Q on release of strand from clam's "spout"

[ReefWreak]

I just bought a beautiful ORA Squeamosa today. I slowly drip acclimated him, and he was opening up already in the bag. He's very responsive to reductions in light as well, so e seems pretty healthy. I put him in a small plastic food container filled with sand, and put a rock just under him so he could attach to the rock (had some byssal threads already when I bought him, he was in a small food container of large grain sand at the LFS) and sand all the way around so he couldn't knock over and fall sideways or whatnot.

He's open now in my tank, and the fish are leaving him alone (though I don't trust my Sailfin, so I've been keeping the fish busy with food elsewhere in the tank and by knocking on the glass any time he gets too close for comfort), but I see a strand coming out of the clam's "spout" (pardon the lack of technical term). I wonder if he's releasing zooxanthelle from himself, maybe just flushing himself with new tank water? Any thoughts? He was in the bottom of an LFS tank with shoddy lights, but he and all the other photosynthetic clams there looked beautiful and healthy. He's now at the bottom of my tank under 250w radiums, luminarc mini reflectors, and an SPS dominated well skimmed tank.

As far as feeding goes, I believe he should be okay. I've had a crocea in my rockwork for about 4 years now who has been "happy as a clam," so I'm not too worried. The LFS guy knows his stuff and said that the smaller clams need supplemental feeding, but I've done a good bit of research before, and have the really great book on tridacnid clams already, so I'm familiar with feeding smaller ones, but he should be fine at his size. He's about 2.5-3". I skim heavily, but I dose vodka and bacteria, and feed the fish pretty heavily of spectrum Thera+ as well as our locally produced Rogger's food, which is like Rods food, but has more smaller size particles in it as well as whole fresh shrimp and a million other types of fresh produce.

Well, if anyone has thoughts on my question above or any comments on my feeding and whatnot routine, please let me know. Thank you!

 

[Thunderstruck34]

What color is the strand? Is it coming from the exhalent siphon (spout)? Also I'm not really sure about the supplemental feeding for small clams I used to believe that but not so much anymore I still put phyto in the water once every week or so but I wouldn't even worry about it at that size.

 

[a4twenty]

bump


knowing the colour will help greatly.......

 

[ReefWreak]

The color was that the same as the ridges in the mantle of the squeamosa, a white with brown tint. It's fine now after being in the tank for almost a week. I'm trying to find a nice place to put the clam, but there's so much flow in the tank because it's SPS dominated I'm having trouble finding a calm spot that I'll still be able to see the clam at.

Thank you for your help guys!

 

[Whisperer]

The strand looks like a very thin brown strand in links (like sausages). It is a clam poop. I think.

 

[a4twenty]

brown is actually zooxanthellae ( black would be poop ) and it's not uncommon for the clam to expel excess. as long he has stopped and the colour is still good, you should have no problems. you may see this again, if conditions are just right but it should only occur from time to time and not last for a very long period of time.

HTH

 

[ReefWreak]

He stopped, only had it in the first hour or so of being in my tank. My only concern now is that I havn't been able to find one spot where I was happy with him being, and I think it's taking a toll on him. He's now at the bottom of my tank, about 22" from 2x250w MH Radium 20k in Luminarc mini reflectors. I have no problem with SPS staying alive, though a bit dimmer in coloration, more brown, so will the squeamosa be fine down there? I'm having difficulties because he's really deep, but my water is VERY clear (I've been doing vodka dosing for a number of months, and most of my acropora towards the top 1/3 of my tank are VERY light in color from too much light.) but I still don't know if he should be fine down there. Any thoughts about where it should be? The issue is that a lot of my open areas are high flow because it's an SPS tank, so I don't quite know what to do. Are they okay with their mantles blowing around a bit?

Also, is there a way to tell if they're unhealthy, and if so what the problem is? It doesn't have any pests or problems that I can outline from the "Giant Clams" book which is a FANTASTIC resource on these clams, however his reaction to light blocking stimuli is nothing compared to when I first got him. His colors look fine, it's open all day, and closed up a bit at night but not entirely shut. His behavior isn't that much more different than my Crocea who is about 3 years in my possession, but higher up in my rockwork, though in a small shaded "alcove" effectively.

Thank you all for your help so far!

 

[a4twenty]

"Giant Clam" is a really good book, though a little outdated and very hard to come by these days ( out of print ). if your crazy about clams, James Fatherree released a book "Giant Clams in the Sea and Aquarium" back in 2006. it's more up to date and an easier read than Knops book, though both are excellent. i have both


the squamosa clam is usually found at much greater depths than the crocea and require less light to live. if you're able to keep SPS down there i don't think you'll have any problems with a squamosa clam.

as the clam ( mostly the larger species ) becomes accustom to your tank and realizes there is very little threat, their reaction to shadows will lessen greatly. it's even possible that small fish will start to host the clam, with no or very little reaction.

not closing all the way at night is normal too, sounds like you have a great specimen there.


if you have any concerns about the clam, please post a couple pictures. many of the common ailments are easily detected and we can get a general idea of his health. plus i really love pics