5 clams dead :(

[FishOkay]

I've lost all my clams and I'm not sure how! they went one by one like a week after the other. They all looked good, new shells growth and mantles nice and extended. But then one by one, dead. First theyd not open as wide then gape then just flesh would slowly dissappear over a few days. This was all one by one, so once one had died the same would happen to the next and so! Had a couple of them for years and years! :(
It's like something was feeding on them one at. Question is, what? I first thought pyramid butterflyfish but really doesn't make sense as I've had them together a while, unless they just suddenly got a taste for them.
now I'm thinking possibly brittle stars as they were the only things I added around the same time, they are green brittle stars?
Otherwise I just have tangs, clowns, wrasse and bluethroat trigger, zebra eel. I don't think it's any of them. Any ideas?

 

[JGT]

Did you see bites taken out of them? Fish can go rogue out of the blue and once they get a taste they like, there’s no going back. Same for some ‘reef-safe” fish and coral.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

did you double check your dosers? Maybe they stopped dosing, or over-dosing? Just throwing an idea out there, sorry that happened to you, good luck.

 

[Tamberav]

pinched mantle disease? Worth a read

Diagnosis and Treatment of Pinched Mantle Disease in Giant Clams

Introduction It was almost 20 years ago when I first introduced the Fresh Water Dip (FWD) protocol for the treatment of Pinched Mantle Disease (PMD). Over the years, many reefers altered the protocol somewhat but, on the whole, it still is the...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[FishOkay]

I can't say I noticed any obvious bites taken out of them. Whatever it was I feel it was happening overnight as I've never really noticed any of the fish paying much attention to the clams.

 

[FishOkay]

did you double check your dosers? Maybe they stopped dosing, or over-dosing? Just throwing an idea out there, sorry that happened to you, good luck.

Thanks a lot but don't think that was the cause. I have the mastertronic which tests daily and all parameters have been stable.

 

[Tahoe61]

I am sorry. :-(

Did you introduce anything new to the system?
Did you use any GFO or Charcoal?
Check for Pyramid Snails?
Could definitely be the Trigger.

 

[FishOkay]

I am sorry. :-(

Did you introduce anything new to the system?
Did you use any GFO or Charcoal?
Check for Pyramid Snails?
Could definitely be the Trigger.

Thanks! Its frustrating. Really all I added around the time i noticed it was the Brittle starfish, Berghia nudibranch and a hippopus clam. I haven't seen any pyramid snails. No gfo of carbon.

 

[FishOkay]

pinched mantle disease? Worth a read

Diagnosis and Treatment of Pinched Mantle Disease in Giant Clams

Introduction It was almost 20 years ago when I first introduced the Fresh Water Dip (FWD) protocol for the treatment of Pinched Mantle Disease (PMD). Over the years, many reefers altered the protocol somewhat but, on the whole, it still is the...

www.reef2reef.com

That's not a bad shout it sounds very similar to what was happening to mine and I did introduce a small hippopus clam around the time I started noticing! So potentially it was sick.

 

[Tahoe61]

Dang.

I love Hippos.

No one really knows what causes PM, it could have multiple causes.
Use of Charcoal has been associated with it, as well as bacterial pathogens.

Clams unfortunately need quarantine as well.

 

[JGT]

Did more than 1 look bad at the same time or was it sequential, 1 after the other.?

 

[FishOkay]

Did more than 1 look bad at the same time or was it sequential, 1 after the other.?

I would say a bit of both. It started with a maxima and at the time everything else looked okay after that died a very large squamosa/maxima which took a lot longer to die but retracted more and more over time towards the end of the squamosa a derasa looked like the mantle wasn't opening as wide but was opening and closing and reacting to light. That stayed like that for a while then the large maxima/squamoss died and the fish gobbled it up. Then maybe a week later the derasa died. Then maybe 4 days later another derasa had the same fate and now today I noticed the hippopus receding.

 

[KrisReef]

Clams are beautiful fish food.
Sorry

 

[littlefoxx]

Ive always had triggers, they eat clams. My zebra eel, jeweled moray and snowflake moray love clams. Only eel that doesnt touch clams is my white eye.

 

[FishOkay]

Ive always had triggers, they eat clams. My zebra eel, jeweled moray and snowflake moray love clams. Only eel that doesnt touch clams is my white eye.

Oh really do you mean the small clams on a half shell though or ornamental clams aswell? I knew they'd eat half shell but always thought tridacna clams weren't on the menu

 

[FishOkay]

I know this is an old thread but I had one surviving derasa clam after these clam deaths and it seemed to me that the only one that survived and is healthy was the clam which still had a foot and was attached to the tank base. Is there something to that?

 

[KrisReef]

I know this is an old thread but I had one surviving derasa clam after these clam deaths and it seemed to me that the only one that survived and is healthy was the clam which still had a foot and was attached to the tank base. Is there something to that?

Being "healthy" and in "good shape" is often touted as what makes the difference when a plague strikes any population. Certainly having an attachment is a normal situation for wild clams that are going to survive.

I was in a store earlier this week that had some new clams and they had their feet out probing the eggcrate under them possibly getting ready to attach.

 

[Uncle99]

Butterfly fish.
It can happen months, years down the road.
I can only assume not fed enough.

 

[FishOkay]

Butterfly fish.
It can happen months, years down the road.
I can only assume not fed enough.

That's what I thought originally but why would they suddenly stop and leave one alive after killing 5 of the other clams if it was them? I just dont know. That's what makes me think it was something else.

 

[FishOkay]

Being "healthy" and in "good shape" is often touted as what makes the difference when a plague strikes any population. Certainly having an attachment is a normal situation for wild clams that are going to survive.

I was in a store earlier this week that had some new clams and they had their feet out probing the eggcrate under them possibly getting ready to attach.

Absolutely, its just they lose their foot as they get older and their weight then supports them? These were quite old clams. Especially the huge maxima/squamosa cross and the other maxima so it was normal that these didn't have their foot I believe