Maxima 'huffing'

noahm

Active member
So I have a 3.5" maxima that has been in my tank for about 3 weeks. It has appeared happy and other than rotating itself 180 degrees, has stayed put. Today it started kind of huffing. It would gape and then expel water just like if a person coughed. It seems to be doing this avery several seconds. The gaping was quite wide at first, but has since seemed to be less. The mantle is open normally.

Lighting 2x250 14k. The clam is on the sandbed.

Water params

Have only tested nitrates and phosphates recently. both unmeasurable.
salinity 1.025
Ca 450

haven't tested anything else.

Any ideas?

Thanks.
 
Just to add, it reacts normally and quickly to being 'spooked', then quickly comes back out to full mantle.
 
Thanks for the reply. There was very little info out there I could find. Lots of stuff about gaping, but not much about healthy appearance yet huffing. I did find a post about someone target feeding a bunch of crap to their clams and having them huff, but I don't target feed them anything. I will just give it time as long as it continues to open fully and properly and stay responsive.
 
They do feed technically that way, but this is/was very pronounced huffing. That is not feeding behavior. Feeding is pretty much a passive activity. That being said, this morning it has stopped and is open nicely with no gaping. Gonna try moving him up a bit as well anyway.

Thanks for the input all.
 
I have had my Deresa do this. They will for some reason do this. I do not know fully why but i know what you are talking about. They may be expelling something or just maybe flushing themselves of something in the water.
 
My Derasa does this as well - often shortly after I feed the tank, and especially if I feed cyclops. I assume it's just rejecting the food it's filtered out of the water column.
 
After watching for a while, I think clams actually feed on very small particles only and really have a problem when stuff gets stuck in their gills and whatnot. I notice that even when I feed the tank reef chili, which is quite small, the clam quickly closes its intake valve so that the feathery edges overlap and don't allow any of that sized stuff in. The huffing reminds me of someone who accidentally sucked in the dust from the bottom of the cereal box. Anyway, the clam has been happy as a clam since. Thanks again for the replies.

Noah
 
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