Crocea overnight demise

F

faust

New member
Was wondering if anyone has a clue. I had a 3-4 inch crocea up high in the tank, plenty of light. Has been doing absolutely great, biggest mantle extension I've seen. Solid biysll gland(?) attachment, didn't budge. Ever other day feedings of DTs. No critters bothering it. Last night all status quo. This morning, a ball of slim, everyone eating away. was still alive and attached to rock, solid couldn't budge. Had to leave, just got back in and he was basically done.
Critters eating were cleaner hermits, a Sally Lightfoot and an emerald crab. I think that they were just a result of the decay. All parameters are good, no negative tank signs, no pyramids on shell.
Any one have a clue or guess? I have 2 rather large brittle stars in there but don't really suspect them, nor were they there feeding in the morn. Some suspects: Sally Lightfoot, emerald crab, peppermeint shrimp, crimson shrimp. I know there are Bristle worms...large in the tank but have been under the impression that they are opportunistic feeders, as if the clam is going bad, then the above mentioned fellows will go for the feast.
Any clue what could have happened? This clam was in just great shape up till last night and then bang! a ball of slim. Damn :(
zig
 
How long did you have the clam? What type of lights? Did you ever see the hermits or crabs bothering it?
I had to get rid of my blue-legged hermits when I got my clam - they kept picking on it. I don't trust any claws with clams.

BTW: Nice faux finish work on your web site!!
 
Thanks for the comp :)
Had him about 2 months, a bit more. Started him on the sand and slowly moved him up. He was on a solid slab, about 8" from the top and very well attached and never moved once he decided he liked it there. 2 175 MH 10K and 2 96 PCs in a 65 gal, lots of light. Post mordem exam showed some great new growth of bright white shell, a good 1/2 inch I never saw due to the size of the mantle.
No one ever went near him, day or night, I always checked. Blue legs and scarlett crabs would position themselves on the slab at night but never near him. Shrimp and crabs at night nowhere near. That's what makes it so damn frustrating. This guy was going strong. I removed him since he was about 50% empty and was getting picked away at steadely, every crab knocked off, 10 minutes later there would be another. Even at this point the bysll was so well attached I had to tear it to get him out. Inside peek showed huge tissue damage, with the area around his gills/filters really gone. Huge ball of slime, used a baster at first around him in the morn thinking it was something else near him, then realized it was pouring out of him. Upon removal, the interior, besides what was left of the mantle and glands was a huge ball of clear slime.
Really sad. I don't want to chance another until I can figure this one out. No slow demise, just bam, a max of 7 hours. Lights went out at 10 pm and he was just fine, just fed DTs before that. I turn all pumps off and let it settle on and around him and leave all off for about 10 minutes. Was reacting quite well to these feedings.
At the moment, all is well with sps and lps and anemones and fish. Some stress signs on sps polyps while clam was sliming, but removal stopped that and everyone seems happy.
 
Assuming all your water params were good, and you hadn't recently added any other livestock, the only thing I would suggest is to NOT feed DTs to a clam of that size. It does nothing other than expose your clam to live bacteria. Importation of a live culture = risk.
 
Nearly same thing happened to me this week with my squamosa. He had been in the same spot in the sand bed for about 4 months.

I went to bed one night, all looked well. I then went to work the next morning without looking at the tank only to return to a half-eaten clam that night. My peppermint shrimp was the only one on the shell eating at that time. I assumed he was just cleaning up after the fact, not that he had anything to do with the initial "attack", but I could be wrong.

I loved that clam and would prefer to have one in the tank but like you, I won't replace him until I know what happened to some degree of certainty.
 
Hi nixonnoxin,
I was under the impression that smaller clams need DTs acording to the idea that they are not large enough to produce an adequate amount of food from light due to thier mantle size?
zig
 
Real sorry to hear aout the clam. There is no way to really determine what killed it. But let's decide what it wasn't - Water parameters - good, lighting- good, nutrition - good, apparent predators - none, Calcium - OK (some new growth).


What could have killed it -
Metal accumulation in sand and rock due to using wrong salt mix
Disease
Additives like iodine
or
IMHO the most probable cause could have been an infection suffered by a damaged foot caused when the clam was harvested. If you have a wild havested clam it probably comes from Viet Nam where they harvest the clam by cutting the foot off of the rocks. The two months time frame sounds about right.
Other than that I'm out of ideas.

NIXONNOXIN - If clams don't need feeding why do they have a stomach and a digestive tract. Yes, larger clams can get much of their nutritional needs through light but all clams, no matter what size, need supplemental feeding. Smaller ones just need more.
 
Clams are INDEED filter feeders, thus the need for their stomachs, but a 3-4" clam doesn't need supplemental feeding if their lighting is sufficient. Planktonic particles in your water column are more than enough food in suspension, especially if you have fish.

My secondary point is -- if you remain unconvinced despite overwhelming evidence by others who succeed in the husbandry of clams, and still feel the need to saturate your tank or clam with polution levels of additional food -- try a dead culture such as Kent's Phytoplex or similar product, where you don't risk the bacterial exposure as you do with live culture equivalents.

There are tons of examples in "modern life" supporting this same notion: Pasturization of milk, juice, etc., dead virus vaccines, etc. It's not that people who consume/ingest non-pasturized/active culture don't receive benefit from such products, they just assume a certain level of risk in doing so. And when they do succumb to the occasional (statistically speaking) contaminated content, the results are deadly.
 
Just an update on tank conditions. On the good side, the maroons just layed eggs for the first time and I had the luck to be there from beginning to end, pretty cool to see! So I'm going to guess all my params are on target.
Joe,
I do add iodine along with Kalk in the water makeup, but always do that and the clam was fine for the 2 months. Is there a negative side to iodine supplementation? Besides Kalk and Iodine, that's all I add, aside water changes and have always used Kent salt since start of tank, 5 gallons per week. Average water evap is around 5-6 gals per week (RO/DI kent system), in that amount held in a Nurce, I add a capful of iodine, slightly less than the recomended amount on the bottle.
Thanks
 
I HAD 2 FOR OVER 8 MNTHS...SAME THING ALWAYS LOOKED
GREAT..ONE MORNING I WOKE UP TO FIND A PEPPERMINT
SHRIMP AROUND HIS FOOT (BARE BOTTOM AT THE TIME)
THE NEXT MORNING...CLAM WAS GONE WITH THAT DAMN
SHRIMP SITTING INSIDE EATING IT...WATER
PERAMATERS ALL GOOD..ALL OTHER CORAL OK..POLPS OUT
ETC. ... THEN THE LITTLE BUGGER DID IT TO A SECOND
ONE A WEEK LATER...I STARTED TO FEED HEAVIER TO
ALLOW THE SHRMPS TO EAT AND THE OTHER CLAMS
HAVE BEEN OK...THIS ALL HAPPENED A FEW MONTHS AGO..
IT IS SO HARD TO CATCH THESE SHRIMP IN A FULLY STOCKED
TANK...I NOW FEED THEM PELLETS AND THIS HAS HELPED..GREG
(SORRY FOR CAPS)
 
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