Is my clam going to die? Please help!

[smellfishy]

I have a crocea clam that I have had for about 3 weeks doing fine until tonight. I just got home to find it open all the way with its mantle curled all the way in and it is not responding to anything light or touch. I am about to test the water but my other clam next to it looks normal. What can I do.

 

[iCam]

Hey. It sounds like it might already be dead if it is receded, and not responding to any stimuli. If it isn't attached to anything, take it out and smell it. If it smells rotten, then it's dead.

 

[smellfishy]

Doesn't smell bad at all. Could it die so fast it was fine before I went to work this afternoon.

 

[ReefDweller13]

well im pretty sure you one clam is dead as for the other all you can do is test the water and hope it is somthing easily treatable if nothing at all

 

[smellfishy]

The clam is dead for sure this morning. Still can't figure out what happened. All the water test came out normal. How long do corcea clams live for anyway? Maybe it was just age because it was the biggest one I had ever seen.

 

[this is me]

Clams are like that. One day they're perfectly fine and healthy, but the next day, its dead.

 

[M.Maddox]

Clams are like that. One day they're perfectly fine and healthy, but the next day, its dead.

If they're dead, it means they were *never* perfectly healthy, they just appeared to be so. This is often caused by lack of feeding, to little light, or some parasite. That's the problem with having photosynthetic invertebrates: "Oh, mine are doing great, I've had them for 1/3/6 months!" However, that really means nothing, as you can have a dying invertebrate that appears fine, and may take six months to die. The "it just died for no reason after 1/3/6 months!" means it was never healthy to begin with, and the source of the problem needs to be found.

 

[smellfishy]

Granted I am still new with keeping clams. I guess I just assumed it was ok because it was next to my other corcea at the same distance from the lights. I feed dts and cyclopeeze on a regular basis.