Need Clam Help

[PoonTang]

Ok so I just got back home after being away for a week and while I was away I lost my baby Maxima . My 3" Squamosa appears to have pinched mantle (I Think) and is not opening up as much as it was. What causes this and how do I fix it? As you can tell I am totally new to clams.

[hound96]

what are your water parameters, what type of lighting do you have, what fish do you have, are the clams in the rock work or on the sand bed?

[PoonTang]

what are your water parameters, what type of lighting do you have, what fish do you have, are the clams in the rock work or on the sand bed?

Water params are normal and the latest can be seen http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=66349&page=5
The fish are clowns PB/Kole/Purple Tangs, Coral Beauty, McKoskers Wrasse, Cleaner Wrasse, LMB. My lights are 250W 14k Phoenix and the clam is on the sandbed. I think the Maxima may not have been up high enough plus he was very small but the squamossa seemed very happy last week. I will be doing a WC tomorrow and we shall see if he is any happier.

[hound96]

personally not a fan of kalk it causes more problems than good in my opinion and alkalinity could very well be a factor , could you post a pic of the clam also and is there any crabs and can you see if there are any nips on the mantle , angels are known to be clam nipers

[Borderjumper]

Look closely for pyramid snails. I lost one of my baby max's before I clued into the snails.

[hound96]

forgot to mention those i just went throught those as well but luckily never suffered any losses i only had a few and very quickly went out and got a canary wrasse and haven't seen any since , keep that in mind if you do find pyramid snails this is a very helpfull fish

[Delphinus]

Pinched mantle is a condition caused by protozoans. It will be fatal if left unchecked. If what you have IS pinched mantle, you need to do a FW dip on the clam. It has been many years since I last dealt with PM so I don't remember how long of a dip is required. I'll try looking it up and posting back but in the meantime that is something you can look up too.

[Flash]

Coral Beautys are known to nip at clams... that would be the only reason I do not have one in my tank!

[michika]

Photos?

[Delphinus]

I forgot to follow up with the promised article.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_4/clams.html

Suggests 20 to 30 minutes in RO water. (Note, RO, not RO/DI).

[christyf5]

Yep, need photos. Call me if you need any help, I bet its pyramellid (sp?) snails though.

[PoonTang]

Well I had another look this morning, maby not as bad as I had thought. The edges seem to be a bit frillyer and thinner than I remember and I dont see any snails. It still reacts to light every time a fish swims by. The intake seems to be gaping a bit although i have nothing to reference it with. Christy if your down this way any time soon could you stop in please? I am home all week. I will try to get some pictures up.

[hillegom]

Keep us posted please. I had a clam that died after I had it a year. Similar situation to yours. First I had the snails, then possibly pinched mantle.
Then it got a hole in its foot and, downhill from there.
Then again, maybe not too similar.

[PoonTang]

It appears that it may infact be a case of Pyramid snails. I was looking in the tank tonight at some other things, because the clam was looking very happy today so I figured it was just me, when i happened to notice small white spots on all my turbo snails. I thought "oh cool, babies" except they look like cerith's. Upon closer inspection and a little bit of Google searching it appears they may be pyramid's. I havnt seen any on the clam yet but I was waiting for lights out. Can anyone confirm the presence of pyramids inhabiting things other than clams? And is the only course of action manual scrubbing?

[Aquattro]

I've treated pinched mantle by dropping the clam in my RO makeup tub for 20 minutes or so. The clam closes up and uses the salt water inside, so the RO just affects the outside edge.

[PoonTang]

so here is what I managed to scrub off of 10 snails and 1 clam :(
I have a feeling this is going to be a long battle.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/pyramids.jpg

[christyf5]

Aww man. That blows! Looks like you'll have a nightly job for awhile :neutral:

[Borderjumper]

It sucks...I'm not much of a clam person and didn't even think to look for snails when I brought my baby clams home. I'm just glad I didn't put them in my big tank that has the three big clams in as they are all attached to the rock work and I would never get them out. Didn't Chandler say he lost some of his too? Bet it was snails.

Ive lost 2 of the 4 baby max's I bought. The two remaining are looking good tho. I'm taking mine out and giving them a scrub every couple of nights. Last night I only found 1 or 2 snails on each of them.. So I think I'm winning. Haven't seen any snails on my snails so far.

Christy your our local clam expert... Does it harm the clam to be taken out of the water for scrubbings or do they need to be submerged all the time?

[Aquattro]

Does it harm the clam to be taken out of the water for scrubbings or do they need to be submerged all the time?

Clams are fine coming out of water. They'll close up and keep a mini environment inside the shell. One thing to watch removing them is squirting. They can take out bulbs pretty easily with water spray.

[Borderjumper]

Thanks for the warning Brad... Kinda like changing a baby boys diapers??

[Aquattro]

Thanks for the warning Brad... Kinda like changing a baby boys diapers??

Zactly!!

[PoonTang]

Clams are fine coming out of water. They'll close up and keep a mini environment inside the shell. One thing to watch removing them is squirting. They can take out bulbs pretty easily with water spray.

When i took mine out last night he didnt close up very well at all. I kinda had to give him a gentle touch with the toothbrush then hold him closed. If i let go he would open back up and the intake was totally gaping. Made it as quick as possible and burped really good when i put back in the tank. I pur a tupper ware bowl upside down on the sandbed and put the clam on top of that. I read something that the pyramids wont come that far out of the sand bed.

[Borderjumper]

Look at the bottom for snails too.. All four of my babys were attached to a flat piece of rock and the snails ate the Basel thread first, then when they toppled they actually attacked the clams from the bottom eating their way in.. 2 were too far gone before I clued in..

[hillegom]

When i took mine out last night he didnt close up very well at all. I kinda had to give him a gentle touch with the toothbrush then hold him closed. If i let go he would open back up and the intake was totally gaping. Made it as quick as possible and burped really good when i put back in the tank. I pur a tupper ware bowl upside down on the sandbed and put the clam on top of that. I read something that the pyramids wont come that far out of the sand bed.


When mine didn't close up very well, he died the next day.
Just saying so you can keep a close eye on him. Wouldn't want him to pollute the whole tank if that happens. I hope it does not. Die I mean.

[PoonTang]

When mine didn't close up very well, he died the next day.
Just saying so you can keep a close eye on him. Wouldn't want him to pollute the whole tank if that happens. I hope it does not. Die I mean.

nope I burped him really good and actually today he looks fabulous. :mrgreen: