squam issues

[Josh125]

Hi all,

I have had my squam for almost 4 months now. Just recently he hasn't been fully extending it's mantle. Furthermore, the mantle itself seems to be bleached, for lack of a better term.

I have a crocea right next to him who is fine, other than hoping around from time to time.

Here some info to go off of

the clam sits on a oyster shell approx 14" or so from the top of the tank. The tank is a 29 gallon which is lit by a 250QHI MH system... running a 10K AB bulb.

the readings today are

amm - 0
trites - 0
trates - 5
pH 8.4
temp 80
sp. G 1.025
cal - 470
alk - 10Dkh ( which does fluxuate b/w 8-11 ) no cal rxtr yet

he has good flow but nothing direct as it sits on the sandbed

he is aprrox 4 1/2" big

I feed DT's to the sps/tank every other day.


Any suggestions, I can get a pic if that would help any.

Thanks!

 

[Peabody]

Do you check for Pyramid snails?

 

[Josh125]

Nope I haven't, I will give him a good look over tomorrow. I would have thought they would have effected him if there were any roaming around.

I took him out of the tank the other day to clean off some algea... looked like brown / red grass growing shell sides. Ever since he hasn't been the same

I just don't know what the deal is.... he isn't gaping or anything like that, just not happy.

Thanks for the input, any other thoughts?

 

[Peabody]

Be sure to do it at night, and also check around the byssal opening.

Good luck!
Jeff

 

[Josh125]

Thanks Jeff I will!

I do think whatever it is, is only effected him. Nothing else is having the slightest problem ( knock on wood ) and there hasn't been any addtions to the tank in months.

Oh hum.......I guess this is why we all love this hobby so much!

 

[Josh125]

d@#m snails

d@#m snails

Well as you might have guessed I found pyr. snails tonight near the bysal opening. Unfortuanlty there were probably 15-20 of the suckers. I got all that I could find off and put the clam on the sandbed so he can't attach to anything. I will check it again in a day or so, it's really enough to make sick to my stomach.

I just don't understand why it took nearly 4 months for the snails to attack the clam, dumb luck I guess.




:rolleye1:

 

[K. Lee]

It could be that the last time you checked for them they were not visible to the naked eye, and only now have become visible. You can check for egg masses too, and try to obliterate any you find with your finger or an old clean toothbrush with no toothpase, et cetera on it. Possibly there is some lifecycle with the snails we are not aware of either. Maybe they migrate into the sand during a part of their lifecycle, or have alternate hosts. We KNOW certain pymadeelids will live on Astrea snails, one of my tanks' Astreas are infected by the little parasites.

 

[Josh125]

Thanks K. Lee. That is really the only conclusion I can draw as well. They must have an intermediate host, before attacking the clams.

I was up twice last night to examine and remove snails from the clam. I did use an old toothbrush that I use for lr cleaning etc.

I will continue this as I said until either the clam gives in or the snails are no more! Thanks for your responces.

 

[Josh125]

Just thought I would give an update. This is the first day in almost a week that the clam is actually extending it's mantle!!!! It's not 100% but getting there.

When I got home from work this morning I took it out to check for snails again and didn't find any, so either I got them or they had already done their damage and returned to the sand by 6:30 in the morning. I will continue to check though.
I also have been taking it out and putting it in a bowl of DT's and tank water. Thanks for the help.

 

[Peabody]

Glad to hear it! Keep checking for a while on a regular basis. I will never assume my tank is free because of the things we add to our tanks that they could hitchhike on. I have not found any for 2 months, but am still checking every week.

 

[Squidman]

Those things are amazing. I haven't added anything new to my tank in months and a couple nights ago I found 3 good sized pyramidellid snails on my smallest clam. I check each clam randomly every now and then and never saw any. But this little guy was acting like yours, not expanding well but acting normally otherwise. That's why I took a good look at him. I checked all of my other clams thoroughly and didn't find anymore. I guess that teaches us not to get complacent. Glad you found them before it was too late!

 

[Josh125]

Thanks for the responces. I will definatly continue to check, I can only hope I got most of them. The clam isn't out of the woods yet, looking better, but not there yet. He is still has a bit of a bleached mantle so I will continue to take extra care of it. He seems to really enjoy the feedings, I just hope he pulls through. Thanks again for your help, I will let you all know how it turns out!

Thanks again