Do clams carry any diseases?

[jimhobbs]

Good morning HFF!:)
I removed my 5 in T-max from the tank yesterday...He had been steadly going downhill since I introduced three newer clams from FFE about a month ago...Before that, he was my pride and joy; expanding fully and recieving daily doses of phytoplankton...I purchased him on 6-12-00 of last year and had no problems with him other than the loss of his bissyl gland right after purchase...He appeared to recover, and his beauty was the reason I wanted to add the others

Anyhow,
within a week of adding the other three, he showed signs of limited expansion and went downhill to the point of death...The other smaller t-max I added is also showing the same symptoms...The crocea and squamosa I added appear to be unaffected...Are there any diseases that only affect T-max clams?...I've checked each one closely for the parasite snails and none have been found...I'd like to add another, but I refuse to add something that will die within a month of addition

Thanks for any and all help in this matter:)

[herefishiefishie]

Hi Jim. I'm sorry, but I'm not really sure what it could be. I think I remember hearing about something like this a few months back here at RC or at AL. If it was not parasites, then it's certainly possible that it was a clam disease of some sort.

I would consult Knop's book (Sorry, I don't have it). I think he mentions something about diseases therein.

I would think that like any other creature, clams must be affected by some kind of disease once in a while. I'd bet it would take a serious biologist to know the name of that disease, though.

My suggestion is to avoid adding any clams until this blows over. I hope your clams pull through, but if they do not, I would allow the tank to be clam-free for a while to clear out any possible disease organism.

If you have a secondary tank, perhaps you could move the affected clams to that tank.

Sorry I could not help more.

[jimhobbs]

I knew you had done some studying on setting up and raising them at one time, so I hoped you might have heard of this particular aliment...What ever became of the HFF clam raising experiment?:)

[herefishiefishie]

The budget committee came to the conclusion that, because of necessary reallocation of funds in the time period in question, the aforementioned project had to be postponed indefinitely. :)

In other words, it had to wait until I can afford it, which might be quite a while. I am still going to do it at some point, though.

So, any change in the condition of your clams?

[jimhobbs]

No, nothing new
The small t-max still has limited reflexes, but will be gone in a few days...Whatever it was only affected the T-max's; cause my crocea and squamosa that arrived at the same time are doing wonderful...I'm afraid the baby t-max brought something with it from FFE, and infected my large one...I'm staying away from t-max's for a while to rid the tank of any lingering disease

Thanks for the concern,

I just wish I knew more about what it was and what I could have done to stop it...I had my large t-max since this time last year; and it had even grown in that time

Best regards
jim

[Edited by jimhobbs on 04-19-2001 at 11:39 PM]

[jimhobbs]

http://jimhobbs.homestead.com/files/DCP01668.jpg

[Adam]

Jim,

Greetings from a former Birmingham resident! I regained my senses and re-applied for my Yankee card.

Anyway, I am sorry to hear about your losses. I had the same thing happen after introducing some new clams from Tropicorium. I hate to rub salt in your wounds, but it eventually got my crocea, sqasmosa and dersa. Six clams went down in all.

Julian Sprung visited Pittsburgh not long after that, and I discussed it with him. He has heard of and seen this occur several times and suspects that it is bacterial. He suggested quaranteening all new clams for at least 30 days.

After about 3 moths of clam free reefing, I added a derasa (from FFE incidentally) and it has been doing fine for about a month, and has even grown a little.

HTH, and sorry again for your losses.

Adam