Whats going on with my clam help!

shy07guy

shy07guy

Premium Member
I have had my clam for about 2 weeks now and for the past 3 or 4 days he has not extended his mantle completely and I am not sure what is going on. My water quality is good I will test today to double check and post the results. I have the clam at the bottem of the tank and it is under 2 250w 10k xm bulbs and 260w of actinic. the tank is 18" deep. With in the first 3 days of being in the tank the clam attacthed it self to an adjacent rock so moving it is no longer an option. Nothing seems to be picking at it so I am pretty sure it is not dying yet but the lack of extention concerns me a lot. I have images in my gallery from the first day in the tank then a week later then the second week which was taken today.
First day in the tank
showphoto.php


After one week. the mantle has slowly receded from the left to the right

showphoto.php


Clam today. It was extended maybe a little bit more then this but not much and has looked like this for a few days

showphoto.php


Any ideas would be great. Thanks
Derek
 
I had the same problem with mine awhile back. I finally decided to do a fresh water dip. Since it is attached to a rock, you can gently move to the side and use a clean razor blade to cut the threads. Be careful not to cut the foot. Since mine were all under 3 inches, I feed them DTs about an hour after putting them back in the tank. You could first try direct feeding it for a few days to see if that helps, it looks like it's on the small side. What size is it? Have you been feeding it?
 
Ok. He is about 3" not to sure b/c I forgot to measure him before he went in the tank. i dose 1/2 oz of DT's to the tank every other day but I just poor in to the top. How should I make sure he is getting some? Thanks for the help
Derek
 
Derek,
I spot feed all my small clams using the half a 2L bottle trick. Cut a clean bottle in two, use the top part to place over your clam. I than put between 5-10cc of phyto in the bottle, slowly so it doesn't "choke" the clam. I also put the cap on the bottle so the phyto doesn't escape out the top. I feed the smallest ones 1.5-2in. about every three days. My 3 inch ones about every 4 days. Good luck with your clam.
 
I just tested my water and found a few problems that my be causing the clam to look the way it does.
S.G. 35
N02 .025-.05
PH 8.6 (could be higher but thats as high as the test went)
PO4 0-.03
NO3 .2
cal 435
Alk 7
Mg 1230
I2 .03-.06
The problem I see is my PH and low alk :( My alk has been a little low for some time now and I have been trying to get it back up by adding more of the alk part of the two part soltion that I dose with. With the ph so high could this be why the alk wont go up or is the ph high because of the extra doses of the alk? I know clams are sensitive so maybe the high PH is making him unhappy. Any help on what to do would be great.
Thanks
Derek
 
I have fed the clam 2 times in the past 3 days and it still looks the same. It also detached it self from the rock so I moved it to the other side of the tank where there is a little less flow. My PH is still 8.6 and I am trying to find a good way to lower it. Could the ph be the only reason the clam is not extending or is there something else going on. The clam still looks the same as the last pic I took. Is it pinching and if so should I try a fresh water dip and how do I do one of those? The clam is still closing up when the tank is opened and shadows pass by. It also closes up quite a bit at night. Thanks for the help
Derek
 
IME a fresh water dip will either help or finish it off. When a clam is on its last legs, it does not handle a fresh water dip all that well and it could be the end of it. However, at this point, unless someone else has better advice, it can't hurt to try. Like I said, I had the same problem with my maximas and they came back after the dip and are growing now and looking great. To do a dip I take a 5 gallon bucket, fill it half way with RO water put in a heater and power head to circulate the water. Once the water is at the same temp as your tank you can put him in. After 30 min. take him out and put back in the tank. He will look bad for a couple of days, but if the dip worked you should see improvement after that. I strongly recommend you use a power head to make sure the water is equally heated, if not you may be putting your clam in water that is colder at the bottom and not the correct temp. Good luck, keep us posted on what you decide to do.
 
I have been feeding it everyday now or almost every day and he is looking a little better. When I came home today he was extended the most I have seen him since I got him. However at the moment he has shrunken in a little. I have held off on the fresh water bath for now as long as he continues to improve. I will post pics shortly
Derek
 
Here it is after 3 weeks. After it detached from the rock on the right hand side of the tank I moved to the the left side hoping that it would like it over there better so far it seems to be doing better and maybe the bell feeding is helping as well. Any thoughts on what I should do or continue to do would be great, Thanks
Derek

43862Clam-6-20.jpg
 
He is looking better, just keep feeding him. I have heard of some clams coming back on their own. Hopefully yours will be one of them. Keeping my fingers crossed :)
 
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