Clam Death

Piranhapat · Feb 24, 2015

Just lost my Maxi clam. Is it possible that a high level of Calcium could of cost the Clam life. I notice once again Calcium went over 600. He was doing great but notice lost his latching to rock and fell. Notice no sign of pest bothering him. He was small no bigger than 2 1/2 . He was under 4 350w Kessil in 90 gal. I only found that Calcium was off everything in water par was good. Had him for about 6 weeks. To me he looked weak either from Calcium to high or starved. I heard Clams that small have a tough survival rate. Really like the challenge but I failed. I know when I got him he was shipped in cold weather and was late on truck. But was tough and looked good when I got him. Next time I'll look for Clams 4 inch but are hard to find.

hart24601 · Feb 24, 2015

Any idea of PAR? Did he have white shell growth and did you notice if he ever put any more shell on while you had him?

FlyinBryan · Feb 24, 2015

Clams have been tough to keep for me as well! Don't give up. How do you get Ca that high?

Piranhapat · Feb 24, 2015

Water par Alk 8.0 temp 78%, Ph 8.1, Mag 1350, phosphate .04 Calcium was over 600 and drop slowly to 450. Caught it going up to 500. I heard Calcium should be stable. I believe Had little growth. Doser might be adding more than I think it should. I have to check that again. But a week ago notice footing was not holding on to LR. I believe he was happy in QT and I should of kept him in there much longer. This happen when I put him in DT. The water par is same as In both tanks. So it wasn't that. Unless it was Calcium beefing high. I check shell and no snails or pest. That is the only reason I come up with.

Emac909 · Feb 26, 2015

How's your clean up crew? Do u loss a lot of snails for no reason? Find empty snail shells every know and then?

hart24601 · Feb 26, 2015

Just FYI 6 weeks is generally about what I would expect a clam to eventually die if the lighting wasn't strong enough. 4-8 weeks being my general guideline for light starvation unless you see clear and obvious growth. I am not saying it couldn't have been anything else, but that fits not enough light. I don't think calcium is the issue, I have ran at 500ppm (quite a few mixes come that high) with clams and no issue. Remember that each clam is different so one maxima might be very happy with a given light level, but another could die.

Did you notice any other issues besides the not holding on - how was the mantle, did you notice less extension? Sounds like he was attached but then detached?

Piranhapat · Feb 27, 2015

I havenn't had any loss of snails in a year. I was thinking of the light. At first I thought too much because he moved to side. Away from the light. But I do have 4 350w Kessil on my 90gal. He was 3/4 from bottom on LR. Kessil were 80% white and blue about 30% blue. At least 2 Kessil were under him. I had him in the 20 gal QT for a few weeks under 150 w Kessil but he was very high up. Had good extension to the end. But I agree looks like starved. I feed oyster eggs 3x a week. But light may have be an issue because notice my red planet turning green which means not stronge light.

hart24601 · Feb 27, 2015

Piranhapat said:
I havenn't had any loss of snails in a year. I was thinking of the light. At first I thought too much because he moved to side. Away from the light. But I do have 4 350w Kessil on my 90gal. He was 3/4 from bottom on LR. Kessil were 80% white and blue about 30% blue. At least 2 Kessil were under him. I had him in the 20 gal QT for a few weeks under 150 w Kessil but he was very high up. Had good extension to the end. But I agree looks like starved. I feed oyster eggs 3x a week. But light may have be an issue because notice my red planet turning green which means not stronge light.

Keep in mind clams are not very good about moving in a direction. So they may want to move because something isn't right, but when they move they get into a worse spot like under shade. It's really hard to tell what kills them for the most part, at this point if I don't see clear growth I assume they are not doing well because even with great extension they can die the next day.

Piranhapat · Feb 28, 2015

Well, I found another problem with the lights. Instead of lights beefing on for 8 hours. I noticed today one set of 2 kessils shut off at 5 1/2 hours. So I believe my lights played a main roll. Thanks guys