Maxima Inhalant Siphon

[npaden]

I've been watching my new Maxima lately and at night it is opening it's inhalant siphon wide open. The rest of the mantle is extended normally and everything else seems normal but I'm a little concerned over this.

Yesterday I turned the MH off to try to take a full tank pic (it still looked like crap) and noticed that when the MH went off the clam opened up it's inhalant siphon wide open. 30 Minutes later when the MH kicked back on it closed it's inhalant siphon back to a tight opening with no other change.

I'm just a little concerned at this behaviour and was wondering if anyone had ever seen any similar behaviour or not. It is a 5" wild collected maxima and is in the tank with 11 other clams ranging in size from 2" to 10" and all the others seem to be doing fine. A new 3.5" wild collected crocea also has a fairly wide inhalant siphon but it has stayed that way most of the time and I have seen that on croceas before. The clam has been in the tank about 3 weeks 20" under 400W Iwasakis.

Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks, Nathan

 

[npaden]

Update - the maxima still looks fine but a 5" squasmosa that sits next to in down on the sand has closed up completely. I dosed some cryopaste last night and possibly a glob could have dripped down onto the squasmosa but I'm not sure.

Anyone had a clam close up shop for a while like this? It has been shut about 12 hours.

Am I looking at some kind of epidemic?

Thanks for any input!

Nathan

 

[npaden]

Well some good news and some bad news. The squasmosa has opened back up and looks like nothing ever happened to it. The maxima is dead though.

It is amazing how fast a seeming large healthy clam can take a turn for the worse. So far all the other clams seem to be doing fine. I guess that's what I get for buying a wild collected specimen.

Just thought I would let everyone know.

Nathan

 

[kevinpo]

Nathan,
Sorry to hear about your clam It's always a bummer when you spend the time to take such good care of your tank (I know you do) and then you lose a creature you're fond of. I've had my T. deresa and T. squamosa close for 24 hours max. a couple of times over the years. I've had them since 3/99 and 5/99 respectively.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[saltkreep]

nathan,

I am having the same problem w/large & small clams. and now for some reason my hermits are attacking them. they have eaten the mantle of one of my small max clams.



scott

 

[mia1974]

squamosa

squamosa

Nathan,

How is your squamosa doing? My 2 squamosas have been exhibiting this "closing" behavior now for about 2 weeks. They appear fine the next day in the morning but then they close again later on in the evening. I have been having other clam problems since the addition of a Ponehpei maxima...I am hoping they will be OK...