Maxima gone overnight

[johnvlahos]

A few weeks ago I bought my first clam, a brown and white maxima. It was fine yesterday and this morning it appears to have disintegrated? Any thoughts on this? Am I dealing with a predator, disease, water chemistry issue?

Thanks in advanceââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦

jv

 

[Typhon]

Did you find any small white snails near the foot of the clam?? How long have you had the clam?? What type of lighting do you have?? What is you PH, ALK, CA and Nitrate??

 

[johnvlahos]

Pictures

Pictures

Here are before and after photos...

 

[johnvlahos]

after...

after...

Here's the after image

 

[johnvlahos]

Did you find any small white snails near the foot of the clam?? How long have you had the clam?? What type of lighting do you have?? What is you PH, ALK, CA and Nitrate??

Lighting is 440w VHOs on a 50 gallon tank. The last water test was a few days ago...

pH 8.25
Sg 1.025
Nitrate 0
Alk 2.8
CA 440

However there is also a fish that seems to have disappeared - perhaps the nirate spiked?

Thanks again,
jv

 

[Typhon]

Your water quality seems to fine. I do see one problem. This might of cause the death of your clam. Maxima clams require very intensity light. Did you keep the clam near the bottom of the tank near the substrate?? I have seem maximas and croceas slowly degrade under VHOs or PC and eventually die. That is how I recieve the blue maxima i have now. One of my friends gave it to me after seeing how unhappy it was under VHOs. The maxima is very happy and grown .25" in the last month under my 20L 250w MH. I have seem clams suddenly die over night because of lack of light over time.

 

[johnvlahos]

Typhon - thanks,

To be honest I'm new to the clam world. When I bought it I thought it was a squamosa.

I placed it in the middle of the tank - maybe it should been higher. Are there any clam varities that will do well under VHO lighting?

jv

 

[Peabody]

I agree with the above. Try a 3"+ squamosa or derasa, they would love your lightning. I'd stay away from maximas and croceas

Best of luck!
Jeff

 

[Typhon]

I have been keeping clams for about 3 years now. I have had about 5 different speices of clams. I my experience squamosa and Deresa do well under VHO and PC. Not great but well. I have had a Deresa since the begining, 3 years old. Currently he is doing really well under my 250w MH. Had MH for about a year now.

 

[jackson6745]

I have been keeping clams for about 3 years now. I have had about 5 different speices of clams. I my experience squamosa and Deresa do well under VHO and PC. Not great but well. I have had a Deresa since the begining, 3 years old. Currently he is doing really well under my 250w MH. Had MH for about a year now.

i have had a Derasa for 4 years under pc and Vho lighting. How can you tell if it is doing good or great?

 

[Typhon]

The different I could see was change in color and growth. Under VHO he had a small rim of flurocent green color. After a year under MH, my deresa had developed green spots within his mantle and the growth has been greater. I purchase the deresa at 2" and feed it DT once a week. Over 2 years, it grew about an 1". Under my MH the Deresa has grown over 1" in a year with out feeding. The color could just be from different type of lighting, but you can tell the different is growth.

 

[Potsy]

In a post Dr. Ron stated that 90% of clam deaths are due to starvation. If you only had your clam a few weeks, then perhaps it was doomed long before you placed it in your aquarium. Perhaps it had been kept under low light or hadn't been fed phytoplankton for a prolonged period of time before you got it. They'll look fine on the outside while slowly dieing on the inside until one day they seem to instantly disintegrate. When it was in the dealer's tank, did it have a strong shadow reaction (did it forcefully retract/close when a shadow passed over)?

When shopping for your next clam - a derasa or squamosa - look for one already attached to a small rock or oyster shell that demonstrates a forceful shadow reaction.

 

[johnvlahos]

Potsy

Thanks for the 'shadow reaction' tip - great idea.

This one was small and unattached. I proped it up on small rock for a few days and let it grab hold. Then I moved it up in the tank.

In the future - I'll look for clam with rock....

jv

 

[RandomChaos]

hard to believe that it went from looking that good to picture 2 in 2 weeks from starvation or lack of light. i think you have a predator

 

[Peabody]

A possibility. But, i have heard time and time again that a dying clam just looks like a healthy clam They look great, and you wake up and have an empty shell. Daniel Knop recalled in his book one great looking clam that had all his internal organs dissolve, but it's mantle still was great. Needless to say it didn't last long.

 

[AQUAN8TOR]

I agree with chaos. I just updated my 'unexplainable clam predator' post, upon the finding of a 2" stone crab last night. I lost 3 clams in 3 nights, all of which had been growing very well for at least a few months; I have 3 vhos and 175mh on a 40breeder, feed DT's every other day, have a calcium reactor, and excellent water quality.


From looking at your 'after' picture, there looks to be a gelatinous blob on the right edge of the shell. This could be a trick of the camera, but if it is some sort of blob, containing mucous and partially decomposed clam flesh, I think you have a large bristle worm somewhere. I haven't actually viewed worm predation in my own tank, but from what I hear from friends and other sources, usually a worm leaves this sort of trademark calling card after it sucks your clam up.

I might suggest getting a trap, or using one of the diy traps you can find in the archives. Even if you don't have a worm, it might ease your peace of mind. I REALLY don't think your clam would have died overnight without any sort of symptom, especially under my own very recent experiences.

 

[johnvlahos]

Jazzyreef -

Thanks - we have seen a few small worms and it's certainly conceivable that there is a large one too. We'll get the traps out tonight.

jv

 

[AQUAN8TOR]

good luck!! I've got a trap myself, but haven't been very serious about using it. A couple friends of mine both suggested baiting it with mussel flesh, or clam, from the local grocery store, unless you already have some to feed corals or anemones. The bait is supposedly very important to attract specifically the clam predator.