tahitian Maxima Clams 6" wild

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

What seems to be the problem with keeping these clams for more than a month?
I have lost 8 of them in the last 6 months. They do great and one morning they are receded and dead.
Everything else is perfect. This is in 2 different tanks that have been established for 5 years with tons of coralline algae.
90 gallon has 2 halides 175 watt 10k with 2 vho actinics 48" and 2 LED royal blue
300 gallon has 6 AI Sol Blue LED's
The 6 2.5-3" maximas and squamosas are doing great for a year now.Only the 6" are dropping like flys.

 

[reefs4lifee]

Most likely not enough food for everyone. Try raising some plankton if you have the chance.

 

[moliken]

where u get the maxis from?

 

[Ertan]

What salinity do you keep your livestock?

 

[dtt]

Clams are best kept with a chiller at 76 degrees and a Salinity of 1.023-025. Temp control is a real important key.

 

[Ertan]

There are exceptions like red sea or like tahiti. Tahitian Maximas are collected in lagoon areas where the salinity and temperature is high. I keep my clams steady at 80 degrees and salinity is at 1.027

 

[dtt]

Have to disagree the water temp in Tahiti is in the mid 70's in the outer atolls where these clams are collected, also the salinity is lower. You would find +80 degree water at the resorts and beaches but not on the atolls. It's even lower where mangroves interact with the sea with the tides. I haver been to Tahiti 3x and when diving the water is cool and very different from the beach or the lagoon. The Max are not collected in the lagoons but well off shore. Just my thoughts

 

[moliken]

my feeling is that these particular clams have spent a couple years or longer under the exact same conditions day in and day out, so moving them creates undue stress.

 

[Ertan]

I aggre on where they collected but where they kept before they imported? Pls check ur pm

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

What salinity do you keep your livestock?

1.025 and creeps up to 1.026 by the end of the week.
I usually do 130 gallon water changes a week on a 450 gallon tank.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

just lost my last 6" maxima last night .
my 3" maximas (3)are perfect as well as my 7" squamosal
my temperature is 77 degrees. LED'S lights.nitrates are 15 ppm-20

 

[dtt]

130 gallon water changes each week, stability of the water is essential. I don't know if your letting the tank water stabilize by doing a weekly water change, your doing about 1/4 of the tank water. I don't do water changes rarely, about every 6 months if that. Do you do water changes because you are not adding chemical's? Some people never do water changes from what I have read and I see no ill effect of not doing a water change, but I add chemicals to my tank. There is no right or wrong answer to water changes, what ever works for one might not work for the other. If you have no large Max's left I would try and stop the water changes for a month or so and see what happens. What is your fish stock list??

 

[lamboraf]

Have kept almost all types of clams and as your experiencing with the tahitian Maxima Clams, also had no luck for longer than 3 months.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

130 gallon water changes each week, stability of the water is essential. I don't know if your letting the tank water stabilize by doing a weekly water change, your doing about 1/4 of the tank water. I don't do water changes rarely, about every 6 months if that. Do you do water changes because you are not adding chemical's? Some people never do water changes from what I have read and I see no ill effect of not doing a water change, but I add chemicals to my tank. There is no right or wrong answer to water changes, what ever works for one might not work for the other. If you have no large Max's left I would try and stop the water changes for a month or so and see what happens. What is your fish stock list??

very small fish load in my tanks.
1 mystery wrasse
2 clarkii clowns
1 red fairy wrasee
1 pj cardinal
2 yellow watchman gobies
1 royal gramma
1 chalk bass
1 hortulanus wrasse

trying to keep my nitrates down with RO water changes. I add magnesium,use a calcium reactor, add calcium

3 maximas that are 3" are doing great for many months as well as a huge squamosal clam. something is not right with these clams.

 

[dtt]

With that many fish in a 430 gallon tank with high nitrates something is a miss in your system setup..filter or water problems, what type of filtration do you use??

 

[ZephNYC]

IMO your doing too many water changes. You should check out Wayne Shangs book. Wayne is pretty much the only guy in the world with a huge reef ( 700G), packed with ultra grade huge maximas, that have have been spawning on a regular basis for many many years. His tank has high end SPS and a massive goniopora, and guess what his water change schedule is like ? 10% monthly, but he does NOT use new seawater, but OLD WATER FROM HIS FISH ONLY SYSTEM, for the purpose of adding nutrients. He never ever ever adds new water to his famous clam tank.

 

[CHSUB]

i have 2, both new, the longest about a month. i'm a little concerned after reading your thread. i'm using 400 w mh 10k, so light can't be an issue.

 

[dtt]

They are looking real good so far!

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

With that many fish in a 430 gallon tank with high nitrates something is a miss in your system setup..filter or water problems, what type of filtration do you use??

I have close to 500 total gallons. Theres hardly any fish in this tank. Refugium system with a big ASM Skimmer with dual pumps, Biopellets 40 inch tall canister. Tank is running over 2 years now with a bunch of coralline algae. Im wondering now if the LED lights might be the cause of the trouble. My 3 friends also have AI lighting LED lights and they are losing the large clams too.

 

[moliken]

for sure ai lighting MUST be supplemented by pure actinics. the 420 nm is not available in most led systems