Too many clams?
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Ellery
Active Member
I tried to setup a clam specific tank connected to my 450g system this past year with probably 9 clams at the peak (T.Maxima, Squamosa, Crocea, derasa, and Hippoppus) but for some reason none of them lasted more than 6 months in my SPS nutrient level tank even with phytoplankton dosing and nitrate dosing to maintain 2-5ppm. They would be fine one night and mysteriously just die overnight leaving an empty shell while other clams were doing fine.
In the past I used to have 5"-6"wild clams that lasted over 8-9 years in a 6" DSB tank with a Seaclone 100 skimmer and a rubbermaid Refugium. It definitely seems they like a decent level of nutrients in the water even under full spectrum LED.
I still love them and only have 1 T.Squamosa and a Flame Scallop that's been going strong under this rebuilt Maxspect R420R 16,000 Kelvin fixture.
In the past I used to have 5"-6"wild clams that lasted over 8-9 years in a 6" DSB tank with a Seaclone 100 skimmer and a rubbermaid Refugium. It definitely seems they like a decent level of nutrients in the water even under full spectrum LED.
I still love them and only have 1 T.Squamosa and a Flame Scallop that's been going strong under this rebuilt Maxspect R420R 16,000 Kelvin fixture.
<a href="http://s26.photobucket.com/user/sullyman5004/media/clams057.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/sullyman5004/clams057.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo clams057.jpg"/></a>
The clam was no problem it grew along with the coral, started at 5"
The clam was no problem it grew along with the coral, started at 5"
Clams that are doing well and grow fast do take up a lot of Ca and alkalinity, that need to be keep up. They also compete with each other for nutrients and trace elements. Large clams will out compete the smaller ones. When I have my 28 inch Gigas and the tank was rolling along in all cylinders, my smaller clams would not grow well, while the Gigas and my SPS would blast along at record speeds. I am not 100% sure of the limming factors, but I make sure that Ca, Alkalinity, Magnesium and Nitrates were not the limiting factors. I suspected that trace element shortage is the problem, but never test or added trace element to my tank becasue all were doing well as is, other than slower clams grow than I like.
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
I’m out of town so unable to get a current picture. This one is at most a few months old though. The scale is deceiving. That’s a 180 gallon and the derasa in the center is at least 14” not including the open mantle. Had it for 8 1/2 years. Started as a 2” ORA.
Beautiful tank! how much natural light does the tank receive? The way it completely cuts through the tank lighting Just goes to show the power of the sun.
Softhammer
Valuable Member
Thank you! It only gets natural light in the winter, I kind of have to acclimate it with the drapes but it’s almost all day, and only on that left side of the tank. If it doesn’t nuke the coral there, the colors drastically improve on the sps. Especially on the bases which are usually shaded from the LEDs.
OP
OP
dough
Reefing since '95
I have a graveyard as well. Mostly in the outside garden. The next owner of this house will think that there was a ocean here at one time. Sand, old LR, dead coral pieces etc.
At one point I had over (30) clams between our (2) tanks...not sure what happened - I call it the clam plague but I lost (1) a day with the exception of my blue squamosa. He was the only survivor until I knocked him off a rock and tore his bysal. Lost him a few days later...These are some old pics of the ones I had...
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exasperatus2002
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With me being new to reef keeping and having a LPS dominant tank, it's the lighting that's keeping me back from a clam.
Here is my Electric Blue Maxima, got him from Petco 5 years ago ($20!!) and now he's 8" and happy as !!LOL!
Larry L
Valuable Member
Sounds like pinched mantle disease, which people think is probably caused by a protozoan (maybe Perkinsus). They can live in the clam tissue without issues until some stress sets them off, and then when the tissue is dying and becomes anaerobic, they release spores that infect other clams. Best bet is to isolate any sick looking clam right away, and maybe do freshwater dips, but it's hard to stop once it starts (also a good reason to quarantine new clams if you already have any).
None of the clams had pinched mantle nor were they any new additions to my collections for at least 6 months. No clams, fish, coral, etc. At that time, I had all of them anywhere from 6 months to 4 1/2 years. None of them had even exhibited any sign of a disease. They were fine one day and gone the next. No predators either as I had battled a fire worm and a polyclad for a year before finally catching those menaces and knew what a clam they had murdered looked like with the slime covering. I lean more to some sort of bacteria that affected them but nothing else. The blue squamosa was the only clam that seemed immune to whatever it was.
Larry L
Valuable Member
Wow, I can't imagine how frustrating that must have been.
Probably right. I've read that Perkinsia can lie dormant for quite a while, but if some stress triggered them into activity then the pinched symptoms would have been pretty obvious.
It was definitely very frustrating and very heartbreaking since I had so many for so long and had great success with them! What was so peculiar to me was that it was (1) per day - not (2) or (3) but just (1). Never could comprehend that! Not having any idea what I was dealing with was even more frustrating since there was no treatment to come up with. Water changes did not help, no parameters out of whack, nothing that would explain it...bsa
That did not sound like PMD. FWIW, my experience with PMD was way back in 2002. I wrote an article about it here:
Diagnosis and Treatment of Pinched Mantle Disease in Giant Clams.
Introduction It was almost 20 years ago when I first introduced the Fresh Water Dip (FWD) protocol for the treatment of Pinched Mantle Disease (PMD). Over the years, many reefers altered the protocol somewhat but, on the whole, it still is the only tried and true way to treat PMD, a universally...
www.reef2reef.com
Were your clams healthy and with growth until they died? If they were growing and then died, then they were killed by something. One per day sound like predation, especially if they are doing great until they died. If they were expanded but not growing then something killing them slowly. I am sure you though about parasitic snails. Water chemistry is unlikely to be the cause unless you really neglect your tank.
PMD does not araise de novo in your tank. IME, I do not have a long asymptomatic phase, and does not have a dormant phase in our tank.
Did you notice any symptoms? Whatever killed my 41 clams (ok killed 40 clams, the most recent one died from pyramid snails i caught too late) infected previously growing clams, it then slowed started weakening the clams and in some I could see the mantle tissue in the center become thinner, sometimes tearing open! There tended to also be some mucus production. Happened months after adding a new sick clam and quite slowly spread around, not a mass die off at once.
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