clam not looking good

[reefermon]

I have a maxims clam for about 2 months now. My lights are mh the water test are normal. But within the last 2 days the clam is staying wide open. At night the shell is open but the clam is sunk in it. Then when the lights are on same postion of the shell but the blue part of the shell is not even coming out as much as it used to I've been running my lights 6 hours per day should I run them longer please advise thanks

 

[vmarius1]

have you been spot feeding?

 

[sweetreef]

does it respond to light change if not i would say its a goner..

 

[reefermon]

No I have not been spot feeding it, I add dt plankton evert other day but I add it by the power head should I start spot feeding it. I also left the lights on for 10 hours last night when I woke up the clam looked way bette. How do u spot feed with a suringe and how close do u put it. Do u just squirt it int the clam?????

 

[laddy]

How powerful are the MH's over your 150?
.....I believe clams need meaty food.

 

[reefermon]

The light is a 175 I only have one but the lfs told me to place the clam under it and it will be fine I orderded a nother 175 mh the food I use is dt plankton and cyclopse (I think that's what its called u keep it in the frezzer and its red) what food do u sugest?

 

[mwaraxa]

i have 2 cleaner clams and i don't feed them anything. It's kinda hard seeing as how they ran off and hid under the sand somewhere. I still don't know where they are. I was under the impression that they feed off he nitrates in yer tank?

 

[tizzo]

They feed off of a lot of things in your tank, but don't spot feed it.
How big is your clam?? Is it losing it's color?

 

[reefermon]

The clam is about 2-3 inches its small the color is still there. Just the shell is wide open and the lips of the clam usually hung over the shell but they weren't yesterday. I left the lights on at night and it looked better. How many hours should the light be on for the clam. I was thinking the lack of lenegth I've been leaving the lights on could been my problem what do u think......thanks a lot I don't want to lose him

 

[tizzo]

A lot of times the real small clams don't produce enough (or they don't produce it fast enough) zooxanthellae. Here are a couple of things to check first... Look in it's mantle for tiny, what look like grains of sand. They would be parasytic snails that need to go, also inspect best you can for those nasty pyramid snails, Lemme see if it'll let me post a pic. They are real small...
it's this...
If you have no parasites, then he may need supplemental feedings (not spot feeding). Is he attached to the rock already??

 

[coralcollector]

Its dying your lights are not bright enough or on long enough and you should always bowl feed clams that small its probably a goner at this stage.

 

[dburr]

It sounds like a gonner, sorry.
But, your pyto and cyclopeeze is the perfect food for clams. They will take both. 3" and under clams need to be feed. The best way to do this is to cover the clam with the top of a cut soda bottle(which is hard on rocks)or put the clam in a bowl. I do the latter. I fill the bowl half way with tank water and put the clam in it. Feed the bowl with your food and wait 20 mins. I did this last night by leaving the bowl in the water. If you tip the bowl sideways, you don't even have to lift the clam out of the water.
Then return the clam back to it's spot. Of course, you can only do this if the rock is small enough.
The soda bottle way is, cut off the bottom. Cover the clam and squirt the food in the open top. Put the cap on and wait 20 mins.
Yes, check for the tiny white snails. They look like rice. They go under the clam and eat the inside out. If you do have them, they are very hard to get out of a tank. You would have to break it all down and switch out rock and sand. I had the snail type pyramids and I did suck out all my sand and haven't seen any yet. It's only been a month so the jury is still out weather it worked or not.
HTH

 

[golfish]

Originally posted by vmarius1
have you been spot feeding?

Originally posted by reefermon
The clam is about 2-3 inches
2-3" is on the bubble. If its 3" then I'd say you don't need to feed the clam anything other then strong MH lighting. If its 2" then I'd say you need to spot feed it. I don't buy clams under 4", their just not worth the trouble.
FWIW,I don't feed my corals or clams anything other then strong light and a calcium reactor..

 

[55galgill]

what happens if you keep feeding it after its 3 inches or more??
just wondering? it must still provide the clam with some additional nutriants right?

 

[coralcollector]

Sure you can feed them after 3 I have 26 clams all over 3 I feed them all

 

[55galgill]

cool:jumping:

 

[reefermon]

Thanks for all the replies i moved the clam into the reef. i had in the crushed coral. i will check under for the snails. ive noticed like bugs of some sort on the glass. the lfs told me its filterfeeders. is that true. do the snails live in the sand only. if the problem is the snails what do i do take everything out of the tank then get rid of the crused coral? and replace it with new crushed coral. or should i go with live sand? live sand looks better i think.... but im in no hurry to change... would i want to save some of the water as well? thanks:help:

 

[dburr]

do the snails live in the sand only.
I believe most of them will be found in the sand bed. Some will be on rocks. Like I stated above, I took out all my sand and haven't seen any yet. I thought I did tonight but my host snail is under the rocks and I can't reach him right now.
Some believe that their are 2 types of pyramid snails. 1 that host snails and 1 that host clams. I have not read this myself or seen any data to confirm.
ive noticed like bugs of some sort on the glass. the lfs told me its filterfeeders. is that true.
You will have to post a pic. Theirs are alot of bugs.
if the problem is the snails what do i do take everything out of the tank then get rid of the crused coral? and replace it with new crushed coral. or should i go with live sand? live sand looks better i think.... but im in no hurry to change.
I would go with sand if you like it, but it's your choise.
would i want to save some of the water as well?
Save as much as you can.

 

[iceemn360]

ONly six hours??? Hmmm
Most reefs are located in areas which average around twelve hours. It sounds to me that because of the small size (when smaller, these clams rely more on plankton) and short hours, the clam has slowly starved to death. I've seen dead tridanca (sry about spelling) clams at my lfs that recede when they die. {they gave me the empty shells which add a nice effect to my display tank}. Sry about your loss.

 

[reefermon]

The clam is closing up at night now but yesterday during the day I saw what looked liked him twitching, just the blue part like a muscle spasam? Weird anyone experience that before? I looked under it and saw no snails hopefuly he's coming back