Zenya and clam freaks

[gregt]

The poor guy isn't doing well.

I noticed him gaping yesterday morning while still in Q. This morning it was worse, so I decided to put him in the tank where he can get more light.

Well, he's gotten even worse. I'm quite alarmed. Tank water params are all normal. All other clams are doing fine.

Any ideas?

 

[zenya]

Greg,

Is he reacting to the light at all? Did he have any light over in Q?

He never gaped for me and I hope it's just acclimating

 

[gregt]

He had ambient light from the tank. Which is not inconsiderable. He isn't reacting to light much. He's sliming at the edges of the valves, and his mantle is drawn in pretty far. A pep shrimp and some tiny blue-leg hermits are cleaning the slim from the shell and he reacts to them if they bug him.

 

[zenya]

Greg,

Do you have a pic? You can email it to me if you want. Sliming is something new to me but it could be just cleaning itself. Shrimp and hermits on the clam is not a good sign
I hope he pulls through, he's pretty tough old clam but from your description it doesn't sound good to me.

 

[gregt]

No, it doesn't look good. Right now the cras are on the outside of the shell only. The shrimp have gone on the inside but don't seem to be doing anything harmful. Just removing slime. Their presence actually has caused him to close up a little so this pic isn't as bad as it was believe it or not.

Sorry for the bad quality.

 

[gregt]

[moved]

 

[zenya]

Oh crap This doesn't look good,Greg. I was waiting for your email on Thursday but I guess you were busy with this. I don't know of anything that could be done at this point, I just hope he can recover.
I'm really sorry,Greg. He was looking healthy when I put him in the bag. I just hope those goons at the Newark hub didn't dropkick that box few times :mad2: It had all the markings on it to be careful and keep upright and all that...

 

[gregt]

He looked perfectly find until yesterday morning he started to gape. I was hoping it was just acclimation and didn't want to worry you so I waited it out. Unfortunately it has only gotten worse.

 

[Stretch]

Those shrimp on the clams mantle probably arn't a good thing

 

[Ninong]

I think the retraction of the mantle is just a response to changes in its environment. At least the shell is open and not closed.

It has to adjust to possibly different light intensity, possibly different current flow, possibly different salinity and almost certainly a different overall water chemistry, plus recover from the stress of shipping.

Unless it suffered internal damage caused by osmotic shock it will probably recover. That's assuming there was a reasonably slow acclimation to the new water before placing it in the tank.

Good luck!

 

[gregt]

I don't know about that. It's only getting worse. I acclimated by dripping roughly 25% new water to 75% old water over a four hour period and then let it sit at that ratio overnight. I continued the drip the next day while I was at work. Should have been plenty slow.

 

[zenya]

Greg,

If you can, leave it in the tank for a bit longer. It might recover(it may not,too). I'm hoping that he'll pull through, like George said, if he's not damaged internally there is always a good chance that it may recover.

 

[Ninong]

I think that there is a good chance that it will recover but if you read Daniel Knop, he says that large clams frequently do not tolerate being moved from one spot to another even in the same tank.

 

[gregt]

He's still getting worse and one of the shrimp is down inside him now. When I try to get him out he only goes deeper. I think this clam's a goner.

My system is big enough that I think it can handle it if it's going sour so I'm sticking with it a little longer...

 

[Ninong]

If the shrimp are actually eating dead carrion pieces of the clam then it probably is a goner. They can "go" extremely fast, so you might want to make your decision before you go to bed. If you have any Nassarius snails in your tank they should be attracted, too, if the clam has already started dying.

 

[rbaker]

Sorry to hear about your clam Greg...

Ryan

 

[hwynboy]

Gosh I'm so sorry to hear about that clam Greg....If I were to lose my huge baby I would be devastated...

 

[gregt]

Well, I pulled him out of the tank. HE deteriorated rapidly. I probably waited longer than I should. I'm going to do some water tests to make sure I didn't hose my water quality.

 

[ADS]

The mantle retraction in your pic is a very poor sign. Sorry for your loss.
Actually a closed clam that is stressed is a positive sign since it has enough energy to adduct it's shell. I have yet to see full recovery of an open shell w/mantle retraction.
Adam

 

[crimson156]

y scuh a long acclimation?
i acclimated all 4 of my clams for 1-2 hours and they were fine