High ammonia. What do I do with my clams? HELP!!!!!!!!

[JIM27]

The death of one of my clams a little over a week ago has resulted in high ammonia(about 3 mg/l) in my tank(an 18 gallon) which has already taken the lives of two more. What should I do with the other two? Ones a really expensive ultra maxima that I would hate to loose. Should I just leave them in the tank and do water changes? What if I set up another tank(10g) with new saltwater and water from my shark tank(which has good water exept for medium-high nitrates)? Any other ideas?

 

[JIM27]

Well I just tested my ammonia again, its back down to 0. I guess the 50% water change on sunday did the trick. Now I'm not sure what killed my clams. Can exposure to ammonia for a few days kill clams(I'm pretty sure thats a yes)?

 

[cal3v]

Have you heard of the clam disease that is going around? That may be the culprit.

 

[holeinone1972]

I have no idea. what killed your first clam.

High exposure to ammonia probably killed the others though.

5 clams in a 18 gallon tank? Probably not the best idea.

Small tanks are tough to keep stabile. Salinity, calcium, ph, temperature all need to be kept at stable levels.

Why don't you tell us about your tank levels.

Then tell us what signs the clam gave as it was dying.

What kind of lights do you have?

We can maybe offer some advice given the right information.

Rob

 

[JIM27]

I try to keep my tank as stable. I just talked to my lfs about the problem and had them test my water and according to my them all my levels are good exept the salinity was little low(like at 1.023). They recommended I start using reef crystals in stead of IO and up the salinity to 1.025

The clams deaths seemed to take about maybe 2-5 days. They wouldn't open up like usual for a few days then they'd sink into there shells and die.

My lighting is a 10k 150w double-ended mh.

 

[holeinone1972]

Instant Ocean is what I use. I have not used Reef Crystals, but my lfs always wants me to buy it to. Maybe beacuse at my lfs it is $5 more. I usually go thru 2 200 gallon buckets a month, so they maybe want more money. Best of luck. Rob