New clam gapping

[peterlin98]

Hi -
I got some corcea clams this Tuesday - and they were stressed and started spawning. 3 days later, they appear to still gapping. Would this be the disease that everyone is talking about - and should I go ahead and dip them in fresh water? Or would that cause more stress? These are very beautiful clams and I would hate to loose them.
Thanks,
Peter

 

[peterlin98]

Here is a photo of them during the day (taken yesterday) - they seem to be gapping even after the light is off. Water quality is good - as other clams (maxima and deresa) are okay. Maybe corcea are more difficult?

 

[Nuuance]

Forgive me for my ignorance, but they don't look gaping in the picture to me.

 

[holeinone1972]

I would not do anything drastic that is going to cause more stress.

How are your water conditions?

Are these your first clams?

Get back to us with water parameters, and we will offer any advice we can.

Rob

 

[Flame*Angel]

Those are very pretty croceas. I'm not an expert in clams but I have seen my clams do that if my nitrates were too high or if there was too much particle matter in the water (i.e. feeding too many golden pearls). In my case doing a 25% water change and running carbon for a couple days would do the trick for my clams.

 

[Nek]

Are they still responding to shadows.

 

[peterlin98]

I went ahead and dipped two of the corcea on Friday evening. They are still gapping today (Sunday), but still respond to shadow. Initially they were spawning due to stress, so I added active carbon to clean the water.
Water parameter on Friday 10/17/02
PH - 8.2, Alkalinity - 8 dkH, Cal - 385.

 

[Nuuance]

While the clams in your pictures have inhalant siphons that are fairly large and possibly "gaping"; if they are responding to shadows (mantle retracting and shell opens and closes normally in response to light and sometimes even touch), appear to have mantles fairly well extended over the shell (routinely), and retaining color; then the condition may not be that severe, and potentially may not even be a cause for serious concern or action. (How's that for a run-on sentence!)

Were the subject clams exhibiting smaller inhalant siphons previously? What signs of stress did they show besides "spawning"? Crocea's also tend to sometimes have large inhalant siphons in relation to their size and in relation to other clams.

Anyone can feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but honestly from the pictures, the clams do not look all that bad to me. I would watch them closely and check water parameters, feeding schedule, lighting, etc.

Nice clams. I know the feeling though, my clams are about the last thing in my tank I could live with losing, and I hate to lose anything.

 

[OrionN]

Crocea can have rather large inhalant siphons at times. The clams in the picture seem to do OK for being newly placed in the tank.
I would not do anything different right now. I would not have fresh water dipped these clams as it will stress them more.

 

[peterlin98]

Thanks to all who replied, especially the last two posts from Nuuance and Minh - I felt better.

I'm a relatively new clam keeper. Earlier this year, I bought my first T. maxima (2 inch) - it was a happy clam for couple months. I kept buying a few more - had 10 of them. Then one died - the rest followed one after another. It was a loosing battle because I don't know what's in the water - and did not have another tank setup to hospital the dying clams. Symptom seem to be that one by one - they died overnight.
I read the thread about diseased clams and that worried me, reminded me of one stressful month I had trying to save them. All these time I thought the cause was fish or water quality.

I did not get interested in clams again until recent MACNA.

Anyway, I currently have 17 clams (9 T. maxima, 5 T. corcea, 2 T. squamosa, 1 T. deresa) for more than a month now - in my new 150 gallon tank for clam. Except for T. corcea gaping, others are doing good. I am going to keep up with water quality and maybe setup another holding tank for future clam purchase.

I'm looking for a small T. gigas - if anyone has a source, please post a reply. Thanks!

 

[OrionN]

IME, the number one killer of clams in our tanks are parasitic snails. Check your clams closely for these small white snails or else your clams will be kill by them. You need to be especially careful when you add any new clams into your tank.
I always leaves clams on the sand bed for the first 2 months or so. I tank the clam out and check for snails every few days untill I find no parasitic snails on them. I will cantinue to check weekly for 4-6 weeks. Remove any parasitic snails that I see.
Once I determine that my tank are free of these pest I often check the clams once every month or two.
IME, the only eay to control these snails are manual removal. No wrasse or other fish can do this for you because the snails hide durring the day when the fish is active and only come out at night.

I also have about 15 clams in my tank at this time. Only one died over the last two years. All are growing well and healthy at this time. There is no Parasitic snails in my tank at this time.

 

[Mad Scientist]

I doubt if this is the problem, but, keep an eye on your alk and Ca. Sometimes when people add new clams they don't compensate for that fact that calmms take up alot of Ca, if you alk is dipping down 6 or 7, your Ca will look high as a result but, your clams won't be able to use it.

In the past whenever I've a problem with my Ca or alk my clams have gaped and when it was corrected they stopped right away.

Good luck, nice looking clams.

 

[peterlin98]

Thank you. As of last night - my water paramter is

PH - 8.3, Alkalinity - 9 dkH, Cal - 360.

Cal is low - it was 390 two days ago. Cal has ranged from 420-380 in the last 4 weeks. I'm waiting on a reef friend to install a Calcium Reactor to hopefully stablize the Cal parameter. In the meantime I'm dosing Kalwasser for top off water, and add 1/4 tsp per 50 gallon water daily. I think these clams/corals are taking up Cal very quickly.

Also I'm going to start feeding DT's daily at half recommended dosage initially. I received a reply from Jim that he is feeding at night. I think that makes sense - feed them when they are not making food through photosynthesis at night.