Clam Advice

MWinchell13 · Sep 1, 2020

Now my 40 gallon reef is going well, its an AIO with a hydra 32, a NERO 5 powerhead, and a nice dual output pump from the AIO. So flow is pretty well spread. I have a sizable refugium and skimmer, just started chemipure blue today to try to bring nitrates down (30 ppm). Other params look in check, calc maybe a bit high, I dose 12 mL of All-For-Reef daily.

Now to the issue, two weeks ago I received 4 crocea clams. One for myself, two for a store, and one for a friend. Currently, I'm still holding onto two, one for myself and one for a friend. The two I brought to the store look great, mantles out, colors good, everything looks great. Mine on the other hand is not doing so well. For the first week they were open, colored up and looked great. Recently however they have been acting strange. Mantles have a few furls in them (think PMD but not severe), not opening fully, and refusing to attach to rocks ( to the point where they are flipping themselves at night). The colors are good and one seems to be expelling a little zoox from its foot.

I think it may be just stress caused, but any clam experts can chime in for a bit of help that would be amazing. Today I scrubbed their shells with a soft toothbrush (inside the water) to remove some small sponges and any snails (I have not seen any, but being proactive) and purchased clam rocks for them. I moved them to an area far from corals and with a lot less flow than they were in. Their reactions are normal to fish and light changes. One thing I've seen that is a bit odd to me, is some white stringy stuff coming from the edge of the shell or mantle (where the two meet) the only reason I noticed is because my wrasse grabbed a piece off.

I have a new phone coming in tomorrow to get some high quality pictures of them, for now I could just use some advice or reassurance. TIA.

MWinchell13 · Sep 1, 2020

@OrionN

OrionN · Sep 1, 2020

Pictures would be best.
Are these farm raise or wild caught? Are there other clams in the system? How are your SPS corals growing?
Farm raised Crocea from reputable dealers should not have PMD. Check for pests, aptasia and Pyramidellidae snails.
Good Luck

MWinchell13 · Sep 1, 2020

OrionN said:
Pictures would be best.
Are these farm raise or wild caught? Are there other clams in the system? How are your SPS corals growing?
Farm raised Crocea from reputable dealers should not have PMD. Check for pests, aptasia and Pyramidellidae snails.
Good Luck

Pictures coming soon.
I believe these were wild-caught, but I will confirm with the seller.
These are the only two clams in the system, both are about 3 inches. I don't have SPS but I do keep lots of LPS that are doing well.
Checked thoroughly last night for snails and aptasia, no sign of either. I again scrubbed their shells and put them back on the clam rock.

MWinchell13 · Sep 1, 2020

MWinchell13 said:
Pictures coming soon.
I believe these were wild-caught, but I will confirm with the seller.
These are the only two clams in the system, both are about 3 inches. I don't have SPS but I do keep lots of LPS that are doing well.
Checked thoroughly last night for snails and aptasia, no sign of either. I again scrubbed their shells and put them back on the clam rock.

Correction, these are aquacultured clams.

MWinchell13 · Sep 1, 2020

Okay a few photos. This is about 3 hours after a pH adjusted freshwater dip for 20 minutes. @OrionN

OrionN · Sep 1, 2020

I am sorry but these clams are dying. I don't think it is PMD, but if the clams at the LFS is fine and your clams are not, it is most likely problem with the water in your tank.

MWinchell13 · Sep 1, 2020

OrionN said:
I am sorry but these clams are dying. I don't think it is PMD, but if the clams at the LFS is fine and your clams are not, it is most likely problem with the water in your tank.

Okay plan of action then, I just started carbon yesterday to bring down nitrates. Alk,Calc, Mag look good. Salinity might be high so I will bring it down. Do you recommend moving them to higher light? I don’t want to lose the clams so it would be great to get some advice.

User1 · Sep 1, 2020

Why would you do a fresh water dip on clams? I understand fish and that being a dip or bath but that is typically done using Methylene blue. Clams though I would never, and haven't. They are pretty easy to inspect, hold, and lightly brush off. In case you need to see better and have glasses like I do you can always use a magnifying glass.

Pacific East Aquariums has a really good video on acclimating and caring of clams.

OrionN · Sep 1, 2020

Light isn’t going to help until they are healthier. Both clams looks bad but the one in the last picture is about to die, or already dead.
how high was the he salinity. Animals do poorly with quick raise in salinity but do better (not as bad) with quick decrease.

fairly healthy clams do fine with fresh water dip but serverely ill clams may not tolerate FWD well at all. I doubt that they had PMD so the FWD likely did not help any, IMO.

most of the time, clams are easy to keep but they must have reasonable quality water and high light, and must be free of pyramid snails and PMD.
Wild caught clams often have diseases and often don’t last very long from certain area in the wild. So far the pathogen have not been ID. There are still a lot of unknown in wild clams. Farm raised are much easier and disease free.

MWinchell13 · Sep 1, 2020

OrionN said:
Light isn’t going to help until they are healthier. Both clams looks bad but the one in the last picture is about to die, or already dead.
how high was the he salinity. Animals do poorly with quick raise in salinity but do better (not as bad) with quick decrease.

fairly healthy clams do fine with fresh water dip but serverely ill clams may not tolerate FWD well at all. I doubt that they had PMD so the FWD likely did not help any, IMO.

most of the time, clams are easy to keep but they must have reasonable quality water and high light, and must be free of pyramid snails and PMD.
Wild caught clams often have diseases and often don’t last very long from certain area in the wild. So far the pathogen have not been ID. There are still a lot of unknown in wild clams. Farm raised are much easier and disease free.

Okay, will keep them where they are. I haven’t seen any pyramids at all, and I thoroughly cleaned and checked their shells. Bottom clam isn’t dead, may be close. Still reacting well to stim from light and fish swimming by, if you are referencing the wide mouth, it’s been like that since I received the clams, always been concerning but couldn’t find anything about it online.

I do believe salinity was an issue (Uncalibrated refractometer) sitting around 1.029. I’ve been dropping by .001 every hour so I’m sitting now at 1.026. I will bring it down again in about 30 minutes. Some research points to mantle recession with high salinity (Plus Fw Dip stress).