Which Pests Kill Clams?

[ReefBum]

I had success keeping clams in my old reef tank for years but I can't keep them alive in my 1 1/2 year old tank. I was able to keep them in the beginning but then I bought 2 new clams and they died. Subsequently, the other 2 in my tank died.

I waited about 2-3 months and tried another....it died. I tried again after a few months and it was looking great after a month or so and then one day it just vaporized. I know about pyrimad snails but I haven't seen any of them on the clams. I know about bristle worms but I haven't caught any in my trap. I have some acro eating flatworms so I'm wondering if they could be the culprit...or are other flatworms a possibility? Perhaps there is another pest or some disease I'm not aware of.

My parameters are good and my SPS dominant tank is doing very well. Any help in figuring out this mystery would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kfisc]

How fast was it between introduction and collapse? Any idea if the alk/CA in your tank is elevated well beyond what the clams have been used to? How much more/less intense is your lighting than that from where they came?

 

[ReefBum]

The last clam I had lasted around a month before it went and the others went down within about a week. My alk/CA levels should have been in the ballpark with the tanks the clams came from and the lighting was not that different as well. I don't add any specific food for the clams...is that a possibility?

 

[kfisc]

Food wouldn't be an issue unless they were small/juvenile, less than 3-4", depending on species, they're photosynthetic after that. Their survival is very dicey when small.

The only other guesses I've got are that you're on to something with the flatworm theory, or that you've got one of a number of worm species hiding out that attack clams especially (ever notice any tiny holes appearing to be bored into the shell?), or that they may not like the higher flow in an sps-dominated tank.

You could do a freshwater dip, supposing you'd want to try it again, by taking RO/DI water, raising to temp and Ph, and putting the clam in for a minute and see what crawls out...

 

[ReefBum]

Thanks for the tip. I'll give that a shot and see what happens.