My poor clam!

[Reef n' Madness]

I woke up this morning to find my crocea clam face down in the sand. His tentacles that attached to the rock detached from his body or got ripped off. I have no idea what happened but his tentacles were still on the rock with a chunk of tissue. it looked like a cigarette filter that had been soaking in water. I tried taking a picture but the camera wouldn’t focus on it. I am worried about my clam though! I always heard that they were very sensitive and can die easily if their tentacles are damaged(?).

 

[Nyles]

Some of my clams do this if they are not happy with where they are located, if its just threads still at old location you should be fine, clams can detach at will. Put him in a better place and try again, if he jumps he probably wants to go lower in the tank, I have had them not like high flow to and jump, you will just have to experiment.

 

[kevin95695]

I have a jumping derasa. I finally left it on the sandbed after realizing it was trying to communicate.

 

[Reef n' Madness]

Thats what I thought at first too but then I saw the chunk of tissue and got a little worried. I will move him and see if that is his deal.

 

[Unarce]

It does sound like the threads were only detached.

Try placing it in a hole or crevice within the rockwork. Croceas burrow in the wild, but aren't able to duplicate this in captivity. They feel much more secure this way.

Here are some samples of croceas I've kept:

 

[Nyles]

Its the bysuss thread muscle if removed that will kill them, however I have had that muscle removed from a clam once in a weird situation and the clam survived that as well, you should be ok with some TLC

 

[P.Kelly]

Interestingly enough, my crocea has been slowly leaning over from the rock perch it was on over the course of the last 4-5 days. It is very loose on the rock, but I can't seem to separate it to move it to the sand. I too am worried, but it hasn't jumped yet.

 

[Reef n' Madness]

I had him in a great rock just like that but he kept jumping ship. I had him near the surface because I have PCs but he didn't want to stay there. so I moved him near the bottom. He has been there for a couple of months now and seemed to be doing well. I think I will try putting him back in his rock up top but changing the flow.
Very nice pictures Unarce!

 

[Reef n' Madness]

I found a random blog someone had about their clam losing it's bysuss muscle and he could see right through the clam! that one actually made it. There was definitely a little more than just the threads in the tissue that came off of mine so I am still a little worried about it. I will just have to watch it closely.

 

[Justin74]

It's enough to worry about. But that's about all you can do other than keep water quality optimal.

petes97, I could be wrong but think the croceas need rock work. Deresas and Hippopus Hippopus are the only ones that like the sand bed.

-Justin

 

[matttaylor]

Is that the one that came from my tank? If so, it did that once before, and grew everything back. It did seem happier on the sand bed though. It wouldn't stay on the rock i had it on.

 

[Reef n' Madness]

Matt- good to know! it is the clam I picked up from you.

When I went to move it tonight it was actually attached to it's rock again. Amazing, but now I know I don't have to freak out.

 

[casalt]

Reef n' Madness, sorry about your clam, I'm glad to hear it's doing better. Thank you though , your problem helped me learn something new, and caused me to read even more about clams.

 

[Reef n' Madness]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10859587#post10859587 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by casalt
Reef n' Madness, sorry about your clam, I'm glad to hear it's doing better. Thank you though , your problem helped me learn something new, and caused me to read even more about clams.

Same here! the more I read the more I find out that there is so much more to learn. :lol: