Is this PM? And is it from Phosban?

Marshall

Marshall

Premium Member
I just read five minutes ago that phosban could be causing some issues with my clam. My squamosa is totally fine but my teardrop and this clam (not sure what kind it is) are not looking good. This one is looking particularly bad and it does not appear to be getting better but getting worse.

Tonight I am routing the water from phosban through the carbon reactor and I will look for improvements. Any advice much appreciated... I'm not sure if this is PM (I think it is though) and I don't know if this is attributed to Phosban or not ( I think it is). I should mention that I started running phosban about the same time I put this clam into the tank and it has been looking bad ever since although I would say it took at least a month before I started noticing problems.

Here is the clam (it DOES expand more when the 400w MH come on but you can still see some of the white shell by looking straight down onto him):

CIMG3454.jpg


CIMG3455.jpg


Here is his underside, he seems to have expelled his foot....

CIMG3457.jpg


And here is his foot & byssal threads.... he once was attached and I found this next to him he expelled it (or another creature tore it, doubtful).

CIMG3461.jpg


Thanks everyone!!!!
Marshall
 
to tell if its pm, we'll neeed to seee a pic when the mantle is extended.
1) it is a squamosa
2) some people have reported that phosban or other phosphate sponges can release some metals to the water (as this is the ingredient for the adsorption). I do not know how much validity there is to this claim, but try to remove the phospban to see if there any improvement.

have you changed anything else? light water flow, etc? this would cause a clam to dump its byssal thread and try to move.
 
That clam looks a lot worse off than just simple PM (or in the last stages of it). How long have you had him? For what its worth, I have 6 clams in my tank, 4 croceas, 1 maxima, and 1 derasa and have been running phosban in a TLF reactor for over a year now with no ill affects. In fact, they look terrific. One thing I always do is run my Phosban through a few gallons of RO water to clear out all the dust before I actually hook it up to my system. It looks in bad shape, hope it pulls through.
 
i run my water throught the remover then carbon before entering back into the tank water. i had a problem with one of my clams due to the phosphate remover. the carbon cleared it up. have you looked for pyramid snails on the under side of your clam at night a few hours after the lights go out? water chemistry, big ph swings from day to night?? post any of that data you have try that and also if you can repost a pic of it durring the day lights. thanks and good luck

B
 
pH is relatively stable going from a low in the WEEK (sometimes I run out of kalk) of 7.9 to a high of 8.3. Usually 8-8.15. I have some SPS in this tank that aren't having a fit and not all of my clams are having problems. I did not see any pyramid snails on the clam and I know what they look like.

Salinity is 1.025-1.026, 77.5-79 F, NO3 < 5, Ca 380, Alk 12, Mg 1350.

This picture was taken tonight (8/30/06 @ 7pm). I am now going to do a 20min FW dip (TDS 7, temp and pH matched) and will post an after picture.

CIMG3464.jpg
 
That looks like PM to me. The incurrent siphon on that clam is also gaping open, not a good sign. The fact that it dropped its byssal threads isnt a good sign at all. Dont know if this clam will make it.

I had PM in two Crocea's. RO dips dont kill the protozoan responsible for PM. Its an internal parasite that affects the clam. I was dipping my clams for over an hour in an attempt to kill off the protozoan.

RO dips dont work because the clam closes and doesnt allow the RO in. You might see an improvement in the short term, but less than a week or two after hours long dips, my clams were both pinching again.

I wound up treating with metronidazole and hyposalinity. Lost one clam but cured the other. Havent had PM in over a year.

Look here for info, its a long thread, but good info....

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7262

Nick
 
i am suprised that no one has said this but you really need to get your tank stable.. your PH swing is HUGE your ALk is way to high and your calcium level is too low for clams...

i think you are stressing out the clam...

you need to keeo your tank Ph 8.1-8.2
Ca 425+
Alk 7-9
Mg 1200-1400

keep those levels without major swings and it may help...
 
Thanks for the advice. The pH doesn't usually swing like that only if I run out of kalk. Usually 8-8.2. Alk is a little bit high. I have read that Ca 380 level is OK. Also my enormous squamosa is doing OK.

I found some of these starfish in the FWD bowl. I did not see them ON the clam before I put it in so I think they came from inside the clam? Can't be sure though....

CIMG3473.jpg


24 hours after 25 min temp/pH matched freshwater dip. About 5 minutes were out of the water being inspected for stuff:

CIMG3569.jpg


I changed out the carbon in the two little fishes reactor, did a 20% water change. I also ordered new bulbs for the halides they are pretty old, do you think that could be a cause? I feel like the clam looks better after the FWD but I don't know if that is evidence enough to think that it helped.

Thanks everyone,
Marshall
 
I don't recall the name of the starfish, but it's bad news for corals as I recall. I had several in my tank, they never bothered any clams though.
The last clam I had that looked like didn't make it. I sure hope you have better luck.

JR
 
In another tank I had predatory starfish that would eat digitatas among other things (that was their preference though). These are a brown color those were white. Same body shape though. It is this crap that makes me want to get out of this hobby. Ugh!
 
36 hours post FWD I think he is looking *MUCH* better:

CIMG3581.jpg


another one (and a shameless plug for THE BEST FISH EVER!):

CIMG3577.jpg
 
That is a Squamosa.
Something is bothering the clam and it is not PM. PM is very slow in progressing. It only pinched at one or two spot on the clam early on and the clam is fine otherwise.
 
I gave my gigas clam a FW bath last night for 17 min (at that point it was not responding well so I panicked and took it out). It looks the same today or maybe slightly worse. How long should I give the clam before repeating the bath?

Allen
 
I have no expertise just what you see in this thread but no clam is happy in FWD. I would do 20-25 minutes and give a thorough inspection of the clam in your hand. Mine has not needed another FWD yet but as soon as it starts looking bad I'm going to do it again. My clam is 6+" though so he is on the bigger side and was/is very healthy before this happened. Looks great lately though (fingers crossed).

Good luck!!!
 
Also it took about 36 hours for the clam to fully reopen give it some time to see if it improved. 24 hours later it looked the same.
 
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