Problems with my gigas.

[rxdi]

I've had this gigas for almost 2 years and I noticed in the last couple days its getting these white patchs. Does anyone know whats going on with it?

Thanks

 

[mbbuna]

what lighting do you have?what K rating?

when was the last time you changed you bulbs?

 

[mbbuna]

also can you pull back a little and give us a shot of the whole clam and another shot of anything around it

 

[rxdi]

I have 2 250watt hamilton 14,000k bulbs. I've had them since July. I run them about 8 hours a day. The tank is 80 gallons, asm g3, calcium reactor, 3 maxi jets on a wave controller, 2 seio 820's and 1000 gph return on a squid. 1/4 hp chiller. temp runs 79-80.

 

[rxdi]

 

[mbbuna]

what you have is local bleaching, the first thing i would look at would be lighting. then something shading it, then a lack of Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen . look for a cracked shield on you bulbs. if everything turns up fine i would start dosing phyto to feed the clam and this will also raise your DIN

 

[rxdi]

I checked the bulbs, they looked ok.

" then a lack of Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen"

So does this mean the waters to clean? I have been doing alot of water changes recently. 20 gallons last week, 15 the week before, and 30 gallons 2 weeks before that. I noticed some small spots of red slime algae and my alk. was was a little low and ph has been on the low. So I've been changing alot of water to get those up. I'll add some phyto tonight.

Thanks
Robert

 

[mbbuna]

go light on the phyto at first, it better to add a small amount more often then a large amount every few days

 

[rxdi]

Its getting worse.

 

[mbbuna]

double check your bulbs and or glass UV shields for cracks, make sure no corals are touching it, check Ca/Alk and SG, add a few cups of fresh carbon.

do you run Phosban/rowa/phosgard or anything?

do you add any elements, please list everything

also have you checked for pyrams(they come out about 1 hour after lights out

 

[bcolvin]

If you have access to the book called GIANT CLAMS by David Knopp there is a fair amount of info about localized bleaching in it. I lent my copy out.... so I am of little help. THe book is a great resource (when you dont lend it out) for clam care.

 

[Opcn]

Have you yanked it out and inspected it well recently?

 

[rxdi]

I figured out what was wrong. My saddle clown fish has been hosting in the clam, along with my percula. I recently got rid of the saddle clown, because it was getting aggressive with all the other fish. Now the percula took it over completely and has been biting at the mantle and pulling on it after the lights went out. Then the cleaner shrimp would come out at night and pick at the same areas. I got the cleaner shrimp out yesterday and the clam already started looking better. I pulled the clown out tonight. I'll want a couple days and see what happens.

Thanks for your help. I'll post some picures after it heals.

 

[mbbuna]

let us know because the fish and shrimp wont make it bleach like that.

 

[TommiS]

I agree what mbbuna wrote. Fish or shrimp couldn't done so big damages to clam. Or your fish and shrimp are devils:furious:

 

[gophia]

A fish can indeed cause that type of damage to the mantel. I had ,notice the past tense a couple of neon gobies that did the same thing to two of my clams. The little buggers just kept on nipping at the same spot!

 

[critterkeeper]

I tend to think it's a disease, although I have no real evidence to back that up.

What I can tell you is that I've seen MANY squamosas and gigas in the wild that were big/old seemed to be otherwise perfectly healty - but had little permanently bleached patches here and there. That seems to rule out lack of nitrogen, food, and/or lighting as causes.

I don't know if it's an infection, or if there is some change in the system of tubes that holds the zooxanthellae, but either way, the good news is that this isn't rare by any means and as long as it doesn't begin to spread too much, the clam should be fine.

My 2 cents...