Clam in trouble!!!!!

[Hens4Fish]

Hey,
I have a 10" clam that was fine up till this morning. All morning it has been puffing out white stuff from its syphon, and the intake hole is gapping open. It also is about half retracted in. My parameters are fine except for the nitrates are a bit elevated, I guess because it is puffing out stuff. What could it be doing? Is it spawning or dying? It just keeps puffing this white stuff, and my whole tank is now cloudy. But my brain coral is open for feeding, which never happens unless I feed them. THe rest of the corals look fine. I just need to know to pull it out if it is dying so the rest of the tank does not crash. He still responds to light movement by retracting. I have changed the carbon and filter, and turned up the protein skimmer to clean out the water. Please advise.

 

[mbbuna]

its spawning. most of the time when they spawn in our aquariums its stress related. have you made any changes at all?

its good you changed you carbon and have the skimmer kicked up. i would also get some water mixed up for a water change or 2

 

[Hens4Fish]

Thank you very much for the reply and advice. Should I do 50% water changes or less? And how long does this go on?

 

[mbbuna]

if its spawning because of stress then it could continue untill what ever is stressing it is fixed. if it is just doing its thing then it should stop in a hour or 2+-.

i would have 2 -25% water changes ready but make sure the new water is matched to the tank water as close as you can get so you dont stress the clam out any more then it is. when the clam stops spawning do one 25% change, wait 6 or 12 hours then do the other.