Is my clam a goner?

[Bagabaga]

I saw the health of a new clam I got deteriorate over the past few days. Should I remove it? I just took the picture a few minutes ago. It's a Squamosa around 2.25inches across.

Do you think it was my lighting? I have t5ho 2 actinic 39w and two 10000k 39w on a tank 22 inches to the sand bed, I tried moving it to the rock about midway up and he didn't improve, he did stretch to the rock but decided he wanted to move and was stuck by a byssal thread that I took a razor to near the rock and let him free. I went to move him and he closed up very slowly and I tried to swipe it under a power head to get rid of some sand in the scutes and his flesh retracted deep into the shell and slowly came back out. I clamped a cup to the side of the tank and put him in that right under the lights. I added a little filter food and circulated the water in the cup with a baster and when I left for work I put him in the sand.

I tested yesterday:
Salinity 36ppm
Ph 8.0
Alk is above 12
Nitrate: between 5 and 10 on my card
Phosphate: less than .25

 

[Bagabaga]

Another pic from another few minutes ago

 

[MondoBongo]

sorry, but usually when they get to that state of stretched out between the shells, they're not long for this world.

 

[Bagabaga]

do you think it was lighting? Or my high alk? He was always very wide and pale in between shells when I got him.

 

[MondoBongo]

it's very difficult to say. it doesn't sound like you had him long though.

usually these guys don't go over night. they can often cling to life for a while, looking OK, while slowly deteriorating, until they just let go, and appear to die over the course of a couple days or so.

your alk is definitely high, but i don't have enough first hand experience to tell you if that particular level could cause severe problems.

 

[Bagabaga]

Thanks. He was never really happy anywhere in the tank. Always moving around the sand bed and trying to jump off rocks. I let him do his own thing until it looked to be going downhill. I'm hoping for a miracle!

 

[ssavader]

Clams that size are always hit or miss. Try to shoot for 3-4". Acclimate very slowly -2 hrs with good circulation, and never allow any air to get in the mantle. Check for lethal pyramidal snails before you buy and never cut the abyssal threads. If the clam needs or wants to move, let it deal with its own abyssal ligament!

Hope this helps.

 

[Bagabaga]

Thanks, I'll definitely be on the look out for all the signs. How small are prymid snails? I've never seen them. This is only my second clam ever and the first one was sold with its tank 8 years ago.

 

[MondoBongo]

you can cut byssal threads if you need to move the clam, just not he byssus itself.

i would disagree with that long an acclimation period, and burping is a common practice to help the clam expunge any air it may have inadvertently "swallowed" during the moving process.

pyramid snails are pretty small little guys, but can be seen with the naked eye if you look close. ~< 7mm

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/jf/index.php

 

[Bagabaga]

Wow those are TINY. I didn't see those when I moved the clam the last time. I'm hoping for a miracle, my new led light cleared payment and I hope it gets here soon. There is some improvement over the condition from yesterday, his mantle is extending over the shell a bit and no bleaching and nothing rotting I see. No hermits or bristles eating it I can see. I hope it doesn't starve to death.

Yes that is some cyano in my tank it hasn't gotten out of hand and is receding slowly.

 

[ca1ore]

The good news is that your clam is not gaping (at least, not that I can see). That it is not extending beyond the margins of the shell may be due to some form of irritation. Maybe move it to an area of lower flow, or where your fish aren't swimming over it all the time.

 

[Bagabaga]

It's in a low flow area and there's just one fish a purple dottyback. Which leaves all corals alone but harasses me for food when I'm by the tank all the time. I think I'm going to leave the clam alone until my light arrives on or before Friday.

 

[moliken]

at .25 phosphates, i doubt that the kit you are using is accurate and that the real phos number is much higher. u using a regular kit or a hanna checker? ordinary kits cannot measure it accurately at that level. i'd say that's the culprit. water change to lower it!

 

[Bagabaga]

Well this morning it was dead unfortunately.

It's a brand new api liquid phosphate test. My ro water tests at 0 on the scale. I think the phosphates are leeching from the rock I got from another reefer, it was dry lava rock. All my corals are doing great. I did a water change today after testing nitrates a little high.

Hopefully when my light comes I can sustain a new clam. I'll keep the acclimation and size of clam in mind for a future addition.

Thanks to everyone!