine and then all of a sudden changes it usually is a indication the is a change in aquaruim. and you may have just answered your own post. you changed the flow and may have caused more current on clam. not saying this is it but may be part of the problem. usually the small changes we make to improve tank can cause a different reaction than we thought it would.
usually the small changes we make to improve tank can cause a different reaction than we thought it would.
nothing could be more true. any changes, good or bad, can cause adverse affects to your animals. if the change is for the better, they will adjust and look fine in a couple of days.
Can you post a photo of the clam? The yellow tang is the only fish in the tank? The Alk is low and this can cause a lot of problems with clams, I would lowly raise this up to between 2.5 and 3meq/l
The phyto mix you are adding is a dead mix. Clams do filter feed some but they get most of their nutrients right from the water as dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus. Your best bet on feeding the clam is to make sure you feed your fish well, then when the fish pee’s and poo’s these nutrients will be taken up by the clam.
Target feeding clams is really not a good idea because clams dont large amounts in a short time, they slowly filter small amounts constantly. When given large amounts of particulate most if not all is rejected as pseudofeces
Unfortunately, we think the clam might have died last night. We picked it up this morning to inspect the bottom, and the clam was not responsive at all. The lights have been on for almost 2 hours and its mantel is still sucked into its shell.
We posted some pictures of when it was healthy/happy and what it looks like now. Any ideas of what went wrong?? It seemed like it was doing so well since we added it to the tank; then, all of a sudden, within the past three days its color started to change (dull looking) and it was not opening as wide.
Would the lack of nitrogen and phosphorus, due to only having one fish (a yellow tang), cause a reaction like this to happen so suddenly, and without any major fluctuations in water quatily parameters?
Unfortunately I have no advice or anything else to offer. That sucks. I hate losing things, especially when they’re as pretty as a clam.
I’m sure Icy or Chris_Barb will have more definitive information for you. Just important to use it as a learning experience so you’ll know what happened and what to look for or do differently in the future.
I am very interested in the possible reason for such a fast decline as I have only recently begun keeping a clam as well and do not yet know as much as I’d like to about them.
Im not sure i understand. Did you only have the clam for 3 days, or have you had it longer and it declined over 3 days?
If you had it for only 3 days, then my guess is its most likely an issue with your system. Maybe your not quite ready for a clam. It would be similar for an SPS. If your tank can not support an SPS, it would probably look fine on the first day, and then rapidly decline over the course of 2 or 3 days.
Im sure Chris can enlighten you a little more if your particularly case is symptomatic of any known pathogens or pests, or if this can simply be a result of transport/acclimation issues.
Every tank has nitrates or phosphates on some level. I dont think you have to worry about your low bioload. My nitrates conisistenly read around 2 ppm and my phosphates read 0ppm, yet my clams grow like weeds with no direct feeding. Im sure what Chris is implying is that your clams will feed on the trace amounts of nutrients that we all have in our tanks, not that we have to sustain our clams with elevated levels of nutrients.
we have had the clam in the tank since 12/4/08. the clam was doing well until 3 days ago. this tanks is sporting a sps frag (stylophora) that was added the same time as the clam. the frag has grown a lot and seems to be very healthy. sorry for the confusion.
np. stylophora’s arent the hardest sps, but they arent exactly easy. if your getting growth like you say, i would imagine that your system is fine. and even if you had a minor issue with water quality, i doubt you would lose it that fast without seeing your frag affected. im sure chris will enlighten us all with possible causes.
Like logans_daddy said every system has some N&P in it, nothing would grow if it didn’t. From looking at photo #2 the clam wasn’t growing right for some time. You can see how the new shell has receded down the growth edge. That’s a sign that the clam was not doing well. And if you look at the byssus its brown,It should be a nice pearly white. The clam was sick when you got it. Clams can look great but be on the brink of death.
Chris, while we got you on a clam thread, ive been meaning to ask you a quick question that ive had a hard time finding a consistent answer to.
is there a name for the top layers that the clam adds to its shell while growing? also, im sure it varies from species to species as well as size, but whats your opinion on a good growth rate for a smaller clam(3-4) in a good system. I.E, 1 layer per ? months?
lastly, im sure i could find the answer to this if i tried, but how do they grow? Im assuming that they build up new layers from the inside out and the most outside layer slowly breaks down and erodes over time?
it is a some what uplifting to know we did not kill it.
this is are first loss in the tank so we have been rather upset all day over it.
we would like to try keeping a clam again any recommendations before we buy another one. i think we will try a derasa or squamosa. also is there a place u would reckomend to buy. thanks to every one for there help. glad to be part of the club.
is there a name for the top layers that the clam adds to its shell while growing?
New shell growth lOl Im sure scientists call it something, let me look and see.
whats your opinion on a good growth rate for a smaller clam(3-4) in a good system. I.E, 1 layer per ? months?
Clams are constantly growing new shell so its not like new layers or rings on trees. You can see variations in growth rates but these are due to environmental conditions/changes rather then ending one growth layer and starting another so i can really say what you would expect. Here are the average growth rates for tridacnids.
Crocea 1.75cm per year
Maxima 3.90cm
Hippopus 5.75
Derasa 6.00cm
Squamosa 6.10cm
Gigas 7cm
These are just average and can be a lot more or less depending
Im assuming that they build up new layers from the inside out and the most outside layer slowly breaks down and erodes over time?
They add new shell to the whole inside of the shell. The outside old layers really shouldn’t erode away any.
[quote=“GreenFishyNHam09, post:16, topic:971”]
it is a some what uplifting to know we did not kill it.
this is are first loss in the tank so we have been rather upset all day over it.
we would like to try keeping a clam again any recommendations before we buy another one. i think we will try a derasa or squamosa. also is there a place u would reckomend to buy. thanks to every one for there help. glad to be part of the club.[/quote]
Wait a few(2 or more) months at least (the more the better) This clam could have had some type of contagious infection that could kill the next clam you get. Be patient and then get a derasa
They add new shell to the whole inside of the shell. The outside old layers really shouldn't erode away any.
hmmm. I guess this is the part i cant wrap my head around then. If the “outside layer” right now is, lets say, 3" wide X 2" high. It continues to add new layers from the inside out, how does it increase its overall size without the old eroding away? Woudnt the outside layer always be 3" X 2"? If it grew from outside in, it would make since, kind of like adding layers of clothes with each outside layer being a little large than the previous. But from the inside out i dont get it.
