Clam in trouble

Flame*Angel

Flame*Angel

Premium Member
So right now everything in my tank is absolutely healthier than ever except my old crocea clam which I won't be surprised will be dead before this weekend is over. I've had this clam for 9 months and, although it has had its troubles, it has never looked as bad as it does today. It started a few days ago, here are the symptoms:

- severe gaping
- mantle withdrawn from the edge of the shell
- foot withdrawn into shell

I've been checking it at night with a flashlight and can't see any signs of predators. My other 5 clams are in perfect health.

Any ideas? I really don't think it's possible to save this guy but I sure would like to know why he's dying.
 
Flame*Angel,

Are you able to physically remove the clam from the tank to inspect it better? Your description is sure sounding a lot like there might be some kind of predation on that clam. Have you ever seen those predatory elongated cone shaped snails in your tank? Even if the clam is attached, if you think it may be a goner, I wonder if it would be worth carefully severing the byssal (sp?) threads so that you could lift it out and get a look at what is going on? I'm at work and don't have my Knopp book to consult, but cutting them doesn't normally hurt an otherwise healthy clam because they can grow new ones to attach once again. The key is not cutting the foot.

Any chance you've got a fish that has recently decided to nip just that one clam?

That's all I can think of at the moment...

Cheri
 
I'm in the dark on this one Susan...

Think it may have been a side effect to the flatworm exit?
 
Sorry, that's another symptom I forgot to report - it's not attached any more. This clam sits on a scallop shell and has always been firmly attached to it but not any more. The bysal opening seems to me like something is missing, I can see past some "meat" into the clam.

I have inspected it several times now for parasitic snails, etc., but I can't see any signs of them. I've looked at night with a flashlight as well. No pieces missing from the mantle area.

I dunno, I did a water change this afternoon and put some fresh carbon in my canister filter and today it's actually looking a little better. Nowhere near healthy but better than yesterday. It's still gaping pretty badly but today the mantle is out over the edge of the shell at least.

PR - I really don't think it was the Flatworm Exit. Nothing else in my tank is having trouble, actually, everything seems to be really thriving. My other five clams look great.
 
is he better today? it is really sad when clam gets sick because you feel kind of helpless. i hope he makes it through!!;) :(
 
Well late last night I saw he was knocked over on his side again. I uprighted him. He's not looking very good at all but I noticed when I picked him up last night that there wasn't any gap around his foot area any more. I can't believe he's been this sick this long and is still alive but he is. No signs of predators but yesterday I noticed a colony of baby mysis shrimp had taken up residence inside him - he's gaping that bad.

My other clams all look great. It's a very humbling experience to be sure.
 
Just be glad that it does not seem to be a communicable disease.
My Gigas was sick for a long time. You can see the sick Gigas in the picture below. His tissue was full of bubbles. He got infected with something after being stung by one of my anemones. At the peak of the disease, his mantel was completely withdrawn into the shell and was covered with bubble. I though he was a goner. I provided him with good water and he eventually recovered after being sick for more than 1 year. He is totally back to being heathy, growing again. Good luck with your Crocea
788PBT.JPG
 
could it be lighting?

could it be lighting?

I dont know... I have my croceas 8" from my metal halides(250 Iwasakis)

Dont know, I always thought they were more confortable up high on rocks...

But Im new at the croceas, just got mine last month.
 
Did you consider tying him semi-closed? That seems to help alot with extremely stressed / damaged clams.
 
flame angel i have the same thing, its a 1 inch baby blue max with a brown outline. it was never really healthy when i got it never opened up fuly, but now it seems really bad, i can see the mantle in its shell, the foot is withdrawn, i picked him up and his shell is a bit loose but doenst open all the way. i dunno whats wrong with him, my other 7 clams are fine. could it just be this one? the other clams are opened just fine, and still attached. i figured something might be messing with him on the sand, so i moved him up to my rocks and couldnt find him this morning. =/ spent a good 15 minutes trying to find him but no luck. was late to school. im gonna try to find him again when i get home. he was a really beautiful clam.
 
Jeez, this guy is really hanging in there. I thought for sure he'd be dead by now but he's not. He's the same. No signs of trouble with the other clams still. It's late now but tomorrow I'll try and post some pictures. He's still opening and closing fine on his own and still flinches when a fish swms overhead. No signs of the bubbling or any actualy damage.

Nothing seems to be bothering him. My fish aren't interested in any of the clams. I've been checking the tank at night with a flashlight for worms or snails, nothing. The only thing I can think, and it's a long shot, I remember some time ago, around the time he got sick, seeing my big diadema urchin near him. If perchance the urchin accidentially poked him with a spine could it cause something like this?
 
I had a clam for 6 months that did the same thing...It had been fine and growing and beautiful for that amount of time. Then in january all of a sudden one day it was gaping and the mantle was extremely withdrawn into the shell. I had picked it up and taken it out of the tank to inspect and give a dip as per intructed by barry at clamsdirect and the next night I checked on it and all of my nassarius snails were all over it, so I let them feast because it was a gonner then pulled the remaining clam the next morning... no idea what caused this... hopefully yours recovers, seems to be sticking in there atleast.

GL with it,

there is a pic of it when it was still alive to the left
 
Dying Clam

Dying Clam

I am about to take mine out of the tank, probably tomorrow.
He has been looking bad for a while, I think his problem was due to a large colony of Pulsing Xenia growing over him blocking the light Or it is due to the coral which started growing on his shell.

I fragged the coral once and attached it to a rock.
Once he is gone, I will stuff the shell into the sand and let the coral grow.

It is very sad to loose one of these clams; I look at the ones in the Waikiki aquarium and wish mine would grow to need a new tank


:(
 
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