Whats wrong with my clam?

[reefman77]

My Deresa that i have had for almost 5 years now has recently started to curl its mantle in. it showed up about 2 months ago and i wasnt concerned but now its starting to get worse. whats wrong with it?

 

[Young Reefer 03]

did you recently add a phosphate reactor? that can upset clams, other than that i have no clue

 

[reefman77]

actualy i did change over to a phosphate reactor from zeovit recently but im pretty sure the problem was there before i switched.

 

[a4twenty]

can you get another couple pics from above?? ( and of the crocea )

what phosphate remover are you using?? is it a GFO? ( if it is a GFO, stop and run carbon )

are you running carbon??

how long ago did you add the crocea??

please list your water params and fish invert list.

 

[reefman77]

it is a GFO reactor (phosban). I didnt think that they caused problems with clams. i am running carbon passively in the sump. the crocea is fine and healty and been there for 2 or 3 years cant remember.

I have

2 clowns
1 black-cap basslet
1 yellow tang
1 six line wrasse

perameters

Salinity: 35ppt
Ph: 8.3
Calcium: 450
alkalinity: 7.5
Temp: 82 degrees

 

[a4twenty]

did you stop running the GFO??? ( run carbon in its place. )

and please post another pic or two from above, i need to see how much mantle has been affected.

 

[reefman77]

I turned off the GFO yesterday.

This is the first time that i have ever heard of GFO being a problem with clams. why is it bad for clams? I used GFO before i switched to zeovit and the clams were healthy then.

 

[a4twenty]

a GFO isn't a problem for a clam unless he is a carrier of the protozoa that cause PM ( Pinched Mantle ). i see a couple of small spots that look like PM and by removing the GFO and running carbon ( in a reactor, not passively ) we should be able to pull the Fe form the water, which should cause the protozoa to go dormant again. if it doesn't work and the conditions worsen a FWD may be come necessary but this is very stressful and more of a last resort.

i see another more predominant symptom....

how are you maintaining Ca and Alk?? is it stable???

your Alk is low for your Ca and should be gradually raised to better match. stability is very important but so is a good balance.


sorry to be a pain but can you get a couple of pictures from above, showing the whole mantle of both clams. again this is to see how far in the clams are.

 

[reefman77]

I dont think i will be able to get a top down shot of the clam but after turrning off the phosban reactor the clam seems to have made a complete recovery. the mantle is fully opened again. i am still running the carbon passivley but do plan to start running it in the reactor. how much carbon should i use? it is an 130 gallon system.

 

[a4twenty]

great news !!!!

i usually go small and change often, i run less than a cup of AC and change it out ~ weekly. once your sure he has recovered, you can try running the GFO again but feed the effluent to another reactor with AC in it or try another PO4 remover that doesn't contain Fe.

good luck and let us know how it turns out

 

[reefman77]

thanks! are there any phophate removers that you would suggest that dont use Fe?

 

[fishysteve]

a4twenty - I learned something new today. Thank you.

 

[Mentat]

Nice job A4twenty, a clam has been saved!

 

[a4twenty]

still keeping my fingers crossed, these guys can be very delicate and by the time we see symptoms the clam can be a lot further along. i'm hoping we caught it in time.

 

[reefman77]

im afraid i have some bad news. the clam seems to have returned to the original state and i am worried that a fresh water dip may be its only chance
do you think that i should wait a little longer or should i take the risk and do the dip. also what do i need to do for the dip? ive never had to do this before.

 

[a4twenty]

can you post another recent pic?


a FWD is done by dipping / submerging / sloshing the clam in RODI that has been temp / pH matched for 20 - 30 min. i would really like to see another pic before you do anything, it can be stressful......

 

[reefman77]

sorry. i actualy read the RK article on clam diseases and did the 30 min freshwater dip last night. the Crocea that i didnt even know was suffereing has already fully opened and looks 100 times better. the derresa is not quite fully opened yet but the parts that were currled in apear to be fully extended

 

[a4twenty]

great to hear, keep an eye on them, you may need to dip again. i did ask for pics of the crocea from the start, i would suspect he was the initial carrier but no way to know for sure.