I'm putting this out there just for information sake. I realize I will probably get horribly flamed, but maybe this could eventually become accepted, after all bayer with sps seemed crazy too.
So as the title says I have been wondering about bayer (the one used for coral) and clams. I read a post on another forum saying they dipped their clams on advise from and very experenenced reefer with before and after photos. There is also a blog entry about it out there. I thought it was crazy. But looking into it bayer is a neurotoxin, coral have very simple nervous systems and that's why it works. Clams also have a simple nervous system with no brain. So I thought maybe it could be possible.
So I left it at that for a while. Eventually my LFS had some really bad looking maximas come in, I watched them for a couple weeks, their system has aptasia and bubble algea so along with sickly looking mantle extension they were covered in those, really making them unsellable. So I snagged 5" maximas up below their cost and thought I might try it. My process was the same for all clams, have 2 small containers and a large one the small buckets fit inside of. With water and a heater in the larger container I could keep the smaller containers at temp. I put the maxima and bayer into small bucket of tank water for a specified time, then transferred clam to new small bucket of clean tank water. Repeated that 2 more times to remove the bayer adding a small bag of carbon I tossed when done. I also put over the large container a spare reefbreeder light so they would keep open.
1st maxima I put enough bayer in the ~2 quarts of water to make it opaque. Let it sit around 15 min before transferring to new container of clean water described above. The clam showed no distress and was open the entire time once it was in the clean water. 2nd clam I added only about 10ml bayer, just a faint tint to the water and let it sit for about 30 min. The clam was open normally for the duration of the dip and didn't even cough. Looked exactly as it did in tank, which I couldn't see on the 1st clam due to how dark the treatment was. I then proceeded with transferring into clean water as before.
After scrubbing the shells well, I later traded both clams back to the store a few weeks later. Mantles extended great and they looked fantastic. There were lots of worms and "critters" on the bottom of the container when done. I am not saying the dip helped them, maybe good lights and a better system did that, but the dip sure didn't kill them. I have since dipped 2 other large maximas and none showed any distress and have been living ever since.
I am not suggesting ANYONE do this. I don't want to get blamed of people lose a clam, and if a clam isn't doing well before treatment it would likely die anyway, and I don't want that on me. I am only reporting my experimentation with it, perhaps in time others will try it out and it could become a valuable treatment. Or not. So just remember that before you go wild on me for posting this...
So as the title says I have been wondering about bayer (the one used for coral) and clams. I read a post on another forum saying they dipped their clams on advise from and very experenenced reefer with before and after photos. There is also a blog entry about it out there. I thought it was crazy. But looking into it bayer is a neurotoxin, coral have very simple nervous systems and that's why it works. Clams also have a simple nervous system with no brain. So I thought maybe it could be possible.
So I left it at that for a while. Eventually my LFS had some really bad looking maximas come in, I watched them for a couple weeks, their system has aptasia and bubble algea so along with sickly looking mantle extension they were covered in those, really making them unsellable. So I snagged 5" maximas up below their cost and thought I might try it. My process was the same for all clams, have 2 small containers and a large one the small buckets fit inside of. With water and a heater in the larger container I could keep the smaller containers at temp. I put the maxima and bayer into small bucket of tank water for a specified time, then transferred clam to new small bucket of clean tank water. Repeated that 2 more times to remove the bayer adding a small bag of carbon I tossed when done. I also put over the large container a spare reefbreeder light so they would keep open.
1st maxima I put enough bayer in the ~2 quarts of water to make it opaque. Let it sit around 15 min before transferring to new container of clean water described above. The clam showed no distress and was open the entire time once it was in the clean water. 2nd clam I added only about 10ml bayer, just a faint tint to the water and let it sit for about 30 min. The clam was open normally for the duration of the dip and didn't even cough. Looked exactly as it did in tank, which I couldn't see on the 1st clam due to how dark the treatment was. I then proceeded with transferring into clean water as before.
After scrubbing the shells well, I later traded both clams back to the store a few weeks later. Mantles extended great and they looked fantastic. There were lots of worms and "critters" on the bottom of the container when done. I am not saying the dip helped them, maybe good lights and a better system did that, but the dip sure didn't kill them. I have since dipped 2 other large maximas and none showed any distress and have been living ever since.
I am not suggesting ANYONE do this. I don't want to get blamed of people lose a clam, and if a clam isn't doing well before treatment it would likely die anyway, and I don't want that on me. I am only reporting my experimentation with it, perhaps in time others will try it out and it could become a valuable treatment. Or not. So just remember that before you go wild on me for posting this...
