New clam…never seen this

[TylerHaworth]

So I received a new Crocea this morning from Diver's Den"¦ Everything seemed business as usual through acclimation and introduction to my system.

Now, a couple of hours later, I go back to check on the clam and it is being swarmed (Ok, maybe 8-10) by Nassarius snails and just a couple hermits"¦ Nerites and Ceriths haven't made a response.

I've successfully kept a half dozen or so Croceas and Maximas, and have never seen this happen.

1) Is this normal? Do the inverts "smell" something new and need to investigate and/or clean it up a bit?

2) Is this likely to be harmful?

3) Should I do something?

 

[smtank]

Nassarius snails and hermits are attracted to scent of decaying and dying tissue, hopefully that is not the case with the clam and rather those inverts are attracted to something on the clam.

 

[TylerHaworth]

That's my hope is that they are just attracted to the "stink" on the clam from shipping... The clam itself is definitely still alive.

 

[Mongo77]

My shrimp do the same thing when I place a new clam in the tank. They pick off things from the new clams shell.

 

[moliken]

there is freq'ly a response to clean the shell of a new clam, but keep an eye out to make sure it's not more, like a sick clam.just being "definitely still alive' is not enough.

 

[TylerHaworth]

I will definitely be keeping a close eye on it, most of the commotion has subsided now, I only see three hermits and a snail picking on the outside of the shell at the moment.

However, the shell is wide open while the mantle is very retracted… Ugh… I've never had a clam die from transport stress, and I sure don't want to start now.

 

[TylerHaworth]

Poor guy looks pretty rough, very wide open and mantle extremely retracted

 

[smtank]

Take pictures for DD.

That sucks.

 

[moliken]

yep. too much attention means problems. that was my thought, dd is good for refund though.

 

[TylerHaworth]

Yep, poor little guy was gone this morning... A real shame, I hate to lose livestock.

 

[smtank]

Well at least LA will replace the clam if you followed their guarantee guidelines. Better to have the clam die shortly after arrival then 3-5 days out.

 

[Nina51]

bummer! DD and LA are wonderful to work with, contact them asap.

 

[TylerHaworth]

Yeah DD was wonderful, I notified them yesterday that it looked rough and today when I was 100% certain it had expired.

I've made over a dozen orders from them over the past years, and I've never had to use their warranty… A full refund for the price of the clam, no questions asked, is the one up side of a crappy situation.

 

[jcreeftankguy]

That sucks to hear, I recently placed an order with live aquaria through dd and got two of the ora derasa clams off their site and one is not looking good at all. Your thread is not the first one I came across that recently ordered from them and received poor specimens. Maybe a pathogen in their clam system or something might be causing this.

 

[MondoBongo]

That sucks to hear, I recently placed an order with live aquaria through dd and got two of the ora derasa clams off their site and one is not looking good at all. Your thread is not the first one I came across that recently ordered from them and received poor specimens. Maybe a pathogen in their clam system or something might be causing this.

i'm starting to wonder about this myself.

i had a derasa i ordered from them several months ago that died within 7 days of receiving it.

i have seen quite a few threads since then about dead clams from them, the majority of those appearing to be derasa.

totally anecdotal at this point, but it is curious.

 

[Breadman03]

i'm starting to wonder about this myself.

i had a derasa i ordered from them several months ago that died within 7 days of receiving it.

i have seen quite a few threads since then about dead clams from them, the majority of those appearing to be derasa.

totally anecdotal at this point, but it is curious.

Same suspicion here. What caught my attention was their Maxima's from, I think, Indonesia.

 

[jcreeftankguy]

i'm starting to wonder about this myself.

i had a derasa i ordered from them several months ago that died within 7 days of receiving it.

i have seen quite a few threads since then about dead clams from them, the majority of those appearing to be derasa.

totally anecdotal at this point, but it is curious.

I've done a second fw dip after the first one seemed to do some good but still showed signs of stress. I took this pic about an hour afterwards. Looking better than what it was but still not as nice as it looked on thier site. I'll have to wait and see what it looks like tomorrow since I'm working night shift atm. It was responsive to light and shadowing so I've not lost all hope just yet.

 

[moliken]

that clam needs to be resting on the sand. move it.

 

[Robby2782]

I've done a second fw dip after the first one seemed to do some good but still showed signs of stress. I took this pic about an hour afterwards. Looking better than what it was but still not as nice as it looked on thier site. I'll have to wait and see what it looks like tomorrow since I'm working night shift atm. It was responsive to light and shadowing so I've not lost all hope just yet.

A nicer suggestion would be to recommend you place it in the sand. They're not rock boring clams like maxima and crocea clams.

 

[BoxesOfTheSea]

I've heard of clams imported from certain areas having very short life spans.