My clams need help :(:(

[JG]

Hello,

I have 5 clams in my 58 Oceanic. A Derasa, two Maxima's, a Crocea, and a Squamosa. The Crocea and one of the Maxima's aren't doing to well. My calcium is stable at 480-490ppm, and Alk is stable at 10dkh. Salinity is 1.025, temp is 82-84 degrees. Sandbed is 4" of oolitic, with a 1" top layer of Carib Sea Special Grade reef sand. I dose with DT's about once a week (capful), and about 2 drops of Tahitian blend once a week. Lightling is two 250w Ushio HQI's, and 285w VHO actinic. HQI's on 10 hours/day, actinics on 13 hours/day.

The Maxima's mantle has started to get wrinkly the last week or so, and the mantle is not fully expanding in those sections. Here is a pic.
http://a.postmypic.com/a.nsf/z/sad1UAET/$file/sad1.jpg


The crocea has been slowly bleaching for a few weeks. It was attched to a rock and the rock slightly burried in the sand. This moring it dettached from the rock and really isn't looking good at all. Here is a pic
http://a.postmypic.com/a.nsf/z/sad2TGUJ/$file/sad2.jpg


Any idea on possibly why the clams are looking so bad? My three other clams are doing great

[JG]

btw...

I have decreased my dosing of DT's lately because of a slight alage bloom I got from golden pearls. I went from dosing bout 3x week to only once a week. This was a few weeks ago.

[herefishiefishie]

The only thing that comes immediately to mind is that perhaps your water has become very nutrient-poor. Clams do require a small level of nitrate to live.

Alternatively, you might be missing a trace element. Do you do regular water changes? If so, how often/how much?

Any possibility of predation or harrassment?

I will think on this and see if I can come up with anything else.

[JG]

HFF,

Thanks for the reply.

Could be that my water is too clean? I run an AquaC EV-150 on my tank 24/7. I also do not overfeed the tank.

I also do a 5-6g water change every 4 weeks.

I'm going to step up my dosing of DT's. I was currently only dosing once a week. I'll be dosing a capful of DT's concentrate 3x week and see if thats helps any.

No, I don't think anything is preying on the clams. Never saw any pyramid(sp?) snails on them or any fish bother the clams.

Oddly enough, my 7" Derasa seems to be growing by the day and is in great health
http://a.postmypic.com/a.nsf/z/clamTFTH/$file/clam.jpg

Perhaps its just that these smaller clams need a good amount of phytoplankton untill they reach a decent size?

again, thanks for the help

John

[JG]

Anyone else???

My little maxima is looking worse today :(:(

[TonyHNYC]

Hi there,
I had some experience with young clams (maxima) and they generally are difficult to keep. And in fact, one of my died 5 days after my purchase from a LPS. However, the Derasa seems to be in excellent shape. My speculation is that I would go for clams that are at least 3-4 inches since they are much hardier than the smaller kinds.. The other factor that may have caused the bleaching is the light source...Did you change the light source (increase or decrease) recently?

[JG]

I have had the HQI's for a couple months and acclimated the clams slowly to that lighting. The little Maxima looked fine up untill about a week and a half agao :(

[JG]

Crocea died this morning :(

[herefishiefishie]

I know this is too little too late, but I think Knop states in his book that smaller clams (less than 2 inches need some source of nitrogen (ammonia, nitrate) and/or phytoplankton for survival, and that the bigger ones really only need light.

As was posted above, I really would stick with clams that are over 3 inches in length. That's good advice.

I'm sorry for your loss. You have my sympathy. Losing a clam is awful.

[TonyHNYC]

JG,
I am sorry to hear about that...Sometimes, they are such a mystery to me.... and you never know why...I have to say, they are very attractive animals.......

[tlc]

just out of curiosity did you ever take the glass off the hqi reflectors. i have a friend that did that for a few hours and exposed his tank to alot of uv rays. everything closed up for several days. also what was your previous lighting. those hqis are realy bright. my friend has similiar set up on a 180 gallon and he has mother colonies of acropora and several clams growing awesome with same lighting you have on a 58 gallon. just trying to help you come to some conclusions......