Sad Day... what went wrong?

[Schism]

I gave my first clam a try and failed . It lived for about a month in my tank and was doing well, it seemed but maybe never totally happy. I have 450ppm calcium and brand new 10 ushio dual 175watt halides. The tank is 60 gal. I fed dt's every day. All my levels are good, ammonia, nitrites 0 and nitrates <5. I put the clam on the rock about 8" under the bulbs 3" under the surface. It moved continually untill it fell to the ground. I replaced it one time, then just left it on the sand bed. It moved and seemed happy for a couple days. Then it started turning itself on its side. I left it alone for a couple days then uprighted it. It turned sideways again. I could see the foot it was so far sideways. It then slowly began to not be able to close and now it is pretty much gone.
Nothing every bothered it, and I don't know what happened. It was a 2" maxima. The tank is almost two years old as a reef....
I don't think I'll be getting another clam anytime soon, but I LOVED it while I had it. Any enlightenment on what happened will be very helpful it I decide to give a another go round in the future...
Thanks!!!!

 

[jim norris]

Schism,
Sorry to hear about the baby max. Sounds like your tanks is pretty stable. One thing that comes to mind is maybe it was getting too much light. Being that little and 8 inches under a MH is alot of light! The place you got him from ---any idea on how long they had him and what type of lighting he was under? What is the ph, alk and sg readings of your tank?
Jim
www.tanku.net

 

[Mad Scientist]

Sorry to hear about your clam, my guess would also be too much light, if you got it from somewhere that kept it under less intense light, you need to slowly acclimate the clam over the course of a week or 2 before exposingit to your full light (using frosted glass in a good way to shade it).

Sorry again.

 

[Schism]

Hmm.. too much light... I didn't consider that being the problem. However the clam was on the bottom of the tank for the last 2 weeks. Could it have been that badly stressed in 1.5 weeks being near the top?
hmm

What is the ph, alk and sg readings of your tank?

ph is 8.2 KH is 8.8 and SG is 1.024
I got it from FFE, so they probably didn't have it long, but who knows. It was on sale, so its not a huge monetary loss, but I HATE seeing animals die....
Would the turning of itself on its side be any indication of too much light. It only did it while in the sand, or is that an indication of something else?
thanks

 

[Mad Scientist]

It's not that too much in itself is a problem, it's just that clams really need to be acclimated slowly to changes in intensity. Not that this is certainly the cause of death, but, your tank sounds stable and fine for clams (although some might see your KH as a little on the low side), so that's why I though accliamtion might be the problems. Maybe you just got an unhealthy clam (bad luck), I would try another one and acclimate it a little slower, your tank sounds like a set-up where you could be very successful w/clams.

If a clam isn't happy w/ the light it's getting, it will try to move (turn on it's side).

Good luck

 

[jim norris]

Tank reading seem perfect for clams. Please try again clams are wonderful. I would recommend a larger clam---maybe in the 4 inch plus range and start him on the bottom and work his way up. And when you get one ask questions. Like where is it from, what type of readings is it use to (sg, ca, alk ect.). And what lighting has it been under and how long. If you like I have a clam that is around 4 inches I trade you for some type of frag? The clam is use to 175 Mh 10,000k.
Clams are awesome don't give up!
Jim
www.tanku.net

 

[toptank]

I also am sorry for your lose. pH is 8.2 is that the high side or the low side?

Your setup is perfect for clams. Try it again and do what Jim suggested go with a larger one as they seem to do better. Also watch how much Dt's you give them as you can overfeed and clog their gills.

Barry

 

[Siddroww]

I know how you feel

I know how you feel

I also bought a purple maxima from ffe and had about the same luck. Like you all my tank readings are good. I added Kent marine calcium daily and about a month later its dead. Mine was about 3 and 1/2 inches and unlike you I sunk $80 bucks into mine. I used 175 watt MH and started mine out on the very bottom of the tank and it seemed to be fine. Was bright blue and looked healthy and then one day I noticed my purple tang picking at it and it was not closing. I tried to move it closer to the light but within 24 hours it was shrunk inside and then gone. So now I have a couple nice pics and an 80 dollar clam shell. You are not the only one so don't feel bad. Honestly I believe some animals just do not adapt well to captivity.

 

[hreef]

Re: Sad Day... what went wrong?

I know how you feel. I ordered 3 -2 inch maximas from FFE 1 -1/2 months ago. I had a total of 11 clams ranging from 3 to 5 inches. All were doing great! I have had some of these clams for 6 months. Well just about a week ago all of my clams died. I do not know what happened. The baby clams I got from FFE I think harbored some kind of Bacteria. I guess it was the clams that caused this?? I do not know. Because all of my clams were doing great until I intoduced the 3. I am still sick about the whole thing. I am not getting any clams for a while. I fed Dt's, took care of all of my clams like I do with everything in my reef. It was like a plague that took over the clams. I would even take off on my lunch break to check on the clams with the doom of another dying. I am sorry this happened to you. I know how you feel. Give it a while and try later. I just hate that this happened. Holly

 

[SueT]

I went through the same horrible thing also. I had some of these clams for over 3 years. The turquoise crocea on my 120 website is one. I didn't get any of these FFE clams though. Still something went through the whole clam population with the only one living a large derasa I have had for about a year. During this I asked for help and ended up emailing Mr. Knop and he was wonderfully kind enough to answer although not with very good news. He could only think of a bacterial infection or something of the sort. He noted that no clam research is going on for these type of problems as they seem to not be financially feasible. Didn't help me watch all the clams die though.

Schism, I say don't give up on these beautiful creatures. Give the tank time to "breathe" and try another. This all happened about Febuary. I waited til the last week and a half and have tried 2 larger maxima's I got from Barry and they have done great...so far. I like hreef take IMO excellent care of my reef tanks but these kind of things are never easy to take. Don't give up on them though.

my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
www.marshreef.org/members

 

[hreef]

Hey Sue, I know, it's horrible to see these beautiful Tridacna's just die. I am like you, I will wait awhile and let things settle down. You know we both take care of are Reefs and the thing is this did not effect any of our SPS or fish, just the clams.
Holly

 

[PrEmNaS BiAcUlEaTuS]

Hey i'm new at this but what is a dt? and could i get them at a lfs

 

[Mad Scientist]

DT's is a brand name for live photoplankton, a good LFS will carry it, it's expensive and has a short shelf (refrig) life, but, clams, corals, dusters, etc. love it.