When will it be safe to purchase clams again?

anathema

Premium Member
I have been really wanting a new clam for quite a while now, but have been scared to purchase one because of the disease.

All of the local stores have stopped bringing in new clams, which is a good thing. Unfortunately it also means that I cannot feed my own disease. The disease which has me staring at pictures of other people's clams all day and daydreaming about having one "just like that".

So...

I have no local source, and I have thought about buying online, but even then I can't be sure I am getting a healthy clam. It is also discouraging to not be able to see them in person, both to judge it's health and to see it's coloring.

When should I start to feel safe about buying a clam online? Should I just wait until my local store gets them again? That may be a long time. I think they lost a lot of money when the disease rolled through and killed off their stock. Has anyone bought a clam recently and had it live, or have clam sales halted with everyone doing what I am?

Your thoughts?
 
Ordering online is always a risk. Not all livestock can survive the travel, but that is how it works.

Not much different when you get it at the shop or shipped to your home though. The only difference is that when it goes to your local shop, you don't get to see the losses. When it is shipped to your home, sometimes you will get a casualty of the trade.

Most places do try to minimize the losses when shipping to your home though. Most only ship the most robust individuals so that you will not have a bad customer experience. They usually also take great care when packing and use sturdy materials.

Try looking at the online places and see how they do business and where they get their clams from. I believe it was the Pohnpei clams that have had some problems with diseases in the past.

A few places that I have heard good things about is www.eastcoastclams.com www.tanku.net www.drmaccorals.com (heard they stopped selling clams though), and www.clamsdirect.com

I would go check out the vendor experiences and also check out each site to see how things are done.

A lot of the sites now have the actual pictures of the clams so you can see exactly what you are getting.

Personally I would feel just as safe ordering online from a trusted supplier than from most LFS. The only thing that is really against you now is winter. Make sure that see how the site take care of the weather issue or give them a call if they allow it.

The only place that I have had experience with is clams direct though. I was very happy with the service and way the clams were packed. I was also impressed with the way he hand picks the clams for color and health. I am not sure if any of the other places do that or not though.

Anyway. I can't stress research enough. Check out the sites and check out vendor experiences before you decide to buy clams or really anything online.

HTH
 
Hmmm,

Hmmm,

So I gather from your post that you feel it is safe to purchase clams now?

If you do some reading on the clam disease, you will find that not only are pohnpeii clams affected, but any clams that go into the system that contains or has recently contained a diseased clam seem to end up dead. Not something I want to really risk even though I only have 2 clams.

I actually have ordered a clam from one of the stores you mentioned. It was a nice squamosa that ended up dying. However, it was my first clam, and it seemed unhappy about my tank from day 1. It was always moving, and I don't think it's death was the fault of the store. There were rumors going around that his clams did end up catching the disease after I purchased mine though I don't know that they are true. I was also not totally pleased with how the clam looked compared to the picture on their website. Nothing compares to seeing them in person.

So, out of that list of 4 suppliers, I know of 1 I won't buy from, 2 I haven't researched and one who is kind of a jerk. Of the two I haven't researched one is on the east coast, which seems to me like too much extra stress since most livestock comes in on the West Coast. This leaves one possible store, who's site doesn't list the type of clam I want.

With my question still unanswered as far as the disease goes, I'm not too excited about buying online I guess. Thanks for the reply.
 
Yes, I would feel safe buying online from any vendor that doesn't mix corals and clams and have never had pohnpei clams (or clams exposed to pohnpei clams) in their system. Ask the vendors, look at their sites, and if they haven't done either of these things, you shouldn't have any worries about buying clams ailing from the recent diseases outbreaks.

The difficult part about buying stuff when not in person is that you can't see exactly what you are getting, however a picture of the actual clam is better than a stock image that give you no idea of color or pattern.

A vendor that has a business on the east coast would probably get their clams delivered to an airport on the east coast. Not all vendors are able to get their clams directly from wholesalers where they can pick stuff out. Most have to have bulk shipments flown in from the farms or elsewhere. Out of the vendors that just have stuff flown in, it doesn't really matter that much where it is flown to; east coast, west coast, or wherever. The clams have to go through the same amount of stress.

I hope this more directly answers your question.
 
Many of us bought our clams from Harbor Aquatics, when attending Macna this year. Check for them on the web.

Mine has been gorgeous since day one, and I've not read any posts from others succumbing to disease.

For what it's worth...
 
Yep, I believe Harbor had some awesome clams for MACNA. Another source may be any dealers working with ORA. I kept 3 of the 4 ORA clams that came with my prize at MACNA and they are all doing great.

clams.jpg
 
RonN said:
I was told that ORA didn't sell retail, have they changed their policy?
ORA doesn't sell retail. You unfortunately did not read Mako's post clearly.

Mako suggested that those looking for clams use "dealers working with ORA" as a source. Mako's ORA clams came from a tank that was raffled off at MACNA in which ORA had donated some of the livestock.

- JT
 
My clams from Harbor Aquatic are still doing great! I've been waiting on HA to update their website so that I can get more clams
 
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