Acclimatising clams

[firechild]

I have seen in so many threads that people are very careful when acclimatising clams, often using drip methods. I want to know why it is commonly accepted that clams are added only to established tanks and are carefully acclimatised to aquaria. I have 15 clams and used a few of them as the first additions to my new tank. I have also never acclimatised clams and have never lost one due to poor acclimation. This includes T. crocea, T. maxima and T. squamosa.

 

[porky]

I think it could be any number of things, short transit time, healthy specimens to begin with, maybe you have just been lucky.
I think that those acclimation procedures would apply to someone who may have had a clam shipped to them or had to travel a long time with it or from LFS where it has just arrived and may already be stressed.

 

[Johnsteph10]

If you start with healthy specimens then I don't think acclimation is a big deal. If you start with clams that were traumatized during collection or had rough/prolonged shipment then I think it becomes more important.

I acclimate slowly because I am not sure on collection practices. At least for me, better safe than sorry!

John

 

[porky]

I acclimate slowly because I am not sure on collection practices. At least for me, better safe than sorry!

I agree, when in doubt acclimate slowly.
Also testing the water the clam arrived in helps a lot and comarping it to your water will give you an idea of the acclimation time. I like to try and test at least temp. salinity and pH of the arrival water and that will give you a better idea of how long to acclimate. Just my $.02

 

[Scuba Dog]

With me it depends, if I purchase a clam localy, then its a quick aclamation, if its been shipped overnite, then I take my time...ill test the shipping waters Ph and SPGR with my pin point probes..and slowly adjust the shipping water to match my tank waters specs...then agen I wonder if quicker aclamations are better becuase the shipping water is pretty nasty and smells bad...the quicker the clam is removed from crappy water and put into pristene water makes me wonder if that would be a better technique....Havent lost a clam in over a year...so far im 7-2 on clams....one kept falling and stressed i guess, the other I target feed it with kents phytoplex toxens....wont use that garbage ever agen.....

 

[Vili_Shark]

I'd suggest one more thing when acclimating a clam, before putting it in the tank.....

BRUSH IT TILL IT SHINES!

use a tooth brush and look for the pyramid snails, even if they're not there, their eggs can be.

Especially in Max and in Squamies, it sometimes amazes me where ya can find those tiny little snails.

 

[gazpep]

I must confess to being a little confused on this question.

My understanding is that starfish and urchins can be victims of osmotic shock if there is a variance in the SG between the water they arrive in and the water you transfer them to. Didn't think this applied to mollusks, or at least to the same extent. I could stand corrected though. I drip acclimate my mollusks just to be on the safe side.

 

[firechild]

Some gastropods are sensitive and can succumb to osmotic shock but tridancnids in general are tolerant of almost anything short of a nuclear blast. I don't even bother to float the bags, just simply take them out of the bag and drop them in the tank.

 

[davidgottlieb]

I just got my first clam today, a Desa, and I floated the bag for 30 minutes and acclimated him by drip for 3.5 hours. I put him in the tank and within 1 minute he was fully expanded. Beautiful and not a single sign of gaping. Here is a picture I just took of him:

http://davidgottlieb.net/pictures/aquarium/clam3.jpg