Help!!!! Something ATE my Blue Maxima Clam!!!!!!!

[ReefRDude]

I bought a blue Maxima clam and added him to my tank recently. i woke up this morning to find the clam shell empty with a couple of my CUC Hermit crabs inside the shell. i don't know if one of my sand sifting starfish got him or the hermits might have got him?????? I am assuming everyone has hermit crabs in their cuc and I was told by my LFS that Sandsifter Stars were reef safe. I am now hearing that Sand Sifting Stars are not really good choices for any aquaria.....period!!!! Unfortunately i didn't hear this until after I purchased several SSS from my LFS.

Stupid rookie mistake produced a really expensive snack for someone.

 

[Troylee]

I have 3 SSS in my tank they don't harm anything.... I would be looking for a gigantic flat worm or pyramid snails myself.... Those are the common pest with clams if it's not them and the clam was unhealthy to begin with yeah your clean up crew might go after it because of the decaying matter.... Fwiw this is the first I have heard of sand stars doing any harm...

 

[ReefRDude]

I have 3 SSS in my tank they don't harm anything.... I would be looking for a gigantic flat worm or pyramid snails myself.... Those are the common pest with clams if it's not them and the clam was unhealthy to begin with yeah your clean up crew might go after it because of the decaying matter.... Fwiw this is the first I have heard of sand stars doing any harm...

Thanks for your response Troy......I was considering removing my SSS and giving them back to the LFS because I read that they actually deplete your sand of vital critters and eventually starve to death anyway. My wife LOVES the SSS and it will break her heart to get rid of them. Can you elaborate.

Also, IDK If this helps..... about a month ago something ripped my sea cucumber in half and I am wondering if it is the same culprit

 

[swannyson7]

I would suspect something other than your sand sifters as well. How long have you had the clam? Any other clams in the tank? When clams die, all you usually see is the shell in the morning. Most fish and inverts will pick at it once it dies and you'll rarely know that anything is amiss until you're left with an empty shell.

 

[firsttime]

In all likelyhood, It was a polyclad flatworm that did this damage to your clam. They are not easy to find. One strong indication is dead snail shells, if your snails are dying of no apparent reason. The look like this picture below, here you can see how the flatworm is feasting on the snail.

 

[ReefRDude]

Yes, my snail are slowly disappearing. I thought the hermits might be doing it. I'll be on the lookout for one of those guys......Do they normally hide in your liverock and only come out at night. Is their something that I can buy to ride my tank of them or do you just gotta catch them and dispose of them. Sorry but I'm a rookie here.

 

[Troylee]

Yeah thats the nasty flat worm!!!!!! I had one in my tank never even knew one day I pulled a dead fish from the tank with a net and found that nasty thing in there!!!!!! Never seen it before or had a clue where it came from....

 

[firsttime]

Yes, my snail are slowly disappearing. I thought the hermits might be doing it. I'll be on the lookout for one of those guys......Do they normally hide in your liverock and only come out at night. Is their something that I can buy to ride my tank of them or do you just gotta catch them and dispose of them. Sorry but I'm a rookie here.

They come hidden in liverock or sometimes inside coral rocks. One way to catch them is very late in the night when they come out to feed. You need to use a torch light and watch and pull it out with your turkey baster

Or you can attract them out. Use a small tupperware and cut holes and slits into it. Put few snails and close the cut and holed lid on top of it . Wait for the worm to go in for feeding .

If you have one , its more likely that you have more than one. So you might have to watch for them for a while.

The good thing is that they dont hurt corals so your damage might be not that big if you cant catch it right away.

I hope it helps.

 

[barbianj]

Glad I read this. I've been having snails disappear on a regular basis, and about a month ago, I thought I saw a snail crawl out of his shell. Didn't get a good look at it, but from the stories here, it sounds too familiar. I don't have hermits or anything else that might kill snails in the tank. Always somethin'

 

[skinz78]

I agree with Lee, when clams are near death other critters can sense it, they probably didn't kill it but they did clean up the aftermath. I would keep an eye open for the flatworms, don't add any more clams till you are positive that you don't have any of them.

 

[Speg]

I have 3 SSS in my tank they don't harm anything.... I would be looking for a gigantic flat worm or pyramid snails myself.... Those are the common pest with clams if it's not them and the clam was unhealthy to begin with yeah your clean up crew might go after it because of the decaying matter.... Fwiw this is the first I have heard of sand stars doing any harm...

Really? Sand sifting sea stars tend to destroy the microfauna in sand beds and then starve to death. I suppose a large tank with a nice sized sand bed could keep up with their hunger.

 

[larryl]

Sorry about your loss. You can also use flatworm exit!

 

[firsttime]

Sorry about your loss. You can also use flatworm exit!

Unfortunately these are resistant to flatworm exit. The best way is manual removal.

 

[ReefRDude]

I'm wondering if will flatworm Exit will at least irritate them enough to drive them outta hiding?????? I gotta catch this Nasty SOB!!!!!!!!

 

[firsttime]

I'm wondering if will flatworm Exit will at least irritate them enough to drive them outta hiding?????? I gotta catch this Nasty SOB!!!!!!!!

No it will not.

 

[bsagea]

It could also be a fireworm, medusa or euclid worm. All are nasty and will attack a healthy animal. I had a fireworm that stretched to 2+ feet when I tried to pull if out of my tank. It split in half - I had the head so I was lucky to get the other half out since it couldn't see any longer. I put it in a 2 gal tank and and within minutes, it split again trying to regenerate. I lost several hundred dollars worth of gorgeous clams because of that thing. The fireworm left a covering of thick slime over the top of the clam shell. Best thing is to watch for it when the lights are out. I put a red lense cover over my flashilight. They move like lightning so have forceps or something to grab it with. Whatever you do, don't touch it barehanded! My deady predator is preserved forever in alcohol.

 

[AJ92124]

Ive had a clam die the next day after adding it for no reason. It looked like something ate it but I had other clams in there that were/are fine. I had those flat worms in my old tank. I think they are much better than anyother flatworm Ive seen. Check your tank with a flashlight after an hour after the lights go off. Have a turkey baster ready and suck them up if you find any.

 

[Avp]

It could also be a fireworm, medusa or euclid worm. All are nasty and will attack a healthy animal. I had a fireworm that stretched to 2+ feet when I tried to pull if out of my tank. It split in half - I had the head so I was lucky to get the other half out since it couldn't see any longer. I put it in a 2 gal tank and and within minutes, it split again trying to regenerate. I lost several hundred dollars worth of gorgeous clams because of that thing. The fireworm left a covering of thick slime over the top of the clam shell. Best thing is to watch for it when the lights are out. I put a red lense cover over my flashilight. They move like lightning so have forceps or something to grab it with. Whatever you do, don't touch it barehanded! My deady predator is preserved forever in alcohol.

I also lost a clam months ago for no apparent reason. I've also had snails die, always in the same spot in the tank, for no apparent reason. Recently, I rearranged my tank and removed a 2 foot worm from the same rock where all my dead snails would appear. I'm not sure what kind of worm it was, but I've not lost a snail since. I wonder if it killed my clam?

 

[ReefRDude]

Ive been looking at night with a flashlight trying to find the little devil but nothing has shown up yet!!!!! Lesson learned for me when setting up my upgrade system. DON'T BUY LIVEROCK...Buy DryRock. NO Hitchhikers!!!!!!!

 

[iap]

Umm..there might not even be a worm. Your clam could have just died and the scavengers just ate it up.