Crocea losing pigment

[Dorado13]

My crocea clam has started to lose some of its pigment in a couple of spots, but besides the fading, nothing seems to be wrong with the clam. I bought it about 4 months ago and placed it at the bottom of the tank on top of a shell so that it could attach to something. I started noticing the fading about a month ago so I placed it higher in the tank figuring that it wasn't getting enough light. I'm now starting to think that it may not be getting enough food. Does anyone know what could be wrong with it. You can see one of the light patches on the right side of the clam.

 

[Caleb Kruse]

What kind of lighting do you have, if you dont have halides that could be the problem. Could something be irritating it, like a fish or bristleworm.

 

[a4twenty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9411411#post9411411 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dorado13
My crocea clam has started to lose some of its pigment in a couple of spots, but besides the fading, nothing seems to be wrong with the clam. I bought it about 4 months ago and placed it at the bottom of the tank

it's bleaching and it can take longer than 4 months for a clam to starve to death, they often show no signs before dying.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9411411#post9411411 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dorado13
I started noticing the fading about a month ago so I placed it higher in the tank figuring that it wasn't getting enough light. I'm now starting to think that it may not be getting enough food.

for a clam this is essentially the same thing. clams require large amounts of light to grow zooxanthellae algae on their mantle for food. supplemental feeding can be beneficial for a clam but cannot replace strong light as a food source .

judging by the blue in your pictures i would guess that at LEAST 1/2 of your T5's are actinic. these blue and blue combination bulbs do not have enough power to penetrate deep into the tank. they may look good to us but they do not provide enough PAR to keep a clam alive at depth, especially the light loving crocea and maxima.

he is not receiving enough light energy to support the zoox algae living on his mantle. without more light he will continue to loss the zoox algae and slowly starve to death. i would move him up even higher in the tank. then consider either adding some MH lighting or changing some of you T5's to 10k bulbs. also if you don't have individual reflectors you should get them. here is a link to a really good lighting requirements thread.

and now would also be a good time to start dosing phytoplankton if you are not already. as i said above this cannot replace strong light but at this point the extra food should / could help the clam recover.


HTH

 

[Dorado13]

I have 6x54w T5s on icecap ballasts with individual icecap reflectors. The picture is a little misleading as my tank looks very white in person. In fact, only two of the bulbs are actinics. The other bulbs are 12k's and 11k's. The clam has actually grown quite a bit which leads me to believe that it isn't on its way out. I'm hoping that it will start to color up since I have moved it up about a foot up from where it was.

 

[a4twenty]

that should help, i didn't mean to scare you by insinuating that the clam was on his way out. what i meant is that if left unchecked the clam will lose more zoox which will lead to a slow starvation.

hopefully you will see signs of recover soon