one clam doing great, the other probably dying

Pfittttz

New member
on sunday I woke up to find one of my maxima clams looking odd. The mantle didn't seem to be opening as much as usual and the intake syphon seemed more open then usual. This clam is almost 3". (The other clam is almost 2" and is doing absolutely great.) I feed both clams quite often. The little one gets fed every other day and the bigger one gets fed every 3 days. I have had the little one since early july. the bigger one I have had since mid august. There are no pyramidal snails. There are no predators of clams in this tank. I have a few sps frags, one 6-line wrasse and a yellow goby.

Today the big clam was gaping a bit and not responding well to light. Previously (a couple weeks ago) it was attached to a small rock. I moved the clam (with rock attached) back about 2" away from the front of the tank so that I could clean the glass. (the big clam has a habit of moving to the front of the tank and then towards the back of the tank almost weekly.) Today I touched the clam to see if he was still attached, he wasn't, so I picked him up and looked at the bottom of him to see his byssal gland and I saw a small hole. it was about an 8th" across. Is there anything I can do to try to save this clam? The tank conditions are very good.

All tests results are good. We test nitrate, nitrite, calcium, alk. phosphate, strontium, magnesium, idodine, amonia.

The sg is .0125 measured by an hydrometer. The PH is 8.26 (PH meter).

The lights are 2x 250 MH 10k
75 gallon tank.

Weekly water changes of about 15% with instant ocean.

I know my clam is probably a goner but thanks for any help you can offer.
 
Re: one clam doing great, the other probably dying

Pfittttz said:
..............I picked him up and looked at the bottom of him to see his byssal gland and I saw a small hole. it was about an 8th" across. .................

sounds like you have a preditor snail eating away at him..........depending on how far gone, its probably a lost cause. sorry.

kc
 
sorry for you loss, its prolly a good idea to inspect for signs of a preditor (snails and such) to protect your other clam.

kc
 
I inspected everything put into the tank. I also inspected both clams when the first clam got sick. There are no predators in the tank. There were no snail eggs or snails on or inside the dead clam. When I took him out of the tank I put him in a bowl of tank water so that I could inspect him when I got up the nerve to open him up. I did that today. If it would have be a predator there would have had to be some sort of sign. Also since smaller clams tend to react more quickly to predation The other clam should have shown signs before the bigger one.
 
Sounds like it could possibly have been pyramid snails. I'm not doubting that you didn't find any on the clam shells. Did you ever check the clam at night for predators? I had some pyramids a while back that only went for 1 of my 4 clams. There was no "visible" signs of irritation to the clam(great mantle extension). I only found the small snails on the clam during the night. When I took the clam out I noticed that it had detached from the rock it had been on for quite some time. At the byssal opening there was just a buch of slime. After a couple days I had removed all the snails and the clam reattached within a week.
 
I check the clams almost obsessively every morning well before the lights came on (I leave for work basically in the middle of the night). I have come to the conclusion that the clam had something happen to it before I got it and was fighting an infection or illness and didn't make it. Now I am just going to wait for at least another month to make sure the baby doesn't get sick before I get another clam.
 
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