Clam issues

[Lsufan]

I had a maxima clam for about 2 years that past away about a month ago. He was doing great I thought, in the 2 years I had him he grew from 3" to 5" & put on 4 new layers of shell. One day he wasn't extending his mantle fully & he never recovered. Every day for two weeks he was a little less extended until there was almost nothing left. Even when he was toward the end he had about 1/2" of white shell from growth so he wasn't sick for a period of time.

I waited 2 weeks and got a deressa & now 2 weeks later he is shows the same symptoms. Yesterday he wasn't fully extended & today it's a little worse. Just wondering if one of the clam experts may be able to set me in the right direction as far as what may be wrong.

I have lps & sps corals that are all doing well.

 

[Lsufan]

I should have mentioned, it's a 40 breeder with 20 gallon sump. The only fish is a leopard wrasse & a clown so I don't think there's any nipping.My Params are ca-450, kh-9, mag-1350, nitrate -0 & phosphate 0. The big 3 is with Red Sea test, nitrate is salifert & phosphate is Hanna phosphorus . I test everything once a week & they are always pretty much the same, so stability can't be the issue. Could it be something that I'm not testing for that may hurt the clams but not the coral?

Lighting is a 250 watt Phoenix 14k & 4- 39 watt T-5( coral plus, blue plus & 2- actnic

 

[AboutAcans]

Sounds like pinched mantle, but I'm no expert on clams...on no wait, yes I am. Sounds like pinched mantle. But really hard to tell without pictures. It can spread from clam to clam.

 

[Lsufan]

Thanks for the reply, I know it's hard to say with the little bit of information I gave. I don't know much about pinched mantle but I didn't think it was something that could stay in the tank without a clam being in there?

I have now had 3 different clams die in the past couple months. I really think it's something in the water that I can't test for. None of the clams where in the tank at the same time. The first one was the maxima that I had for two years that was doing great & growing real well. It still had a bunch of shell growth when he died. He just didn't open fully one day & it got worse every day until he died a week or so later. I waited two weeks & bought a deresa & he extended for about a week then showed the same symptoms & died. I waited another two weeks & got another deresa & he did the exact same & died today.

I really love clams but I don't want to get another until I figure it out because I hate killing my livestock. I'm just not sure what to do or how to figure out what it is. I'm now wondering if my membrane on my Rodi needs to be changed, I recently changed all the filters except the membrane & it is about 3 years old. I have 0 tds water but I'm just wondering if it may be letting a small amount of something through that is affecting the clams but not my sps

 

[MondoBongo]

derasa aren't supposed to be susceptible to pinched mantel from what i've read.

is it possible that you somehow introduced pyramid snails or some other kind of predator, or even something that has been living in the tank like a work that has now grown to a size where it is causing issues?

anything impacting your clams that drastically from a water chemistry perspective, i would assume would also be impacting SPS. i can't imagine any kind of contaminant that would cause issues with clams but not corals.

 

[Lsufan]

Thanks, I've looked multiple times for pyramid snails & have not seen any. I have looked at night & other then a few huge bristle worms haven't spotted anything but I should probably look every night for a while instead of looking every once in a while. I do have a leopard wrasse that I have never seen pick at them but the issues did start after the wrasse matured a little bit. Other then the wrasse the only other fish in the tank is a clown. Only other life in the tank that I know of are some snails, worms, a couple bristle worms & a bunch of coral