Does PMD affect ORA Derasa Clams ?
- Thread starter Johnic
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ArachnoJoozt
Active Member
Helping would be way easier with some more info, like water parameters, lights, age of the system, pictures etc.
ArachnoJoozt
Active Member
In the last 10 days you:
- Have had a problem with your Tang not eating
- Have had a problem with your doser
- Have had a problem with your skimmer going crazy
- Have had (or thought you had) a problem with salinity
- Have wondered how much flow a derasa clam needs (should not be hard to find with a search and should be known before purchase imho)
- Have had a problem with possible PMD
All of the above considered, I'm not really sure you could diagnose pmd. You could push a struggling derasa without pmd to death with a fresh water bath. I would urge you to give the details about your situation as asked in my previous post, so the experts (not (necessarily) me) can possibly help with your situation.
- Have had a problem with your Tang not eating
- Have had a problem with your doser
- Have had a problem with your skimmer going crazy
- Have had (or thought you had) a problem with salinity
- Have wondered how much flow a derasa clam needs (should not be hard to find with a search and should be known before purchase imho)
- Have had a problem with possible PMD
All of the above considered, I'm not really sure you could diagnose pmd. You could push a struggling derasa without pmd to death with a fresh water bath. I would urge you to give the details about your situation as asked in my previous post, so the experts (not (necessarily) me) can possibly help with your situation.
minus9
5000 Club Member
Sounds like there’s a lot going on here. I wouldn’t assume a clam is suffering from PMD with all of the other stuff going on. First, you need to know what PMD looks like, otherwise you’re just guessing and giving a stressed clam a FW dip can cause issues, as mentioned earlier. You should look at images of PMD and/or buy James Fatherree’s book on clams.
ArachnoJoozt
Active Member
Dino's suck, but luckily you won the battle. How old is the system in total? Panic never helps, don't try to change too much things at once, listen to advice and try not to add too much new livestock while the system is recovering. The panic should be less now the dino's are gone I would think.
System is a little over a year old.
I agree panic never helps, I tend to panic is the problem and act to fast and I think I killed the clam last night with the fresh water 30 min bath.
He’s not opening today and the nasarius snails swarmed over the clam this morning.
dang it. It was doing ok the last two months but the last few days it wasn’t opening all the way and there was some slim on the left side mantle.
Should I leave it in the tank or pull it out for a fear of ammonia spike ? Will it just open if it dies completely, it’s closed now and it seems to be holding itself closed
ArachnoJoozt
Active Member
As long as it is closed it has the power to keep itself closed, so I wouldn't pull it out, but nassarius snails swarming is not a good thing. Maybe they emptied the clam shell already?
The chance is very likely that there was nothing you could have done to let the clam survive. If they are on the way out by the time you notice it's already too late.
I would wait to replace it until your system has been stable for some time. Good luck
The chance is very likely that there was nothing you could have done to let the clam survive. If they are on the way out by the time you notice it's already too late.
I would wait to replace it until your system has been stable for some time. Good luck
Thanks. Kicking myself if I caused it with the fw bath. Such a bummer.As long as it is closed it has the power to keep itself closed, so I wouldn't pull it out, but nassarius snails swarming is not a good thing. Maybe they emptied the clam shell already?
The chance is very likely that there was nothing you could have done to let the clam survive. If they are on the way out by the time you notice it's already too late.
I would wait to replace it until your system has been stable for some time. Good luck
The snails didn’t get into the shell. They tried.
I’m just worried if its dead or dying the tank might ammonia spike ?
When they die do they just open up ?
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minus9
5000 Club Member
Advice going forward, get familiar with keeping a stable tank and healthy corals before trying another clam. In the meantime, buy James Fatherree's book on clams. If you don't know what to look for, then how can you care for something, right? This isn't a knock on you, but I'm trying to slow you down and be patient. Learn and master the fundamentals (which a lot of people tend to skip over) and know what a healthy tank (and it's inhabitants) look like. Observation and experience are the key here. If you only have one clam in your system, the likelihood that it's PMD is super low. That pathogen usually comes from other clams (from what we know). If the clam died from the FW dip, it was mostly likely not in a good condition to survive much longer anyway. PMD is 100% fatal if not treated, but it doesn't happen overnight either.
When clams die, sometimes they don't have the strength to open or close and they look "halfway" with little to no response at all.
Their muscle anatomy keeps the shell open in a resting position and use another set of muscles to close up, which uses energy.
When clams die, sometimes they don't have the strength to open or close and they look "halfway" with little to no response at all.
Their muscle anatomy keeps the shell open in a resting position and use another set of muscles to close up, which uses energy.
Totally get it and thanks for advice. I def need to get the tank stable first. I’m on moonshiners program and it’s come a long way since June.
Just a bummer with the clam, I guess since it didn’t survive the FW bath it might have been sick already. I’ll give it to until tomorrow morning and decide then. I’ve always wanted to keep a healthy clam in my reef but it will take time to learn the perimeters first. I will say that iron is at 0 because I can’t add iron yet due to the dino thrive on iron.
minus9
5000 Club Member
Although I kind of follow the RM method for trace elements, I honestly would learn how to reef without it. Picking a dosing method for the big three and do water changes will do so much more than trying to run a reef with costly testing and dosing. From someone who’s been doing this for decades, I wouldn’t tell anyone new to the hobby to start with RM, it’s too complex and there are too many things that can go wrong without knowing the fundamentals first.
My son who’s 16 now wants to start a tank and asked me where he should start. I gave him volume one and three of the the reef aquarium by Delbeek/Sprung and told him, when you’re finished with both books, then we’ll talk. So many people starting in this hobby are starting from forums and YouTube videos. I think there’s a lot of good info out there, but if you have zero reference, then who do you trust? The information contained in those two books will set anyone up for success by simply understanding the basics and fundamentals, and follow the guidelines within. The other thing that makes this hobby hard for beginners, is the use of dry rock. Not fully understanding what needs to happen before adding corals and how to properly establish a healthy biome has created a whole generation of reefers dealing with dinos, which weren’t prevalent when everyone was using real live rock and sand.
Sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox, but I wanted to stress the idea of making this simple as possible to start with and not deal with complex dosing. We must learn how to walk before we learn how to run.
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