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jelwyoming

JELWYOMING
Hi!
About 2 weeks ago, I bought a beautiful T. Crocea clam. I put it through a 4 hour acclamation before putting in my 55g tank. I have about 5w/ gal PC light. I know that this a little short on intensity, so I place it about half way up to start and moved it again up to about 8" from the surface. It has been open and looking great, until 2 days ago, when I add my weekly dose of Kalk. I usually mix it 1/8 tsp to half a quart of water. I take about 20 cc of this a week to maintain Ph and calcium levels. About 30 min. after I added this, the clam closed up. After several hours it opened again, but only about 1/3 the way. It has remained like this since. It responds and closes if it senses motion or light change. What could be happening. Did I stress it adding the Kalk like that?
Thanks!
 
Although it is fast, I would suspect light. Those lights are fine for Derasa or Squamosa, but not crocea, IME. My guess, the clam could have been stressed due to the light, and maybe the kalk made it worse.

Watts per gallon do, unfortunately, mean nothing. All clams care about is PAR, and it would probably take quadrouple the amount of PCs for a crocea to be happy.
 
I suspect water quality rather than lighting.

kalk should be added drop wise not all at one shot. Do couple of water changes and keep us posted.
 
Are you refering to the calcium level and the Kalk addition or other water conditions? The rest of the chemistry is fine with nitrite/ammonia at 0, nitrates at 3 or less and PH at 8.3.
 
Sorry jelwyoming, I should have been more clear. I was referring to the addition of the kalk too quickly which therefore change cal and alk parameters (part of the "water quality" scheme) too fast for your clam.

So have you done some water changes yet?
 
Yes, and no change in the clam. His color is good, just is showing about half the mantle that he did before. I sure do think that the kalk to fast did it. The fact that it happened right away after that addition. Perhaps he was burned by it and is taking time to heal?
 
I added a 150w MH light to the tank today. The clam hasn't opened any more yet. I am hoping that that does the trick. There is about 7.5w/gal now, with both MH and PC. I hope that works?
 
After being under the MH lights for a day, the clam is closing more! I turned off the MH and left it under just the PC's and it opened a bit more. It appears like the mantle is withering back some or just not opening all the way. What now...water change again and parameters are fine. ?????
 
I started with the light fairly high above the water and gradually lowered it. I moved the clam lower down to the sand. He is a little happier there now, but he is still not opening far enough to see his vents. His mantle is only extending about half of what it did earlier. I wonder if i should do a fresh water dip on him?
 
a FWD will do nothing for your clam.you need to make changes slowly.move your light back up and slowly move it down over a few weeks.
 
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