EMERGENCY: Squamosa Clam Keeps Staying Closed for Past 36 Hours

[Macbalacano]

Current Issue:

• Squamosa Clam keeps closing or is only slightly open for the past 36 hours
• Based on my past experiences with clams, I am worried that it will die of starvation/exhaustion if it is not back to normal soon
• I've run out of ideas as to what to do to fix the issue, any help or ideas is appreciated! My clam is my pride and joy in this aquarium, its breaking my heart at the moment to see it this way!

Background Information:

• Squamosa Clam is about 4" large, sitting on the sandbed
• Purchased from LFS 2 months ago
• Since having it for 2 months, it has been very healthy with regular new growth and full mantle extension
• 2-3 days ago I moved an Acan colony closer to it (maybe 3-4 inches away), that is when it started to close. I moved the Acan colony away from it since then, but the clam has not been happy since then.
• Everything else in the tank is very happy and fluffy/full/open

What I've tried so far in the past 36 hours and Observations:

• 10% water changes every 12 hours. Total water change is 30% in the past 36 hours. I have noticed that as I'm doing the water change or immediately after, the clam opens up a lot, but then within the next couple of hours it closes up again
• Removed old carbon and put in new carbon
• Tested all parameters, noticed that Magnesium was around 1250, bumped it to 1350 as part of the last water change, but no real effect
• Picked up clam (kept entire time submerged) and inspected for pests and gently brushed its shell clean. There does not appear to be any pests including around its foot area.

Current Parameters:

• Salinity (using calibrated refractometer): 1.026
• Alkalinity (Hanna): 8.0
• Calcium (Salifert): 420
• Magnesium (Salifert): 1350
• pH (Salifert): 8.15 - 8.30
• Nitrates (Salifert): 10-25
• Phosphates (Hanna): 0.05

Aquarium/System Information:

• RedSea Reefer 170, 43g system volume, running for 13 months (you can see my build thread for pictures/video)
• Daily Dosing: Alkalinity and Calcium
• Fuge with Chaeto running successfully for the past 2 weeks
• Running a Skimmer
• Running Carbon
• Running Filter floss (instead of a sock)
• Radion XR15 lights running at 60% intensity
• MP40 powerhead and Vectra return pump
• Using RODI water using BRS 4 stage. TDS reads 0
• Feed tank 2-3 times a day: LRS food and combination of mysis, seachem garlic, vitachem, pellets. Occasionally feed reef roids and phytoplankton.

Current Tank Inhabitants:

• Fairy Wrasse
• Yellow Coris Wrasse
• Bangai Cardinal
• 2 Clownfish
• Blue dudgeon dartfish
• 1 Peppermint Shrimp
• 2 Red/Fire Shrimp
• 2 Cleaner Shrimp
• Small conch
• Nassarius Snails
• Trochus Snails
• Turbo Snails
• Lots of LPS corals
• Couple of SPS corals

Current photos of the clam:

Full tank shot when clam is normal/happy (bottom/centre of tank is the clam):

 

[Macbalacano]

#reefsqaud

 

[ocboat]

It sounds like you've done quite a lot to help it but at this point I would just leave it alone and keep an eye out for anything that might be bothering it. In my experience it is better when they close like this rather than gape. I have had squamosas and derasas close like this for several days for no apparent reason only to return to normal. Good luck and keep updating its progress.

 

[Macbalacano]

It sounds like you've done quite a lot to help it but at this point I would just leave it alone and keep an eye out for anything that might be bothering it. In my experience it is better when they close like this rather than gape. I have had squamosas and derasas close like this for several days for no apparent reason only to return to normal. Good luck and keep updating its progress.

Thanks for this, it definitely made me feel better!

 

[Macbalacano]

Bump

 

[Tcook]

On a side note. That is one great looking tank.

 

[Macbalacano]

On a side note. That is one great looking tank.

Haha thanks!

Hoping the clam pulls through!

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[outerbank]

I agree with Ocboat. Keep us informed. I do not know why it is not opening all the way. You have some time as it seems to have otherwise been very healthy to date.

 

[Macbalacano]

I agree with Ocboat. Keep us informed. I do not know why it is not opening all the way. You have some time as it seems to have otherwise been very healthy to date.

Thank you for the words of reassurance!

 

[Macbalacano]

Update: it's been 2 days since I made my original post and since the morning today, the clam has been fully open again! If it stays open for the next couple of days, I'll say we're good!

For now, these are all the possible reasons I can think of that caused the issue:
1) It got irritated by me placing an Acan colony close to it
2) Magnesium was a little low at around 1200.
3) I started feeding LRS which is very chunky and lots of it was flying around the tank
4) I fed reefroids the night before

For now, these are the possible things the could've helped it go back to normal:
1) 30% water change
2) Raising Magnesium to 1350
3) Moving the Acan Colony Away
4) Cleaning its shell
5) Replaced old carbon and put in new carbon

Will update again soon!

 

[ocboat]

Great to hear.

 

[bsagea]

Update: it's been 2 days since I made my original post and since the morning today, the clam has been fully open again! If it stays open for the next couple of days, I'll say we're good!

For now, these are all the possible reasons I can think of that caused the issue:
1) It got irritated by me placing an Acan colony close to it
2) Magnesium was a little low at around 1200.
3) I started feeding LRS which is very chunky and lots of it was flying around the tank
4) I fed reefroids the night before

For now, these are the possible things the could've helped it go back to normal:
1) 30% water change
2) Raising Magnesium to 1350
3) Moving the Acan Colony Away
4) Cleaning its shell
5) Replaced old carbon and put in new carbon

Will update again soon!

I can tell you that feeding ReefRoids can definitely suffocate a clam though I'm sure others will say that's impossible! I fed ReefRoids and my (2) blue squamosas immediately closed up and never recovered. I don't feed that in my tank with my clams anymore. I'm sure they will say there's no connection, but I had my (2) blue squamosas for 6 months and had no issue with them until I put ReefRoids in that tank. I don't put that in with my clams anymore.

 

[Macbalacano]

I can tell you that feeding ReefRoids can definitely suffocate a clam though I'm sure others will say that's impossible! I fed ReefRoids and my (2) blue squamosas immediately closed up and never recovered. I don't feed that in my tank with my clams anymore. I'm sure they will say there's no connection, but I had my (2) blue squamosas for 6 months and had no issue with them until I put ReefRoids in that tank. I don't put that in with my clams anymore.

I'm sorry about your losses This is super interesting, thanks for sharing this! I'm definitely not going to do this either, I don't want to risk it!

PS: Any pictures of your tank or current clams?

 

[Macbalacano]

Update: It been 5 days since my original post and it still does not look like we're out of the woods yet:

- Yesterday clam was open most of the day but then it shut for a while.

- Today clam was closed most of the day. I picked it up again to inspect and slightly repositioned it. Within a few minutes of me doing that, it opened up again.

- I have noticed that over the past 3 days, it tends to be quite open just before and during when the lights are already off in the middle of the night. Probably 50% more open then it used to be when lights are off.

- The normal behaviour of this clam was very open during the light period and very closed when the lights were off.

- Everything else in the tank looks very happy, open, and fluffy.

- Checked all water parameters and they were almost identical from 5 days ago. The only difference is Magnesium is up to 1500 (might be a test error) and nitrates are now between 5-10.

• Salinity (using calibrated refractometer): 1.026
• Alkalinity (Hanna): 8.0
• Calcium (Salifert): 420
• Magnesium (Salifert): 1500
• pH (Salifert): 8.15 - 8.30
• Nitrates (Salifert): 5-10
• Phosphates (Hanna): 0.05

Am I missing anything? Any other ideas? Thanks for all your help!

 

[bsagea]

I'm sorry about your losses This is super interesting, thanks for sharing this! I'm definitely not going to do this either, I don't want to risk it!

PS: Any pictures of your tank or current clams?

I haven't had a great deal of luck lately with clams...Not like I did years ago when I had about 30 of them between (2) tanks! Currently this is the only one I have and he's been with me since last April.

 

[Macbalacano]

I haven't had a great deal of luck lately with clams...Not like I did years ago when I had about 30 of them between (2) tanks! Currently this is the only one I have and he's been with me since last April.

Nice clam!

Wow 30 of them! What happened?

 

[DeniseAndy]

Have you fully checked it for pyramid snails? I ask because they can look fine with none showing for days, then you check and there are some. They will stay irritated, then open, then irritated. Check daily, at night, for these little buggers. they hide in the sand during the day usually.
I hope it comes through okay. Nice clam!

 

[Macbalacano]

Have you fully checked it for pyramid snails? I ask because they can look fine with none showing for days, then you check and there are some. They will stay irritated, then open, then irritated. Check daily, at night, for these little buggers. they hide in the sand during the day usually.
I hope it comes through okay. Nice clam!

Thanks for your reply and kind words! Yes, I've been checking for pyramids regularly, but I don't see any at all, but will definitely continue to check. I moved the clam 90 degrees last night on the sand and its fully open again the whole day today. Going to see how it does for the next couple of days.

Maybe it just didn't like the flow?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Assure the following are met:

temperature not to exceed 80
Alk not to exceed 9
Ph not to exceed 8.3
Salinity not to exceed 1.025
Nitrate not to exceed.06
No crab with clam housing
Moderate water flow
Good lighting- not overly bright
CA not to exceed 450

 

[arking_mark]

My unhappy clam thread...

Need some help with an unhappy "Dermosa" clam

I've had this 6" "Dermosa" clam for about 4 months with no issues. A couple months b4 that I implemented incremental AWC, and the tank had never looked better. In preparation for moving to a new tank, I decided to make sure my parameters were in sync with the tanks and decided to check...

www.reef2reef.com

It has stayed mostly closed for a month and a half. Mantle growth not looking good.

Moved it to new tank yesterday. Today it was half open and fluffier.

I could never figure out what was bothering it.

Funny thing is that the new tank parameters are almost the same as the old with the exception of Phosphate. I have my AWC add fresh ASW to old tank and move old tank water to new tank. Old tank is being decommissioned on Sunday.