Help w/ Squamosa

[Mekong]

My squamosa is dieing! I have had it for about 4 months.

I also have a derasa wich is florishing right near it, same depth, water flow, everything.

80g tank, clams were about 10" deep in the water perched on rocks. My lighting is 2x54watt T5s and 4x65watt PCs. I does with kalk and my nitrates are 0, phos less than .1, calcium 400-440. I feed DTs about 5 ml each time target fed, with a pippette, about 2-3 times a week. I have a six-line wrasse which I heard will eat clam predators and I have checked both clams for pests.

I got both clams around the same week and the squa was looking off and on good after I got it. It was 4.5" long when I got it and it has only grown at most 1 cm on the shell. Now its really all sucked in and almost dead looking.

My derasa on the other hand is a great clam, I bought it at 3" and it has grown over and 1" on the shell and has a big mighty foot holding it down on the rock and it has very quick reaction time when I pass my hand over it. The squa was always kinda slugish, it looked good when I got it... It had some small snails on it but I picked them all off and have checked it recently. I have never exposed either clam to the air...

So any ideas on my squa? I am just confused cause the derasa is looking amazing.

 

[mbbuna]

do u have any pics? i wouldnt move the clam for now. and i would stop "target feeding" thats not good for clams. it's best to feed the whole system,clams dont like a sudden rush of food, it can clog there gills and it may stress it out more then it is. check for pyrams after dark with a flashlight.

 

[OasisTF]

Can they be competing for food?( since they are next to each other ) Is it responding to SHADE?

 

[Mekong]

They are not touching each other about 4" away from each other.

I dont oversaturate them with phyto when I target them, just a little squirt in thier area with all the pumps off. I also give my montis, feather dusters and hitchhiker bi-valves a little squirt. Everything else seems fine with it.

It is now completely sunk into the shell, I can see a large hole from the mouth to the foot. It has no repsonce. What should I do with it? Should I take it out? Let it rot?

Ill check for snails tonight with a red flashlight. I thought 6-lines were supposed to eat them...

My derasa responds very quickly and is looking great, I see no signs of stress with it at all...

 

[OasisTF]

Try reading here ( May Help )

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/tridacdisfaq2.htm

 

[mbbuna]

i would remove it, sounds like it didnt make it. u need to keep an eye on the derasa for pyrams now ,dont depend on ur 6-line to eat them, they would reather eat pods,the best way to get rid of pyrams is for u to pick them off.remove the clam to a small dish of tank water once or twice a week a few hours after lights out and take a tooth brush and scrub the shell.dont worry about exposing ur clam to air it wont hert them.u will need to do this for a few months to get rid of them.sorry to hear that u lost ur clam.

 

[Mekong]

But I havent seen any pyram snails thought, I checked last night.

The clam was looking so bad I pulled it out and most of the meat just poured out of the clam into the drain. Poor clam, I didnt see a single snail on it. Just to make sure I ran hot water over the shell of a few min and then put the shell in my fuge.

I really dont wana lose my derasa, it looking great, no sign of snails. My sixline keeps my tank clean of any pods or flat worms. The 6-line seems to have more than enough apatite to eat anything he can in the tank...

Poor clam...

 

[mbbuna]

some times clam just die for reasons that we dont know!i wish i could say "this is why".
i have a 6-line also and have had pyrams in the past,and i can remember seeing my 6-line swim around and eyeball a pyram on the glass and never tuch it.i hope that ur wrasse took care of them but i would still check

 

[Mekong]

I checked last night and there were none where the squa was, the derasa appears clean, but i couldnt pick it up because it is firmly attached with its foot.

I figure if it was pyram snails the would of been all over the dead squas shell, yet there were none...

Do peppermint shrimp touch clams? I thought I heard about some kinda shrimp that will sometimes pick at clams...

 

[mbbuna]

some will some wont

 

[Ludwigia73]

Do you have any blennies? I had to catch my bicolor blennie that wouldn't touch my maxima, but the very day I put in a crocea, it started attacking the mantle.

 

[Mekong]

I got an algae blenny...