My clam is moving. Is something wrong?

[RKM]

I have a Crocea clam. I think. For 2-3 years I have had this clam. It was pretty small when I first got it. Now it is getting pretty big. The last week or so I have noticed him to lean to the side a little. I am hoping he likes that and nothing is making him give up his spot on the LR. He doesn't appear stressed. He extends very well and the colors look good. My latest water tests were perfect. Salinity was a tad low. I had been having major heat issues with the tank. My temps were 86 normal. then it would get up to 90-93 during the day. The tank has been like this for a long long time. It didn't kill anything, just gave me some hard times with algea. I think I got the temps figured out yesterday. I raised my MH bulbs close to 2' above the tank. Ever since the tank has been a constant 83. The clam now is close to 4' from the light hopefully not to far. I have 2 250w XM MH's on the tank.

Top view. Looks good

 

[mbbuna]

the light is pretty for from the clam,and it looks like it is hyperextending it mantle.can you use a fan to blow across the top of the tank for the heat and move the light back down?

 

[RKM]

I am in the works of putting 2 smaller fans in the top to do just that.

The clam mantle is the same. It always looked like it was hyperextending. I know it is getting enough light. It has to. 2 days ago. the lights were 10" off the surface of the tank. It had been like that for 2 years now.

 

[jay24k]

Well it might not be getting enough light. It can take awhile for the clam to die. 2' is a far distance from the water. There is a thread where I believe at 18", par drops quite a bit. Since it is over 2', you dropped the light source by a ton.

I would personally put the MH 8 to 10 inches max and get some 4" fans or a clip on fan. If you value the livestock that much, just get a chiller. What's more important? Losing hundreds of dollars in livestock or getting a chiller and not losing anything. It costs either way.

Now for the leaning, I wouldn't sweat it. My crocea did that and he would go to a 90 degree angle. Really odd. I ended up placing him back up and turning him a bit and he stayed put. But 4' imo is a huge huge loss of light.

If anything, run your lights 2 to 3 hours a day. There is another thread talking about running MH only 2 hours a day. It should suffice during this heat.

HTH

 

[RKM]

The whole light/heat issue, I shouldn't have brought it up in this thread. I think it is confusing people. I just raised the lights the other day to see if the temps would go down. The clam was moving well before I moved the lights. I agree, The lights need to be lower for the clam. I am lowering the light over the clam a little each day to see what my temps do. At the moment it is 18" above the tank.

I am working on finding the right placement for my 2 4" fans. It looks like I can get them on either side and blow on the water. Or should I mount them to the walls of the cabinet. Pull fresh air in from one side and push hot air out on the other. That way I can get hot air out of the cabinet and not stir it up. Or maybe, blow air on the water, and use the other one to pull hot air out, and leave a vent on the opposing side so cool air will be drawn in by expelling the hot air out.

 

[jay24k]

Bottom line regardless of heat/light, a moving clam is normal. Mine move quite often. They might not be happy where they are at. Mine like to move right on the glass which annoys me because I can't clean it. I would blow both fans in. The cool air will push the hot air out. If it is a closed canopy, then 1 in and 1 out. I would blow the fans close to the water to cause evaporated cooling.

Do you have a sump? If so, toss a big fan on that.