Unexplained clam deaths...Explained!!!

I heard from a friend that manages a LFS that they eat clams. I witnessed one first hand in the store i work at eat about 1" off a maxima. We've since removed the snails from the clam system.

joe
 
Aside from the nassarius, which I guess the jury is out on, I witnessed the worm eating on a live clam. I know the worm is a predator. The clam was alive. Maybe the clams were under some kind of stress making them suceptable...I don't know, but this worm is definately a clam eater. Maybe it weakened the clam and the nassarius finished the job. I don't know, but I hope there aren't anymore of these, and if there are I hope I can bait them out.
 
The tonga ones are much larger, usually around an inch. The shell is also rounder. I'll try to dig up a picture. They still have a tan shell.

joe
 
I think we know that...However, most find them to be safer than hermits. The nassarius in question is the Tonga. The obselette and vibex are known to be reef safe and safe with clams. I have doubts about whether or not the Tonga are implicated in the deaths of my clams. I stayed up for hours after I found the worm eating out the clam and not once say a nassarius even leave the sandbed. Nevertheless, they are gone because someone has witnessed it in another situation.
 
Its been several days since I added the new flatworms to the tank with the crocea. They are all still alive and happy.
 
I have had my clams in the same tank with the rock and everything...no additions for quite some time. Some of my clams have been in there for nearly 2 years, and it wasn't until recently that I noticed the flatworm eating them. I removed a flatworm like this in August as a matter of fact. I don't think there is any question that this worm ate my clams. Like I said I caught him red handed and all of the clam deaths have occurred at night giving credibility to a predator in the tank. Since I caught him eating a clam I think its fair to say that he is the culprit.

One item of note...Sometimes it takes time before creatures develop a taste for one another. Maybe the worm ran out of or was limited with other sources of food. Or maybe it just stumbled into the clam and thought this is godd...developing a taste for clams. I don't know but I do know that this worm had to be living with my clams for 2 years before he started eating them.
 
I just lost a 4" crocea to a worm, although I think it was a bristleworm (a giant one, at least 12"). Crocea was added to the tank on Sunday, acclimating well on the DSB, woke up on Wed AM and it is just carnage...the worm went underneath through the foot and ate its way up (this clam had not been mounted on any LR). I have a Maxima also that I am worried about...which I elevated (and is also mounted) so hope it doesn't get taken out.

I am now trying to determine which LR that worm is hiding in...I gotta get that SOB out!!!
 
Sorry no pics, took the remains of the clam out before it fouled up the tank... Bad thing is, its starting to attack my Maxima clam. Now I'm not sure where to move the Maxima...
 
Try a plastic dixie cup. Poke a bunch of holes in the bottom of the cup. Place the cup top down in the sand with a scallop from the grocery in it. Do this at night and sit back for a few hours and wait the worm out. Continue to do it until the worm comes out and then net him. don't touch it though because it could be a fire wor. I would be interested to hear anyone elses suggestions.
 
Uh, so where are all these pics everyone else is seeing? I don't see any pics anywhere. Freed
 
Thanks COReefer, I'll give that a try. I hope I can net him, it never fully comes out of the LR (I've seen it, at least 6-10" long and about a 1/4-1/2" wide). If it doesn't work I'll have to figure out which LR he's in.
 
Good news!!! I caught the SOB...take a look:

14323Bristleworm2.JPG


For reference, that is a 5 gallon bucket!!! This sucker is probably over 2 feet long!! The bad news is, I have more than one giant bristleworm...Maybe its time to get a 6 line wrasse, although I hear they eat all your worms (I have feather dusters and cocoworms)
 
Oh I forgot to mention how I caught him...I baited a waterbottle with hole poked in it, but since this worm would be too big to completely go in, I watched it as it was searching for the bait, waited til I could see the end of it come out of the LR, then I suctioned him out. I snagged him about halfway rather than at either end because these suckers are fast!!!
 
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