New Crocea ?

[NewSchool04]

I got a 4" T. Crocea from a reefing buddy two days ago, my first clam.
I have a couple of questions b/c I don't think he's doing that well.
I drip aclimated him for about an hour and put him 6" from the water level. I have a 6 bulb T5 Tek fixture. The clam rests on an oyster shell. At first he was closed up but not entirely and slowly began to expand. The lights were on for about 3 hours before my dawn dusk went on for another hour.
The next day, yesterday, the clam opened up alot more, looked downright good. About 6 hours into the daylight cycle, the clam began to shut and has stayed this way till this morning. I inspected the clam this morning and he was still alive, moved, but nearly completely shut. The lights were off.
My Ca is 430
Alk 10 dKH
pH 8.1 (lights out this morning)

I'm wondering if the clam is not used to the light schedule, the person I got the clam from was running MH on a shorter light schedule. After that, I have no idea what could be the problem.
Any ideas would be great!

 

[Sloth]

I'd give it more time. I hate to say that because bad things tend to happen to clams rather quickly. But croceas can be tempermental and I think it's too soon to jump to conlusions. It will probably take awhile before it gets settled in. Make sure your pH isn't swinging around too much between day and night. That's all I can think of for now.

 

[NewSchool04]

Thanks Sloth. The whole bad things happening quickly with clams is def. why I posted. After reading tons of threads, I can't get the "it was alive and happy yesterday, dead today" out of my head.

 

[Sloth]

Maybe squirt some phyto toward him so he can eat and regain some strength after the move.

 

[Freed]

I understand T5s are quite strong so you may want to shield it for a few/several days at 6" depth with some layers of plastic window screen between the top of the tank and the bulbs and then remove a layer every couple of days or so.

 

[NewSchool04]

Freed, that is exactly what I was thinking and going to be my next question. Can a clam get too much light?
The clam right now is extended and looking great. I'm wondering if by the end of my light cycle, he's just had enough. I'll see if he closes up later this afternoon, if that happens I'm going to lower him in the tank. If this does not seem like a good plan, I'm all ears!

 

[mbbuna]

IMO a crocea cant get too much light.t5s are nothing like mh and ive put new croceas right under my mh's with no problems

 

[Freed]

But to start off with in a new environment and new tank params., anything can get too much light for a short time and then they will adjust. Better safe than sorry, IMO.

 

[NewSchool04]

Thank you everyone, I'll post in a couple of days to give an update and possibly a picture. If I could figure out how to do it!