Sad Clam

[lloydo]

I've had this clam for about 6 weeks, didn't know much about clams except that they liked loads of light - I placed it on a rock ledge and here's a pic of it.

It's always seemd pretty sad, I didn't realise how sad though till I compared it to a few pics on reef central....

The second pic is after I moved it today onto the sand, it opens and closes but you might be able to see that it looks full of 'space' ie not much flesh

water seems fine, 2 x 250w halides

feed alt days coral vibrance/liquid life bioplankton

any ideas

Pictures

 

[mbbuna]

post all of your water parameters and how you test(what test kit).
also how do you add ALK and Ca?(slow drip, all at once)

 

[lloydo]

test with salifert

my tank is about a year old, half soft/half hard corals, I think my montis and acros are growing now and depleting my calcium quite rapidly, hence I'm struggling to maintain a decent calcium level - I have posted on this subject on international reefers in the uk, had some good feedback.
I don't have a calcium reactor or a kalk stirrer yet, I've been adding 40-50ml of seachem reef complete daily (all in one go) and can only get my calcium to 360-380.
I add about 1 teaspoon seachem reef buffer daily (all at once)

When my reef complete is used up I plan to drip in kalk overnight via a DIY drip system - hopefully that'll be more successful

75 gal reef
30 gal sump

temp 80oF
ALK 11dKH
Calcium 370 ppm
Mag 1360ppm
pH 7.2
nitrate nil
phosphate nil
SG 1.026

[imghttp://img419.imageshack.us/img419/1127/mytanklj0.jpg[/img]

 

[lloydo]

sorry, try this

 

[mbbuna]

i dont know how much you could do for the clam, it looks to be in bad shape.

i would start with adding your ALK 3 times a day instead of all at once.(1/3 tsp at a time)

 

[capefear]

welcome back chris

 

[mbbuna]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8454100#post8454100 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by capefear
welcome back chris

:rollface:

 

[coraladdict]

The ph is too low.

 

[lloydo]

the clam died......

 

[Peabody]

One possibility is the angel. They are known clam nippers. The clam may not have been ever able to fully extend his mantle.

 

[lloydo]

that's a thought, I aslo don't get v good polyp expansion although my growth is good - may also be the angels - I've two, a flame and a lemon peel - can't face trying to catch them though....

 

[horstman2]

Lemon peel from hell I DID have. He's in a fish only tank now...

 

[BonesCJ]

I got lucky in that regard, I have a Coral Beauty that has never bothered any of my corals or my clam, he would rather fight with the clownfish in his anemone. The Coral beauty seems to have a new scratch every day, just cannot learn his lesson that he is not the meanest fish in the tank