Crocea is clamming up... What's up?

[gws294]

I lost a clam that I have had for 2 years... he started to retract his mantle, and slowly went down hill from there. The other 3 clams were all doing very well. EDIT: That was 2 weeks ago.

Now I have another Crocea (I think) and he is starting to retractg his mantle. This guy has been the favorite spot for my hawk fish to perch for 9 months now. He is used to having the fish hang out in his opened shell. Today is the first time I' ve ever seen him not opened and extended.

I read somewhere about soing a FW dip, but I don't remember the details. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Geoff

 

[mbbuna]

i wouldn't do a FWD just yet.

tell us more about your tank, lighting,filtration,fish, and please list the results from every test kit you have(also what test kit brand)

 

[gws294]

mbbuna (Chris and Barb):

System is a

72 bowfront reef (with the 3 clams, 5 fish-chevron tang, tomato clown, rabbit fish, foxface, and royal gramma) tied to a common sump and a
20G "Nano" tank and a
50G FOWLR with 6 pygmy angels.
Total water volume about 165G.

Setup for about 2 1/2 yrs, had major shakeup about 6 months ago when a sudden outbreak of hair algae took over. (I had pressing business elsewhere for a while and tank took a back seat). I ended up removing all live rock about 3 months ago and have been cooking it to get rid of algae, and planning upgrade to a 225G reef, and splitting the FOWLR to a separate system. The remaining substrate, live sand, has been doing a great job of nitrate control.

Lighting - 2 250W XM 20K (due to be changed last month) and 2 - 110W VHO Actinics

Water Quality
NO3 - 5 (salifert)
PO4 - 0 (lemotte)
Ca++ - 440 (Was recently a little low (390), and have been raising this past week) (salifert)
Alk - 9 dKH (Was also low, around 7 and have been raising this week)
Mg+ - 1350 (salifert)
S.G. 1.025
Water Changes, 5%, 2x / wk
pH - 8.1 - 8.3
Auto top off, Removed kalkwasser about 4 weeks ago due to pH rise. Off line since
Ca Rx - Korrillin copy
UV - yes
Ozone - Off line
EuroReef C6-2 skimmer
Refugium - No

The clam has opened up since my first post, but I still don't think he's fully extended. You know how you look at everything everyday you get sort of a sense about things.... He just doesn't look happy. Over the past year, he has grown almost 50% of his original size. He alway seems to do well even if I have messed up with something.

Also, I just lost a new multicolor angel that I put into the Nano tank about a week ago. Possibly velvet, but am still trying to determine.

I really appreciate you thoughts and experience.

Geoff

 

[mbbuna]

you cooking all your rock so all the clams are on the substrate? how high in the tank were they before you removed the rock? have you done a nitrite test?

OT- interested in your angel tank. been trying to talk Barb into adding a pair of Potter's to our 180(clam less) tank that has a pair of Flames but she hesitant about squabbling

 

[gws294]

Sorry, clams are about 1/2 way up tank on some eggcrate, about 11" below surface. Lights are about 8" above surface.

Re: Angels,

I love these little guys... Order of introduction is critical, very territorial. Need lots of hiding places. At one point, when I introduced the Eibli, it resulted in big spat with Lemonpeel. I actually removed the lemonpeel into a temp tank for a couple of weeks, then put him back and it solved the problem... need to keep it mixed up at time. I made mistake once of trying to add a flame to the mix. The original six were are so "grouped" they harrassed the flame til I had to remove him... they would have killed the poor guy.

Potters are great. A little fragile. I accidently gave one a heart attack one time by simply netting him, to put into another tank. Now, I scoop with specimen box. Beautiful fish however. It is my alltime favorite.


Anyway, thanks for some ideas about the clam.

Geoff

p.s. Barb, you gotta get a potters (or two)

 

[mbbuna]

were you running GFO hard for the hair algae?

 

[gws294]

GFO ??? Granular ferris oxide??????

I'm running a phosphate remover in a media reactor, as well as carbon

Phosphates = 0 (in water) who knows where it may have precipitated.

Geoff

 

[mbbuna]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8710568#post8710568 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gws294
GFO ??? Granular ferris oxide??????

yes. try doing a large water change, 25%+ and add some new carbon

 

[gws294]

OK, what do you think is going on?

 

[mbbuna]

dont know for sure. ive had some bad experiences with GFO(but i still use it)

no matter how much you rinse it it still leaches some iron.

let us know how things are going

also a pic or 3 would be great

 

[gws294]

I'll work on a pix tomorrow. I've been running Kent phosphate remover, not the iron based material.

Well Chris, thanks alot... off for now

Geoff

 

[jmaneyapanda]

have you checked for pyram. snails?

 

[gws294]

Thanks for the idea about the snails.. I looked and can't see any. He is opening up a little, but still doesn't look right. I don't know what to expect... I guess I'll just have to wait and see....

Thanks for the input jmaneyapanda

Geoff