Copepods bothering Derasa clam?

[LagoonReefLife]

The picture is the best I could get, but my clam is covered in copepods/amphipods.

It’s been opening completely since I’ve had it until yesterday. It has always randomly snapped shut a few times throughout the day. But now it’s not opening back up.
It will start to open and expose the mantle, then decide not to and snap shut again.

My best guess is that these pods are irritating it too much?
My tank is infested with them (not bad of course) but I have a lot of fish to feed on them in my main display. Now that I’ve moved it to a mostly (two true percula clowns) fishless display, they are taking over I guess.
My plan is to buy a Manderinfish later today, any other thoughts?

Hard to see, but the shell is covered in them.

Crawling on the valve edge and exposed mantle here.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The clam doesn't look well, it's not been growing for some time, and it has nothing to do with pods, pods are harmless. If you want to share more info on your tank set up, then folks will be able to help, but otherwise I'm sorry but it may die. What are your water parameters, tank age, lighting, and flow?

 

[LagoonReefLife]

The clam doesn't look well, it's not been growing for some time, and it has nothing to do with pods, pods are harmless. If you want to share more info on your tank set up, then folks will be able to help, but otherwise I'm sorry but it may die. What are your water parameters, tank age, lighting, and flow?

Tank is 180 gallon system total, 6 months old, 160G waterbox with a 20G cube plumbed into it. The clam is in the 20G for brighter light.

Parameters

Salinity 1.025
pH 8.0-8.1
Temperature 77-78
Alkalinity 10.4
Calcium 500 - I know this is way too high. I’ve stopped dosing and will be doing a big water change to fix it.
Iron 0.34
Magnesium 1435
Nitrate 55-60
Phosphate 0.3-0.4 - Working on lowering with carbon dosing

PAR 550-580

Flow is moderate and indirect. Just enough to get water moving but not move the mantle.

It was in about 100 PAR for a month when I got it, unfortunately I didn’t know much about clams and have since been reading a lot.

 

[LagoonReefLife]

The clam may not have been healthy when I got it as well. The store still has some of them left so I’m going to take pictures of them later today, might as well.

 

[hart24601]

I agree the clam has not been in good shape for a while and I doubt it’s due to the pods.

That being said I did once have a clam only system and the pods did start to irritate the clams, so I added a fish to keep the numbers in check - so it’s very rare but can happen, although I don’t think that is the case here.

 

[LagoonReefLife]

I agree the clam has not been in good shape for a while and I doubt it’s due to the pods.

That being said I did once have a clam only system and the pods did start to irritate the clams, so I added a fish to keep the numbers in check - so it’s very rare but can happen, although I don’t think that is the case here.

Anything I can do other than wait it out?

Here’s a picture of it opening up if it helps. Not completely but those most I’ve seen all day.

 

[jhadaway]

That par is pretty high as well. I have mine under 200-250 and it's wide open. You could always test by laying a piece of paper on top of your screen to shade it and see if it helps. Good luck!

 

[hart24601]

Anything I can do other than wait it out?

Here’s a picture of it opening up if it helps. Not completely but those most I’ve seen all day.

It’s not a satisfying answer but there isn’t much you can do just provide good light which you have and make sure it isn’t a fish picking on it. The more you mess with it the worse it tends to go. If it was sick when you got it, and that is often the case, then nothing you can do but leave it alone.

 

[minus9]

That clam is staving, you need to increase your light asap or it's not going to survive for very long. I would make sure it's getting 250+ micro moles for at least 8hrs a day (full spectrum daylight). If you're going to keep a clam on the sand, then it needs a lot of light, regardless of species. If you're not seeing new shell growth in a matter of days, you simply do not have enough light.

 

[PokeFish]

Tank is 180 gallon system total, 6 months old, 160G waterbox with a 20G cube plumbed into it. The clam is in the 20G for brighter light.

Parameters

Salinity 1.025
pH 8.0-8.1
Temperature 77-78
Alkalinity 10.4
Calcium 500 - I know this is way too high. I’ve stopped dosing and will be doing a big water change to fix it.
Iron 0.34
Magnesium 1435
Nitrate 55-60
Phosphate 0.3-0.4 - Working on lowering with carbon dosing

PAR 550-580

Flow is moderate and indirect. Just enough to get water moving but not move the mantle.

It was in about 100 PAR for a month when I got it, unfortunately I didn’t know much about clams and have since been reading a lot.

Nitrates might be high too.

 

[LagoonReefLife]

Nitrates might be high too.

It should be able to adjust though? I would imagine other people have success with them with higher nitrates. But I could be wrong.
I think I accidentally let it starve out too long and it maybe past recovery. It’s still hanging on though. I’ve upped the light more the last week.

 

[LagoonReefLife]

That clam is staving, you need to increase your light asap or it's not going to survive for very long. I would make sure it's getting 250+ micro moles for at least 8hrs a day (full spectrum daylight). If you're going to keep a clam on the sand, then it needs a lot of light, regardless of species. If you're not seeing new shell growth in a matter of days, you simply do not have enough light.

It gets 12 hours of light a day, with an hour ramp up and an hour ramp down at the end. I increased the light intensity to about 950-980 µmol. It’s opening up more, but the mantle is really shrunken in towards the end of the hinge line.


What color spectrum do you suggest? It’s under a Kessil a500x with 35 degree reflector. Here are my settings.

 

[minus9]

If the mantle isn’t extended fully, you might be giving it too much light too quickly. Increasing intensity by 100+ mm or more is fine, but a bigger jump can cause bleaching or cause the clam to “pull in”. Nutrient levels overall don’t factor in on health and are not required. They’ll eat particulates, etc as a source of nitrogen, as long as you have a measurement of both, you’re fine. Light is the number one component to clam health. I match the violet channel to the intensity at first, then you can raise slightly higher if you’re not maxed out. I use 10-15% red and green equally and my color is 40-45%.

 

[LagoonReefLife]

If the mantle isn’t extended fully, you might be giving it too much light too quickly. Increasing intensity by 100+ mm or more is fine, but a bigger jump can cause bleaching or cause the clam to “pull in”. Nutrient levels overall don’t factor in on health and are not required. They’ll eat particulates, etc as a source of nitrogen, as long as you have a measurement of both, you’re fine. Light is the number one component to clam health. I match the violet channel to the intensity at first, then you can raise slightly higher if you’re not maxed out. I use 10-15% red and green equally and my color is 40-45%.

Thanks, I’ve adjusted the lighting. Hopefully it’ll extend the mantle more.

I’ll update the thread on how its health goes, not really sure which way it’ll go. But the parameters are stable and it’s got good light and flow.