Is my Crocea Clam healthy?

[bigfishman]

Hi all,

I just bought my first T. Crocea Clam today. I am not sure if it is doing well or not after I put it into my tank.

Please take a look at pictures below and give me some comments.

Thanks a lot

 

[Aged Salt]

BFM, it looks fine--just acclimating yo it's new home. The gaping will decrease over the next few days. BTW, nice color,Bob

 

[Frisco]

It's very difficult to gauge clam health. A clam can look fine up until the day it passes unfortunately

 

[bigfishman]

Thanks guys!


I searched on the forum and found some information about "pinching " but still do not how it looks like.


Is my clam pinching now?? and how can I tell if it is pinching??


thanks again.

 

[bobbravo2]

I just got my first crocea, so, from my very limited experience, pinching is when the clam closes, or pinches its shell shut.

JMO,

 

[Aged Salt]

BFM, your clam is not "pinching"---ie. where the mantle recedes into the shell,Bob

 

[CTN1983]

I had a clam that started pinching (check my gallery) several months ago, by the time I FW dip it, it was too weak to recover

If your clam begins to pinch like the one in my gallery, you need to quickly treat the disease before it's too late. Minh Nguyen discussed more about this disease in this forum (or was it in another reef forum, I forgot).

Your crocea looks healthy, the gapping should decrease, but remember croceas tend to gap once in a while, so don't worry about it too much. BTW, those are some nice colors! Enjoy your new clam

 

[bigfishman]

Thanks again.

CTN1983: sorry to hear that you lost your clam.

I am still not really sure 100% how pinching clam look like.

But my clam looks a lot smaller when the light is off.

Is it normal?

It seems to be very responsive whenever people close by the tank.

 

[bigfishman]

Just one more thing,

I am using 175K metal halide and now the clam is on the sandbed around 20 inch away from the light. Can you tell in the picture to see if my clam have enough light or not?

 

[eddi]

The rule of thumb is that 175W is ok up to a depth of 18", but that is just an average. As long as your clam responds well to light and does not lose its color, you should be ok.

If you are concerned, move it up on your rock work, clams prefer to be on a rock anyway. If you are going to leave it on the sand, put a small flat rock under it so it can attach itself.


Eddi

 

[bigfishman]

Thanks again.

Should I move it now?? since it is new to my tank, i dont want to stress it by moving it.

By the way, when does clam start pinching?? all the time or only at night?

I just noticed my clam seem to be pinching when the light is off.

 

[bigfishman]

Thanks again.

Should I move it now?? since it is new to my tank, i dont want to stress it by moving it.

By the way, when does clam start pinching?? all the time or only at night?

I just noticed my clam seem to be pinching when the light is off.

 

[brc0488]

what the heck is pinching. does that mean closing and shutting cause mine does that when fish and hands go near it

 

[CTN1983]

I was able to re-locate the thread that discussed about the clam pinching disease (it's an old thread, but still useful).

Pinching clam

bigfishman, Like what Eddi stated, croceas prefer to be place on a rock, the clam will slowly attach it's foot onto that rock so you should consider that to be a permanent home. Your 175W halide should be enough light for the clam as long as you put it under direct light and as high as possible on your rock work..They CAN be place on sand, but they would rather prefer something to attach to.

It's normal for a clam to retract at night when the lights are out (or when theres a shadow)....It's when your clam's mantle is not fully expanded during the day time (w/lights on). Pinching usually begins on one side of the mantle, but will slowly spread across the whole mantle...Smaller clams will die within weeks-months, while larger clams can take up to a year.