Crocea clam

[trainfever]

I bought a Crocea clam about 3 weeks ago and it has been doing fine. It was opening and it even stuck to where I placed it. So I assumed it was happy. Today I came come and found it laying open on its side with the mantle withdrawn. It looks as if there is a hole straight through it. I touched the center of it with a stick and it did close somewhat but I was able to remove the stick, so I am assuming it is still alive. Is there anything I can do for it? Could something be eating it? I have 2 engineer gobies, a yellow tang, a yellow tailed blue damsel, royal gramma and two occelaris. I also have various snails and hermit crabs. There are also 5 peppermint shrimps and a cleaner shrimp. There is also a serpent star but it can not get to where the clam is. Any ideas?

 

[reefkprz]

sounds like death by light deficiency. I have expirienced this first hand (this is my guess not knowing anyother information). what kind of lighting do you have. and what are you parameters, as well as your tank age, have you made any changes to the system? also not to badger you for info but how did you acclimate him?

 

[trainfever]

The tank has been up for over two years. I drip acclimated it for 4 hours. Its been in the tank for 3 weeks nad its been fine. I have VHOs which I know is border but its been opening every day. I have it up high about 3 inches from the top of the water. The lights are about 6 inches above the water. The color is still a bright blue. It was fine yesterday, this just happened over night. Ive been feeding DTs phytoplankton every other day.
Water parameters are perfect.
Ammonia=0
nitrite=0
nitrate=0
Ph=8.2
temp=81
cal=420
dkh=12

 

[teen]

clams usually do fine under vho's. sounds like pinched mantle to me. anything in particular bothering the clam? is that copperband butterfly in your avvy yours? he could be a culprit.

 

[stanlalee]

crocea clams are not known to do well under VHO. they are most light demanding of all the giant clams. I checked every credible source available before I bought one including aquaculturing facilities and they even advised 150w of MH was on the low side and even on a nano 70w MH should not be considered safe. Squamosa and Deresa would be okay under VHO. Maxima's are nearly as demanding as Crocea's

 

[trainfever]

No, the Copperband is gone. My LFS says it could be bristle worms or possibly the peppermints. I put the clam in a plastic container up high on a plastic shelf where nothing can get do it except maybe the shrimps. Even they would have problems getting in the container because it is only about a half inch from the waters surface.

 

[wangotango]

Originally Posted by Stanlalee
crocea clams are not known to do well under VHO. they are most light demanding of all the giant clams. I checked every credible source available before I bought one including aquaculturing facilities and they even advised 150w of MH was on the low side and even on a nano 70w MH should not be considered safe. Squamosa and Deresa would be okay under VHO. Maxima's are nearly as demanding as Crocea's
i had a crocea under VHO for over two years before i upgraded to T5. never had any problems with it. the color faded somewhat, but has been restored. could be pinched mantle, or maybe pyramid snails? i dont know

-Justin

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by WangoTango
i had a crocea under VHO for over two years before i upgraded to T5. never had any problems with it. the color faded somewhat, but has been restored. could be pinched mantle, or maybe pyramid snails? i dont know

-Justin
there are always exceptions to the rule I'm just stating what clamsdirect and others have stated as far as typical SAFE requirements for crocea's (meaning the minimum lighting that is likely to work everytime). what ever the case lighting cant be rules out. if it had a pinched mantle it should be noticeable especially if it didn't come with a pinched mantle. I dont believe anybody who's had a healthy clam wouldn't notice the deformed shape of a pinched mantle therefore I wouldn't assume thats the most likely reason.

 

[reefkprz]

what kind of lighting was it under before you got it?
did you see any signs of bleaching before it keeled over?
if it was under halides then you put it under VHO it could be light starvation because it didn't have the amount of zooxantellae required to feed succesfully off vho.

 

[gregghia]

not trying to hijack the thread but along those lines. if we do have mh AND vho lighting what is the recommend distantce to have your clam from the lighting?

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by gregghia
not trying to hijack the thread but along those lines. if we do have mh AND vho lighting what is the recommend distantce to have your clam from the lighting?
what watt MH? and how big is your tank?

 

[gregghia]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
what watt MH? and how big is your tank?

90gal tank.... the light fixture sits 10" above top of tank so light is no more than 26" or so from bottom accounting for sand.
I have the Outer Orbit with 2x150mh and 2 dual VHOs

 

[reefkprz]

with only 150w per side I would go at least halfway up, unless it was in the middle of the light zone overlap then you could probably have it on the bottom. but I always err on the cautious side.

 

[trainfever]

Its dead now, so I just dropped it to the bottom of my tank and let my serpent star have a good meal.
It was under halides at the LFS but I was told that the Crocea clams filter feed as youngsters and dont start feeding on light until they mature. My clam was barely 2 inches. It was fine on Saturday. I was knocked over and I stood it up and its foot was still there. Yesterday when I came home, there was no foot and there was a hole through it but it would close slightly if it was touched. Its mantle was withdrawn completely however.
Just for the record, What exactly is a pinched mantle and how does it happen? I know what it sounds like but I just want to be certain.

 

[reefkprz]

they are more dependant on phyto to supplement growth when young but they still need high light. I am sorry for your loss.