Yesterday I bought a small (~2") maxima at my lfs. It looked good, was fully opened in the store. I brought it home, acclimated it for about an hour, adding 1/4 cup tank water every 5-10 minutes. Nothing bothered it that I could see. This morning when I went to work, it was just a ball of slime. I just upgraded from 2x36 pc to a 70w mh + 1x36 pc and am still acclimating the tank to the increased light. Ammonia=0, nitrites=0, nitrates=10, ph varies throughout the day from 8.1 in the morning to 8.5 at night, calcium=375, alk=3. I have 2 ocelaris clowns, a skunk cleaner shrimp, 2 emerald crabs, some nassarius snails, a couple hitchiker hermit crabs (dwarf blue legs maybe?), haven't seen any pyramid snails, many small bristleworms (2-3") and spaghetti worms. Everything else in the tank looks good, even a hydnophora and lettuce nudibranch I bought at the same time still look good. I just want to know what happened so I don't make the same mistake again. Thanks for your help.
What happened to my maxima?
- Thread starter bgoode
- Start date
Fish-o-holic
New member
What do you mean a ball of slime? Did the clam open at all this morning? Did the clam come from metal halides in the store?
The lighting question would be one that comes to mind as well. I am assuming you have this guy in a nano reef or very small tank? It may be that its just not opening up.
I aso know that some places are selling clams that are not going through the quarantine process. We had a LFS that has a great reputation purchase a lot fof clams that were infected with a pretty nasty bug. Sadly the wholesaler was less than truthful about the quarantine process and subsequently any clams that were infected passed along the disease to others, including a number of tanks in peoples homes. It seemed to take the clams down in 24-48 hours after exposure. You may want to make sure the LFS you purchased them form is not encountering aan issue caused by disease.
I aso know that some places are selling clams that are not going through the quarantine process. We had a LFS that has a great reputation purchase a lot fof clams that were infected with a pretty nasty bug. Sadly the wholesaler was less than truthful about the quarantine process and subsequently any clams that were infected passed along the disease to others, including a number of tanks in peoples homes. It seemed to take the clams down in 24-48 hours after exposure. You may want to make sure the LFS you purchased them form is not encountering aan issue caused by disease.
In the morning, it was partially opened with no mantle. When I pulled it out, it was definitely dead from the smell. I don't really no any better way to explain it than slimey mucousey stuff down in the bottom of the shell. It was under halides at the store, but it was at the bottom of a pretty deep tank. Would poor light acclimation kill it in that short of a time span? Do you think anything in my tank killed it to eat? There weren't any bristleworms or anything in it or around it when I pulled it out.
Fish-o-holic
New member
Sorry to hear about the loss. I understand what you mean by a slime ball now. Several of my clams died and just fell apart when I took em out. 
How long has your tank been setup? It's really hard to say what killed the clam as they're somewhat hard to keep anyhow.
How long has your tank been setup? It's really hard to say what killed the clam as they're somewhat hard to keep anyhow.
Fish-o-holic
New member
I dunno really. You could have gotten a 'bad' clam. I suggest you wait about another month or two before adding another clam. This time I would try a derasa cuz they are easier to keep than maximas and croceas.
SoKaL ReeFiN
New member
Did you get the clam at Aquatic?
