Any survivor stories out there?

[mia1974]

Out of all the people who have experienced mass clam mortalities does anyone has any clams that are still holding on? How long after the deaths has it been, what type of clam and what symptoms if any does the clam give off? Does the clam have any new growth on it since the incident?

I have lost 7 clams to date (4 max, 2 squam, 1 derasa) but have 2 derasa's that are holding on. I am not sure what to expect at this point and am wondering if they are just slower to die than the others or if they will hold on. One exhibits no symptoms at all and has been symptomless for about 3 weeks now (it previously was closing up, mantle not extending, gaping, coughing). The second still exhibits some gaping from time to time, but when I turn on the lights it returns to normal until a few hours before lights out when it starts mildly gaping and closing up partially. I lost the majority of my clams about a month ago. I have noticed some new growth finally on both clams (not sure if they continue to grow, albit at a slower pace while ill). I treated all clams before death in quarantine with an antibiotic. I also treated the main tank with Red Slime Remover (for some cyano).

Any one else have any survivors (or clams still trying to hold on)?

PS: I have 60+ sps that are unaffected by any of this

 

[mia1974]

I guess I answered my own question today. I am now going to lose one of the remaining derasas (I guess treatment prolonged its life). I think the last one is just holding out at this point. It looks great, but I won't hold my breath anymore.
What can you do...*sigh*...

 

[brian111]

The few that I have are still alive and doing well. Haven't lost a clam in 8 months so I can't say much about the dying clam issue other than what I have read.

I do not buy clams from any LFS as most of the tanks that I have seen are terrible and are linked to other tanks so no telling what you might bring home. I try to stay with online stores, yes I may pay a little more but if I know that I am getting a good healthy clam then it was worth the extra money.

Am new to reef central but have been looking at the sponsors and have reviewed a few of them and am waiting for clamsdirect.com to get in some more as I think I am going to try his clams as I have heard nothing but good things about this sponsor.

IMO, if you have had some lose of clams, I would hold off for a while before getting any new ones.

 

[Nanook]

One of the three clams I got from Dr Mac was infected and wiped out my other 5 clams in the 120g. I had no idea about the infections going around at the time or I would have never bought clams and risked my healthy clams. I will not buy any clams for a long while, until I know the chances of getting a healthy one are good.


Nanook

 

[brian111]

Nanook,

How would you know other than the obvious if a clam is healthy?

As far as Dr Mac selling you an infected clam, I sure he didn't do it intentionally. From what I have read on these other threads that most of the infected clams from from Northern California. I am sure these other that had the problem also knew what to look for in buying a clam.

Quote Nanook:

I will not buy any clams for a long while, until I know the chances of getting a healthy one are good. Quote:

 

[mia1974]

It looks like I may have to pull the 2nd last clam tonight. THe other looks fine. I am now wondering how long I should wait to put another clam in :
a) if the last derasa makes it (will it still be carrying a disease?)
b) if all the clams die

6 months? A year?

 

[toptank]

mia,

IMO , I would do some water changes and add some carbon and wouldn't introduce another clam for a least 3 months.

 

[jamfry]

question on losses

question on losses

I have been reading on different posts of clam losses..and have some inqurieing questions. The loss is supposed, to be form desease but dont hear of any other climatical sepculations being suspect. Such as temp. or changein salinity or even drastic ph swing, loss of dissolved oxygen. Do you guys that have lost calms have a chiller? Do you have a way to record your water temperature and DO over a long period of time. Here is the reason for my statements. I have a Aquacontroler Pro ( Neptune sys.) Last week i lost 2 calms for no reason that i could figure, I did note my cleaner shrimp on one clam at 1:00 am so i knew something was wrong with it. ( i had read that dying clams give off a rotting oder which attracts snails and shrimp) Now after 3 days after the loss i decided to down load the log over the perioud of time that the calms had died ( 2 weeks ) and guess what i saw....I had lost power on the tank from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm on a Saturday evening. Water temp went form 77.8 to 89 deg F. Oxygen had fallen very low and ph had dropped down from 8.5 to 8.2.
I wouldn't have ever know what made the clams die if i didnt have a recording device to see what had happened and theorized that it was disease

 

[Jayson]

Janine, Do 10-20% water changes for 5 days in a row add carbon filtration and raise your iodine levels up to over .006. This will help clear up your tank. I would only add clams from someone that has not had any problems with there systems. Thanks

 

[mia1974]

I will do some more changes and refresh my carbon. Thanks for the input guys

 

[npaden]

I lost 12 maximas, croceas, & squasmosas over the course of 3 weeks. My derasa is still alive nearly a month later. It was a pretty big clam (10" or so) and did show some signs of problems but seems to be hanging in there. I hasn't put on a growth ring this month though so it may be using all it's energy in fighting the disease.

FWIW, Nathan

 

[mia1974]

I haven't pulled the second derasa yet (although it still looks sick). Strangely enough the other looks fine. It has been a month since "the clam incident" and I wonder if the clams are just trying to heal or if they are still carriers...I did a 75g water change and am running carbon 24/7 now.

 

[griss]

After adding a new Maxima to my tank, I lost 1 Ultra Crocea, 5 Maximas and my 6 year old Derasa. My plan is to wait at least 6 months before trying to introduce clams back into my tank. I am without Tridacnas for the first time in 6 years

Griss

 

[Squidman]

Just an FYI. I have had two seperate shipments of clams from toptank over the past two months and have not had a run-in with this mysterious disease. I wasn't sure if I should make this post, don't want to jinx myself, but I just thought for whoever is concerned about getting healthy clams, you might be interested. I certainly don't intend to imply that his clams are immune or anything, or that you should introduce a healthy clam into an infected tank, but I just thought I would share my experience. FWIW

 

[Leonard]

Restocked my tank with clams about 3 months after my last Tridacna death from the mass mortality. It's been over a week, and no symptoms yet. I am posting any weekly changes over in this thread.. With any luck, the pathogen is no more!

 

[mia1974]

I looked at the remaining healthy derasa today. It has 2mm of new growth on it. So, I think it will definately pull through. The other one has no growth and still has symptoms.

Leonard: Thanx, I will follow that thread.

 

[jamfry]

Clearing up infections.

Clearing up infections.

Had just read about adding uv sterilizer to infected tanks with losses. This will clear up tank before new additions ( unless you like Los Vegas ) to your infected tank if it is a suspecion that is your problem.

 

[Hammer]

After loosing more clams then I want to remember, my hippopus is still doing fine, and has good growth on it. I had also read that these seem at least somewhat empervious to the pathogen (whatever it really is).
I will not be adding any new clams to my system for some time.
But I just wish I knew if my hippo is a 'carrier' for the pathogen or not.

 

[ProReefeR PLuS]

CLams a Dyin

CLams a Dyin

:eek2:
I work at a LFS, and I have to stress on the magnitude of this clam dye off. Some of the biggest names in Reef Keeping have come into the shop, all complaining about their clam deaths. I myself have lost all but one maxima, and even he looks like he's on his way out. Whats even scarier is that one of my clients has reported that whatever is wipping out the clams has affected his SPS!!!!! None of his SPSs polyp up, and seem to be suffering at the hand of whatever pathogen is murdering our beloved clams. As for waiting a few months before adding new clams... BAD IDEA! We had a system at our store that was clam-less for many months, and then we introduced 30 AQUACULTURED maximas. We'll, seeing as how these AQUACULTURED clams could in NO way be carriers of the pathogen, one would assume that they would survive. RIGHT>? WRONG!!!! All of the clams died, one by one pulling in their mantles. This means that the pathogen can live in YOUR system without a host for months and months, and may also turn to murdering your SPSs if there are no clams to satisfy its hunger. DO NOT BUY CLAMS until a cure is found. You never know whos tank is infected, and keep a close eye on your SPSs.
Safe Reefing

 

[cal3v]

pro reefer plus, do you think its not safe anymore to buy any colonies or other corals from affected tanks if we already have healthy clams in our systems?