sad and discouraged

nietzsche · #1 01/02/2008, 09:50 PM

my third clam dies. this time its a clam ive had the longest. i checked the side of the shell and got to take off what is a very fast moving snail that reminds me of pics of an abolone snail. never seen this snail before. most of its body isnt covered by its shell, its a small weird shaped shell. its in a cup of sw for right now. im down to 1 last clam. ill see if i can post pics of this snail with my camera phone :|

seriously im getting frustrated

sg: 1.026
alk: 8dKH
calcium 420ppm
magnesium: 1300
temp: 80

btw, what do i do with this last clam??

Duce · #2 01/02/2008, 09:57 PM

I don't think it is the "snail" that killed it. Don't be discouraged....I lost 6 clams before getting a hang of it...it also involve switching lighting, supplier for my snails - my orig source has those clam predatorory snail hitchiked on them.

skinz78 · #3 01/02/2008, 10:04 PM

It sounds like a stomatella snail. Harmless nocturnal snail.

Here is a link to a thread with pic's
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1273962

nietzsche · #4 01/02/2008, 10:11 PM

i just dont get it though. 1 by 1 the clams have been dying and i cant find the source of the problem

nietzsche · #5 01/02/2008, 10:12 PM

yep thats what it is exactly. ill put it in my 14g tank instead of the 28. thanks for that link skinz

skinz78 · #6 01/02/2008, 10:13 PM

You need to post pic's.

What kind of fish and inverts do you have?

What suppliments do you use and how do you add them?

skinz78 · #7 01/02/2008, 10:15 PM

Them stomatella's are pretty cool. I used to have some and the spawned regularly. But unfortunatly they didn't make it through my tank swap.

nietzsche · #8 01/02/2008, 10:19 PM

i have 1 ywg, 1 royal gramma, 1 blue damsel yellow tail. for inverts i have astrea snails, margarita snails, 1 red banded trochus, and 2 ceriths.

i add baking soda when alk goes down, but so far reef crystals has been good with both alk and calcium. if i add the baking soda which is already mixed, ill get a glass of sw and put what i need in it, mix it, and blow into my powerhead slowly with a turkey baster and then add it to the sump also. then ill wait for the next day and add more

skinz78 · #9 01/02/2008, 10:30 PM

when raising alk you should do it slowly useing the drip method.

nietzsche · #10 01/02/2008, 10:40 PM

this is something ive done for a couple months now though, wouldnt it have caused them to stress out before? just recently they started dying and it happened when i didnt need to add much alk anymore

skinz78 · #11 01/02/2008, 10:50 PM

It is hard to say without pic's. Did the latest clam that died look ok up until its death?

nietzsche · #12 01/02/2008, 11:08 PM

yeah he looked healthy. i take care of everything in the morning before i leave. i remember yesterday it was normal. i noticed this morning that part of it was tucked in, but i figured that it was too early to think it was anything. it was around 9am before i left

when i came back home at around 9pm i noticed it was tucked in a little so i hovered my hand over it and thats when i noticed it was a goner.

skinz78 · #13 01/02/2008, 11:19 PM

Do you run carbon?

What type of clam and how big was it?

nietzsche · #14 01/02/2008, 11:29 PM

no gac or gfo. amm, nitrites, nitrates had been at 0ppm

skinz78 · #15 01/02/2008, 11:52 PM

I think you should run carbon, sounds like pm to me. Besides carbon clarify's your water alot, and helps remove any foul smells.

What type of clam and how big was it?

nietzsche · #16 01/03/2008, 12:00 AM

it was a crocea clam and id say it was about 4"+

i thought the signs of PM were when the mantle seem like its pinched and pulled towards the inside of the clam?

when i had left it looked normal but towards the end of the mantle had been pulled in its shell but not sunk all the way in. thats why i figured it wasnt anything and was just opening up

i dont have any foul smells and water seems clear after i added the protein skimmer in the sump but ill go ahead and pick up some of that black diamond carbon and get a bag for it to place in the sump

kdblove_99 · #17 01/03/2008, 01:38 AM

dont get too discouraged. Clams are really cool. I have only onwed and own a Squamosa and Derasa and both have done really good.

nietzsche · #18 01/03/2008, 10:00 AM

i think im going to wait and see how my last one does before thinking about getting anymore :|

michika · #19 01/03/2008, 01:28 PM

May I ask what you run for a light?

nietzsche · #20 01/03/2008, 05:00 PM

250w MH 14k running off of an IceCap 250 electronic ballast with 2 65w PC actinics

michika · #21 01/03/2008, 05:55 PM

More then enough for light. I'm sorry I don't know what to tell you. I have a friend who tried for years and couldn't keep clams, but now has tons of them.

nietzsche · #22 01/03/2008, 09:33 PM

well, its over now. all of them have perished and the last one that i thought would at least make it died. i woke up this morning and it was alive and mantle was extended, just came back and its dead

ivgonmad · #23 01/03/2008, 10:21 PM

check for stray electric current in the tank, only thing I can think of...
Maybe excess phoshates? Do your corals extend their poplyps ok?

nietzsche · #24 01/03/2008, 10:26 PM

i have SPS that has polyp extension like my montis, birdsnest, pocillopora, tricolor

i have an octopus nw150 in the sump that ill be doing a mesh mod to soon.

if anything, im sure i have phosphates though. even with the test it tests at 0 but i know there has to be some because i have some places with hair algae in the tank