Am I starving my Clam?

[rushasley]

I think I have a problem. My wife purchased a beautiful clam about a month ago for my 9 month old tank, and it has recently all but closed up. It was closed for almost a week, but has recently reopened.

It is not a full as it once was. I do not do any specialized feeding - the LFS told me all it needs is good water quality, good lighting and BioPlankten. He sold me a small bottle of BioPlankten by Liquid Life (The liquid type you keep in the freezer).

I put that in about once a week. I also use Kent's Microvert additive.
My Calcium levels are high (stays around 500) and water params are good (Nitate climbed a bit this last reading).

Temp: 78 - 80
Salinity: 1.024
AlK: 8
Ammonia: .25
Nitrate: .50
Nitrite: 0
PH: 8.4
Phosphate: .03

I used to do water changes about 25% once a month. I've changed to 10% once a week.

I'm running PC lighting, and have the clam up high. It receives moderate flow.

I did review the article Phytoplankton, "A Necessity for Clams".

Not sure what to do, but don't want to lose this.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[grimmjohn]

A) How much PC lighting?
Though a lack of lighting would probably make it "reach"
B) Besides that hippo tang what other fish do you have in there? Sounds like it may be a nipping issue, I think hippos have nipped before too.

Cheers,

grimmjohn

 

[mbbuna]

.25 ammonia in a 9 month old tank?

the lighting is a little weak also. if it was stronger the clam would be able to get all its food from it. if the plankton you are feeding is frozen, then you will need to thaw a small amount in water and then put it in a blender to get it to the right size range for the clam to use. when you freeze it the particles stick together and then are to large for the clam. i would switch to a live phyto and even then you need to shake the bottle every day to keep it from clumping. Get MH and you wont have to worry about it.

 

[rushasley]

I'm running two 10000 lamps and two actinic's.
I have the tang that we "rescued" a while back. He was discolored and not at all healthy. As you can see, he's doing beautifully now. I also have:
1 Maroon Clown
1 False Clown
1 6 line Wrasse
1 Blue Devil Damsel
2 Scooter Blennies
1 Diamond Goby
1 Flame Hawkfish
1 Coral Beauty

I do have the usual cleaner crew which includes a good size blue legged hermit. He's really grown over the past few months, and I'm blaming him for the untimely death of my sand-sifter starfish. My wife bought the starfish at the same time as the clam, and something took all 5 legs from the poor starfish overnight. I can't think of any other thing to blame except for this crab. He climbs over everthing, which is why I thought he might be the cause for my clam retreating.

 

[rushasley]

Is .25 ammonia bad? I do regular water changes, and have a good RO unit. I'm using Instant Ocean Salt (Started out with Oceanic, but the Calcium levels were through the roof).
I use a program called Dr. Aquarium to help me manage the tank, and recommended ammonia levels according to this software is between 0 and .50.
Yes, I'm new to the hobby, so please feel free to educate me.
Thanks,

 

[mbbuna]

if your bio filter is working right the ammonia should be 0.0
pygmy angels arnt good with clams they will pic at there mantles stopping them from opening,stressing them out, killing them. step way back from the tank, stand there for a while a watch this fish.

 

[grimmjohn]

if your bio filter is working right the ammonia should be 0.0
pygmy angels arnt good with clams

Good call, you have about a 50/50 chance of that angel nipping.
Your clam is also in a perfect spot for that hawkfish to perch on () : )

Good luck, cheers,

grimmjohn

 

[rushasley]

I probably look at my tank nearly as much as my computer, I've seen nothing near my clam except for the crab. I've never noticed him up near the top of it though, more on the rock that the clam sits on. Certaintly no fish have been anywhere near it. Most of my fish go to "sleep" mode at nite, so I doubt that they're messing with at night either.

I do vary from zero to .025, but never higher than that.

The plankten is in liquid form, and when I say frozen, it never actually freezes. It is kept in the freezer, but it is alway's liquid, right from the bottle. It's made by Liquid Life, and is what my LFS recommended.

 

[leaffish75]

what type of clam is it? It kind of looks like a maximu clam. Those need very high light like MHs

 

[mbbuna]

what type of clam is it? It kind of looks like a maximu clam. Those need very high light like MHs

its a Crocea

 

[organism]

it does look like it's overextending the mantle a little bit, what's the wattage on your lighting?

 

[organism]

also, blue legged hermits tend to stay pretty small, is your blue legged hermit hairy at all?

 

[graveyardworm]

I cant say what may be wrong with your clam but I would like to add that the liquid life bioplankton that you keep in the freezer contains something to prevent freezing and I believe its alcohol based. My LFS sells the stuff but informed me of this and mentioned the controversy surrounding its use in marine aquariums. My thoughts on what may be wrong with the clam is inadequate lighting.

 

[chadfarmer]

are you running metal halides or power compacts


also how high is the light from the water

 

[WVfishguy]

I really doubt if two 10,000 k PC lights and two actinics are enough light for Crocea. Most folks use halides for clams. I use four 10,000 k and four actinics PC's on my 75reef, and I don't think that's enough for clams.

 

[Puffdragon]

I run 330 watts of VHO and have had a crocea about 8" from the top. One thing though, I am running all 10K. The thing about clams I am told is that they like the lower spectrum light.

 

[Snprhed]

I would definitely switch to DT Phytoplankton. I also agree that the lighting is probably not enough. Lastly there is probably something going on if you are getting ammonia readings at 9 months. Thats odd.

 

[cougaran]

The ammonia issue may just be overfeeding, which is a thing we all have done. Do you use pellets? Other possibilities are did you lose a fish recently and haven't been able to find him? Are you running a protein skimmer? You may be a little overstocked with fish, esp if you have no protein skimmer. How deep is the sand bed? It could be loaded with fish poop/food and needs cleaning if its not a deep sand bed.

 

[Peabody]

Agreed on low lighting and the angels. It might be both. Just because you don't see them nip doesn't mean they don't, even if you watch the tank a lot. Just takes the time of a blink of the eye.

My advice from what I've seen happen in others tanks is you should peobably upgrade the lighting, or give the clam to someone who has enough lighting. Everyone I've personally known who has tried clams under such lighting has lost then by abotu 6 months.

 

[knumbnutz]

I'm running two 10000 lamps and two actinic's.
I have the tang that we "rescued" a while back. He was discolored and not at all healthy. As you can see, he's doing beautifully now. I also have:
1 Maroon Clown
1 False Clown
1 6 line Wrasse
1 Blue Devil Damsel
2 Scooter Blennies
1 Diamond Goby
1 Flame Hawkfish
1 Coral Beauty

Well everything listed less the Clowns, Wrasse, and the Gobies have been known to nip at clams. I agree with the others the PC's are not going to be enough light for the t. crocea. Also, it is very odd to be 9 months in with .25 amonia reading. I've seen it before, do you use bio-balls or other filter media {plastic shavings called "floss"} in a wet-dry?
If so you may want to consider an engineering project. While you can grow the denitrifying bacteria on the bio-balls or equivalent that is where they stop being beneficial. Eventually the bio-balls become a heaven for nitrates and amonia. Some may disagree, but I watched a 75gallon reef crash becuase of bio-balls and I try and keep others from making a similar mistake. If this is the case you may want to look into the advantages of a refugium with a deep sand bed. That same 75 Gallon now runs a DSB refugium as its filter and the results speak for themselves. Just a thought.

Good luck with that clam, but you may be better off returning him to the store. A low-light clam like derasa might do well in your tank, but only after you get the amonia and nitrates to 0.0.

BTW: I love your tang rescue he looks really happy! Also, how did you get a Maroon Clown to live peacefully with a False "percula"? Clown? A friend tried it and the maroon nearly killed the percula before I came to the rescue.

he's in a happier place now see below:



CWW