Clam has fallen but left his foot behind!

[AVVITT]

I came home today to find my clam off his perch but his foot left behind. A few days ago he was moving a little, kinda extending his foot and leaning over 90 degrees. He did it several times before opening and closing a few times then returned to his normal position.
Then yesterday he was tilted forward, mantle only protruding slightly.

He's now fallen onto a rock below. He looks like the mantle is mostly extended out but I'm worried about disturbing him if he's still alive!

I tested 2 days ago, reading were;
Mag - 1460
Calc - 450
Phos - 2.5
Nitrate - 10
Salinity 1.026
pH - 7.95
Alk - 8.2 dkh
All parameters have been stable for at least the last 3 weeks. I accidentally brought my alk from 6.9 up to 12 dkh in a matter of days and upset a few corals, a few of them dying but that was about 4 weeks ago.

Just after I tested I added tropic Marin elimi phos which brought my phosphate down to 1.0
That's the only thing happened recently.
I've attached some pics of the foot and where he is now

 

[malfist]

Don't want to be the bearer of bad news here, but clams that lose their foot in the wild die. If you can, rehome your clam into a stable tank if you have one, or into a QT.

Your phosphates are way too high for delicate reef animals. Elimi phos is probably lanthinum chloride, it's not always safe to add to tanks and it might be harmful to clams, they're very sensitive. You need to do water changes as fast as possible.

If your phosphates have been around 2.5ppm for three weeks I'm surprised he's made it this long. If you don't have GFO or a fuge you need to be doing more frequent water changes to export the phosphate or feeding less.

The target phosphate for a new tank is <0.03ppm, but greater than 0.00

 

[jcdeng]

that po4 lvl, is that in ppm??

 

[AVVITT]

that po4 lvl, is that in ppm??

Yes
I just went to pick it up and it's re-attached itself to the rock below. As I reached down to it, it quickly shut then reopened a few seconds later.
I can't get it because it's attached?

 

[Tamberav]

Clams can re attach/regrow their filaments. Is it getting light in its new spot?

 

[AVVITT]

Clams can re attach/regrow their filaments. Is it getting light in its new spot?

Yes it's in quite a high light area. It's about 6 inches lower than it was before

 

[Tamberav]

Yes it's in quite a high light area. It's about 6 inches lower than it was before

I would leave it

 

[mikedgrok]

@AVVITT - how did this turn out for you?

 

[AVVITT]

@AVVITT - how did this turn out for you?

Not good. He lasted a few more days. Even seemed like he'd attached himself to another rock but then one afternoon I found him laying at the bottom, his shell all twisted and no movement. The mantle was hanging out like the tongue of a dead dog.
I can only think phosphate being 2.5 was my mistake. He looked great for the 3 months I had him. Rather annoyingly the next day my phosphate started dropping and is now 0.04
Too late for him I'm afraid. Gutted

 

[malfist]

If you don't mind me asking, what did you do to make your phosphates drop two orders of magnitude in a few days?

 

[AVVITT]

If you don't mind me asking, what did you do to make your phosphates drop two orders of magnitude in a few days?

I don't mind at all! Good to share good practice with fellow reefers.
I use Tropic Marin elimiphos. I literally used a few millilitres in an 800 litre system and withing 24 hours my phosphate had dropped from 2.5 to 0.04. I had just started running a phosphate reactor with bio pellets in also from Tropic Marin. Amazing product but so good you have to follow dosage protocol!

 

[malfist]

You say a phosphate reactor with biopellets. Phosphate reactors are GFO bases (or aluminum but that's not common), biopellets are a carbon source that help reduce nitrates. Do you have a dual reactor?

2.5 to 0.04 is a huge change in 24 hours. That could be very stressful to your tank, but I'm not enough of an expert to say that it's more or less harmful than the 2.5.

If you want my input/advice, while lanthanum chloride certainly works, usually phosphate comes in with other things too, like nitrate. Lanthanum chloride only removes the phosphates. I would have done a 50% water change one day and then next day do the same if I could. That would have brought your phosphates down to 0.625 and then I'd have let GFO or lanthanum chloride remove the rest.

Be careful with GFO and lanthanum chloride though, if you keep your phosphates at zero for too long you can easily wind up with dinos which are no fun

 

[mikedgrok]

Not good. He lasted a few more days. Even seemed like he'd attached himself to another rock but then one afternoon I found him laying at the bottom, his shell all twisted and no movement. The mantle was hanging out like the tongue of a dead dog.
I can only think phosphate being 2.5 was my mistake. He looked great for the 3 months I had him. Rather annoyingly the next day my phosphate started dropping and is now 0.04
Too late for him I'm afraid. Gutted

yeahp, this is what happened to me twice in the past. i use phosguard btw... helped me get things in check a bit... and really quickly. i ALSO use chemipure blue and purigen... i make sure these all get direct flow in my inTank media baskets... keeps me pretty stable these days around 0.1-0.25phos and ~10 on nitrates

ALSO TRIED TO FEED LESS

 

[i cant think]

If you don’t mind me asking, do you think you’ll try another clam in the future? If so would you go for the same species or a different one?
I’m mainly asking because I’m trying to research these marine invertebrates whilst i drag my phosphate down (They’re above 2,0ppm) with rowaphos.

 

[AVVITT]

You say a phosphate reactor with biopellets. Phosphate reactors are GFO bases (or aluminum but that's not common), biopellets are a carbon source that help reduce nitrates. Do you have a dual reactor?

2.5 to 0.04 is a huge change in 24 hours. That could be very stressful to your tank, but I'm not enough of an expert to say that it's more or less harmful than the 2.5.

If you want my input/advice, while lanthanum chloride certainly works, usually phosphate comes in with other things too, like nitrate. Lanthanum chloride only removes the phosphates. I would have done a 50% water change one day and then next day do the same if I could. That would have brought your phosphates down to 0.625 and then I'd have let GFO or lanthanum chloride remove the rest.

Be careful with GFO and lanthanum chloride though, if you keep your phosphates at zero for too long you can easily wind up with dinos which are no fun

I was shocked at how quickly the phos fell too but I was using the salifert test which is a really feint colour chart and hard to read so I'm not overly convinced it was that high.
I measured when it was high on the salifert test but the following day after dosing the elimiphos, my Hannah ulr phosphate tester arrived so the second test from that showed 0.04. My nitrates were 10 and dropped to 7.5
I cleaned a lot of crap out of my sump and did a 20% water change the following day.
If the claim had hung on just a week more the tank is in a much better place. I was just a bit slow sorting it. Lesson learned