Crocea clam HELP!!!

[bigjackstud]

Ok this is the second clam I bought now and they keep dying on me! The first one we all figured wasen't getting food so it just wasted away. Now I was told be you guys on here as well as a few retail store people that this clam is great for removing nitrates and I olso got the propper food. Phyto plankton and zooplankton. What else is wrong here? All the water readings are in normal parimiters. I used 3 different kits. My nitrates are a bit high 10 ppm but these are supposed to love nitrates! Whats wrong here? Somebody please help me!

 

[bigjackstud]

It seems to be shrinking, the meat part of it is inside it now... Still alive but barely!

 

[Rockitmakr]

You left alot out of your posting....
Lighting?
What are your H2O parms...Exactly?
How old is the system?
:beer:

 

[Joshua1023]

If a clam has enough light it can survive with no other food. It can have tons of food, but cannot survive without enough light. Especially Crocea.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Lighting and Calcium/Alkalinity would be important here. How are you acclimating them? Do you put them in QT? Have you noticed any pests?

 

[JokerGirl]

Clams under 3" do need to be fed phyto, although larger clams that are under strong lighting do not need to be fed.

If the mantle is receding into the shell, you may have a problem with pinched mantle going on. Have you been running any carbon?

 

[mbbuna]

i just did a quick search of your posts, you seem to be having a problem with most of the inverts you get. do you use Ro water? have you every added copper to the tank? do you have any copper or brass fittings anywhere?

the last clam you had, when it died you acknowledged that the PC lights you have wernt ideal for clams. i dont think this is what caused its death but maybe you should hold off on getting another one untill you improve your lighting.

 

[mbbuna]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9485482#post9485482 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JokerGirl
Clams under 3" do need to be fed phyto, although larger clams that are under strong lighting do not need to be fed.

thats not true, within a month of the larval stage there mantles are fully developed and full of zoox, and can sustain them with intense lighting.

heres a study where larval clams were kept in micro filtered water and not allowed to receive any particulate and they did just fine on light alone.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0006-3185(198110)161:2<213:SDAAOZ>2.0.CO;2-N&size=LARGE

 

[JokerGirl]

Interesting. I stand corrected.

 

[Rouselb]

Where in the tank is it located? If you have it at the bottom try putting it into a container and placing that near the top of the tank.

 

[zach0660]

All clams should be kept under MH lighting.

 

[Rouselb]

Clams can be kept under VHO and T5 lighting. T5 can provide more light evenly spread then MH. I would ck the placement of the clam. Lighting is my guess here. Ck this link out...good stuff for lighting.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1013083&perpage=25&pagenumber=6

 

[mbbuna]

lighting wouldn't have effected the clam that quickly. just by looking at the past posts and the quick loses of other inverts IMO theres heavy metals or chlorine in the water

 

[zach0660]

T5's may have a better spread, but nothing can beat metal halides, especially 400 watters.

 

[BrianCM]

I agree with zach0660, nothing can beat metal halides.

 

[hansonfam]

Hmmmm i have to disagree. I have t5's and everything looks just as good as those with halides. The only thing it is lacking is the pretty "shimmer" you get with halides.

Here is a pretty great looking tank that is under T5'S
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/totm/index.php

Lisa

 

[barron]

Pinched mantle?

 

[barron]

Some clams such as duresa do OK under less intence lighting but Crocea clams need full sun or metal halide. The James Fatherree new giant clams book is pretty clear on these isues.

 

[mbbuna]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9486717#post9486717 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by barron
Pinched mantle?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1057629

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1039931&highlight=pinched+mantle

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=690843&highlight=pinched+mantle

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=554185&highlight=pinched+mantle

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7262

http://www.clamsdirect.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1672

http://www.clamsdirect.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=747

 

[bigjackstud]

Ok all you guys are contradicting each other here. I do have him close to the top. I have PC lights with the 10,000k light and actinic also moon. Was told by just about everyone that thats ok. This clam came out of a tank with pc lighting and it looked good. So I dought thats the trouble. The only other invert I had trouble with (that i can remember) is the clam! All my other inverts are growing and doing pretty good right now actually. Please don't use abreviations. I have no idea what your trying to say to me?! lol Sorry. I'm not so computer lingo savy... Water quality seems fine except the nitrate thats running a bit high 10ppm like I said. What else can i say? Not running R/O water yet but will be soon. I have zoa's, carnation, giant mushroom, maze coral. Some other things i don't even remember the name of in here! lol Including a stoney coral thats doing fine under pc lighting!!! If it's mantle is pinched then it did it itself, but the clam is quite opened up for that i'd say... Anything else I should try????