maxima trouble

[klasiksb]

I have 3 new maxima clams ranging in size from 2 to 2.5 inches. They have been in my tank 10 days. They aclimated very well and looked good for the first 5 days. Since then they have not opened fully. I have been spot feeding them every other day with dts. Tank is at 420 cal., 10dkh, 1.022sg, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at 0. Lighting is 250w hqi on a 45 gal. cube tank that is 18in deep. This is the second batch of maxima that have gone bad for me, about 5 weeks ago I bought 4 and only 1 survived. The same problem. The rest of the clams in the tank are doing great. Any one else having similar problems with maximas? Any one have any suggestions? Thanks

 

[klasiksb]

2nd clam

 

[klasiksb]

3rd clam

 

[Peabody]

Your SG is way too low....it should be about 1.025-1.026...I would bet that's the culprit. You should slowly get the tank up to full salinity. Also, if you don't have a refractometer, be sure to check your hydrometer with one...hydrometers are usually off, sometimes WAY off!

 

[Julio]

Your SG should always be at a minimum of .023. when was the last time you did a water change? what kind of skimmer are you using?

 

[Ereefic]

Hey folks, i'm the other half of Klasikb.

The SG is 1.025 now. It was 1.023 several months ago but has been brought up since. The 3 clams in which she is talking about have been introduced after we got the SG up.

Just wanted to clear that up.

Julio, we do water changes about once a week. We have a MR-2 skimmer.

 

[Julio]

you might want to try spot feeding with Marine snow and see how that goes, i had clams that were not opening much, but when i spot fed marine snow they opened up a lot more within 2 hours, a lot of times we forget that clams are animals and they do require protein from time to time.

 

[Peabody]

Marine Snow is shown to have almost no nutritional value...live Phyto like DTs would be best, and then don't ever target feed a clam with something like a turkey baster....they can literally choke. Bell feeding or taking out of the tank is usually the preferred method.

 

[klasiksb]

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll just keep feeding them everyday and see what happens.

 

[this is me]

What are you measuring the salinity with?
I hope its a refractometer, those swing arms hydrometer are not very accurate at all.
Keep spot feeding them marine snow and Phyto

 

[klasiksb]

we borrow a friends refractometer every month to compare to our hydrometer.

 

[maroun.c]

do you find considerable diferences between the rfractometer reading and your hydrometer?

 

[Ereefic]

Checked it one day against a friends refractometer and it said our plastic one was reading .002 high, although that water was taken to his place and set in tupperware for several hours.

Another friend checked it straight out of the tank and it was right on.

 

[JustDavidP]

Yo Reef Freaks...

Small clams have a harder time acclimating. Not only are they light dependant, but at that size, they need planktonic feedings and often. Some clam farms actually pump nitrates and phyto into their systems at rates that would cause us reefers to have a heart attack!!

Bell feeding works best. Use a plastic bottle, cut the bottom off, put a hole in the cap, put airline or other sterile tubing through the hole. Put the bottle over a clam, pump in your DTs and let it sit until the water is no longer green.

Moving clams will stress them. I personally don't like the idea of removing the clam to a tupperware container to feed. the bell feeder works great and causes less stress for the clam.

Good luck!

David

 

[klasiksb]

update:
Wednesday night I decided to do a FW dip on the 3 clams. I am happy to report they all seem to be back to normal. I will continue to feed them every day with dts and hopefully they will grow up big and strong
I wish I would have done this with the last 3, maybe I could have saved them. The problem just did not look like pinched mantle and who knows, maybe it wasn't. Thanks everyone for your help. Sheila

 

[heyloco]

I have three clams in my tank: blue, maxima, gold maxima and purple/green crocea. I seem to be having the same problem you are but only with my the blue and purple green. The gold opens fully and has not had a single problem. I believe at this point that the culprit is my flame angel. I have spotted it periodically pick at the mantle. klasiksb, have you noticed anything similar or do you have similar fish?

 

[klasiksb]

heyloco
We use to have our clams in our 120 before we set up the clam tank. Our coral beauty would pick on some of the clams but not all. He was bannished to a different tank until the clams were removed. The CB does not bother any of the corals, he just decided one day that he liked clams. Your flame could be the reason your clams are not opening fully.

 

[B16A2NR]

Are you dosing lugols iodine? If so clams respond horribly to it.

 

[heyloco]

No, I use Salifert's Iodine additive.

 

[B16A2NR]

Just make sure your using below the recomended dose if you don't have a lot of leather corals in the tank, there should be enough iodine from your salt mix if your doing regular water changes.