I'M GUTTED

[angief]

I have just come down stairs and as usual the first thing I do is check out my reef. I could cry as I have just found that something has eaten my blue clam..... I have had it ages and nothing has changed in the tank. What could have done this ????? Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[carrie1429]

By any chance do you have a chocoalte chip starfish? Also if you have gotten any new LR lately maybe you had a hitch hiker on the rock that ate it? Those are my guesses.

 

[angief]

No unfortunately not. The only changes were a cola tang, a yellow tang and a sailfin tang about 6 weeks ago. I have 2 cleaner shrimps which I have had for about 3 or more months.

 

[ed r]

Have you been watching the tangs closely, especially the sailfin? I recently purchased a small sailfin (1-1/4") assuming he would be no problem in my reef tank. That was a mistake. Perhaps some people have no trouble with sailfins, but mine ate all the pods on the surface of my sand bed and the live rock. He then began pulling out my yellow polyps by the roots and biting of the fringe tentacles of others. He even was nipping at the "periscopes" of my Nassarius snails. I had to get rid of him before my other corals and clam were attacked. Did your tang attack your clam? I don't know. Has the tang picked at any of your corals, snails, or polyps? Have you watched your tank at night with a flashlight? As suggested in an earlier post, hitchhikers on live rock could also cause problems. Why would the clam be undisturbed for so long? Perhaps the perpetrator was unusually hungry or took one little bite and enjoyed it? I am sorry for your loss, but I have come to realize that individuals of almost all fish species can unfortunately cause problems in a reef tank under some circumstances.

 

[fishfood]

I was at the lfs today trading in some coral and they had a purple tang in the one tank that was one of the employees. He brought him back because he started picking at his clam. So maybe thats what did it... one or your tangs?

 

[bang guy]

What Golfish said
+ Perhaps your lighting is past it's prime. Like Golfish said, clams usually look great right up to the day they croak.
Sorry for your loss, I'll bet it was a beauty.

 

[angief]

Thanks for the comments, I didn't put all the tangs in at the same time and they never seem to have bothered the clam when I have been watching the tank. As for the lighting it is all new tubes, I replace them regularly to ensure that the quality of light doesn't drop. I have noticed that most of the aptasia in the tank except for the really large one have all had their tentacles eaten by something, can't be a bad thing on that front. None of my polyps or anything have been damaged. I guess this will have to be one of those expensive learning curves.....

 

[m1rodrig]

Angie how big is your tank?I don't want to go off topic here but three tangs in one tank,it should be a pretty big tank.I really am sorry about your clam,I wish I knew more about them to try to help.

 

[m1rodrig]

Angie what are your water parameters?I just saw your web page,which looks very nice by the way,and from what i see you have a 40 gal. with three tangs and other fish.It could be your bio load is to high with all those fish in there and the water
got to a point where it killed your clam and then something ate it.What is your ammonia?nitrite?and nitrate at?

 

[angief]

I have a 40 gallon tank. All my parameters are zero and have been the whole time. As for too many tangs in the tank, according to my LFS 3 is OK. They all get along just fine and there have been no problems with the water parameters.