Unhappy clams.. thoughts anyone?

[Creade]

Ok Im not used to posting asking for help figuring out whats wrong in my tank but Im at a total loss here.
ALL of my clams have been closed almost fully for the last 3 days.

The only change in the tank has been the addition of a handfull of small zoo frags which I glued onto my rockwork earlier in the day that all this started.

I have never had this problem over the past few years.
1 month ago I switched to T5s from my 400watt halides, Clams seemed fine since, cant see why that would have anything to do with it.

Water Params are norm.
I did a small waterchange today, and started running carbon saturday.

Ive noticed no change in their condition. These clams have been through Alot with me, tank crashes, moves, rowdy nipping tank mates, overheating, and so on. And I have never had any problems with them.

Any thoughts on what I can do to rectify the problem, or any thoughts on what the problem is, would be greatly appreciated.

If I lose my Clams Ill be mental.

Thanks
Creade

 

[Reef Pinoy]

Have you checked for snails? I noticed one of my hybrids (max-squa I think) wasn't growing as fast as the others and wasn't expanding as well. Looked closely at it and found out that it had a whole family of pyramidellid snails near it's foot. HTH

 

[Creade]

That doesnt seem to be the case, but thanks for the thought.

Creade

 

[Creade]

No change as of this morning, though it seems like my 8 incher is pumping alot at night as he blew 4 inches of the DSB across the tank onto a zoo colony.

Im at a total loss here folks. No idea what my next step should be.

Creade

 

[Fish-o-holic]

I highly doubt it's snails. If it were snails, you would have noticed your clams not doing so great from the get-go. Your clams have really been through alot it seems.

I do have a question. What kinda glue did you use to glue the frag colony? What exactly are your water parameters? It could be the switch you made in lighting. Did you acclimate the clams? Clams can do great for sometime and then suddenly fall apart if there's a change in any lighting. I dunno what the problem may be but just offering insight.

 

[Creade]

Used the same super glue gel ive used for years. its never effected them in the past.
And yeah, they have been through alot over the years, these boys are hearty!

I acclimated the clams to the light the best I could, I really dont think thats causing it, as their mantles were full and healthy since they got moved.

My params are pretty much same as always although the calcium is a bit off due to still working on the nilsen..about 385,trites/trates 0, ph 8.1, salinity .023, temp 80, 10hrs light cycle. /shrug

Creade

 

[Fish-o-holic]

How big are they? I would feed them some DT's or phytoplankton if possible. It could help them recover a bit of their strength I suppose.

 

[Creade]

Did that after the waterchange.

Creade

 

[Creade]

Could still use any thoughts, my 8 inch Crocea opened for about an hour yesterday, no change in anything else.

Creade

 

[sahin]

I am not sure but I think it may be the T5's. Did you have a single 400w MH or two? Even if it were single, I still think it had way more intensity than the T5's. I tried a few clams under T5's and they wouldnt have it, had to return them to the LFS some months later. Lack of light may not be apparent for many weeks etc. Might want to try putting one of the clams back into the tank with halides or something like that see what happens or if you got the 400w halide out it back and see if there is any change?

OR the other thing could be the glue itself. Is it a new tube of glue even though its the same brand? Could this batch of glue contain something toxic to clams?

Or change of light plus glue just was too much for the clams?

Keep us updated on how things go. Goodluck.

 

[rmendis]

If your only tank changes are:
1) New zoo colony
2) New T5 lights

Then it has to be one of these two items that is causing the problem.

Sahin is right about lowered light problems taking time to manifest themselves. The clam could have survived for a month on stored energy and phyto, and now there just isn't enough light for it.

I do hope your clam gets back to health.

 

[Creade]

I just find it hard to believe that all the clams would retract fully at the same time due to light. I would think they would be reaching for more light.
Im assuming it had to be something with the glue, but im going to acclimate one of the smaller ones to a halide tank and see how that works.

Creade

 

[Fish-o-holic]

I was thinking the same thing. It either has to be something with the glue or the decreased intensity in lighting.

 

[sahin]

Yes, go ahead and put one of the clams into the other tank. I still do think the light is a factor, maybe combined factor. Its either the zoos released some toxic stuff when you glued them or the glue itself has some kind of toxin thats irritating the clams. I would tend to think its the glue+Zoos.

Whatever it is, we want the clams to survive. I would go ahead and put one clam in the other tank and leave the other clams in this tank. Carry out a large water change and then run carbon. Keep the tank water fully aerated as well. Log down all changes you make and keep a keen eye out for any changes to the clams in either tank.

Good luck, hopefully they will pull through.

 

[Creade]

Smallest maxima (the one i moved to the dual 250 watt halide tank) is doing alot better. His color is poor, but his mantle is near fully extended.
Now to figure out where I can put the other clams in that tank until I move the T5s closer to the original tank =/
So depressing, I guess the T5s just arent what I expected.


Creade

 

[sahin]

Creade: I think thats good news. Because at least we may know what the problem is. Still cannot be sure yet because the clam may be doing better simply because there is nothing "bad" in the water of this tank as opposed to the original tank. If the clam in the new tank does well, I would move the others and see what happens to those. If all clams fare better in the tank with the halides you may have to assume that the new lights are not as high intensity as the previous MH setup. I would then once the clams have recovered for a week or so move one clam back and see what happens.

I have used T5 lighting for well over a year now (live in the UK), and I tried to keep a crocea under T5 lighting believing the hype. Well, the clam appeared to do well for about 2 months. After which I noticed no growth but general unhealthy look on the clam. The clam also appeared to have lost colour. I took the clam back to the LFS. A few sps frags were fine and grew well. But I think the T5 lighting is just not enough for clams.

My tank was very shallow. The distance from water surface to tubes was only just 2 inches. Clams and sps corals were placed about 4-6inches below the water line.

IMHO the T5's are great for supplemental lighting. You can light up the edges of the tank nicely. Thats why I use both MH and T5 in the new tank.

How high are the tubes placed above the waters surface? You must remember that the T5's wont punch through the water as much as a 400MH bulb.

Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[Travis]

Creade: I think the zoanthids released some toxins into the tank. These things are DEADLY!! I remember reading a thread a while back where a guy was fragging some zoo's in a large bucket of water. His dog took a drink of the water and was dead later that day. In my own experience, there was one time when I was fragging some zoos in my frag tank and I forgot I had a couple small cuts on 2 of my fingers. The 2 fingers with cuts on them swelled up to 1.5 times their original size for the rest of the day.

I think the decreased intensity in lighting is also a factor but I'm sure the zo's put the icing on the cake. Has anything else in the tank been effected since adding the zo's? I think the maxima that you moved is doing better because he is in different water. I would recommend running plenty of carbon for a while to get all those toxins out of the water.

Just my best guess.

 

[sahin]

Creade: Just wondering how the clams are doing? It would be nice to get an update on the clams. Hopefully they all pulled through?