Is My Clam Dead?

[RJinPV]

I bought a clam last October and I think it died yesterday and I have no idea why. I think it is a Maxima clam and it was doing well until yesterday evening when I noticed it did not reopen after I cleaned the tank. It remained closed all night. This afternoon after the lights came on it looked partially open but no mantle was showing. So I decided to nudge it to see if it would respond. No response. Yesterday it seemed fine and today not so good. Do clams play possum?

Yesterday I ddi the following:
Scraped a large patch of coraline algae
Cleaned some GHA algae from some rocks
Re-secured some coral with new epoxy and frag super glue
Added some activated carbon to my reactor

Parameters:
Calcium 410
KH 7.7
Salinity 1.025
Nitrates 0.50ppm
Temp 78.2 deg F

 

[Whisperer]

It's far gone, likely will be consumed by the clean up crew in a day or two. Sorry.

 

[DSC reef]

Unfortunately yes, that's severe gaping.

 

[RJinPV]

It's far gone, likely will be consumed by the clean up crew in a day or two. Sorry.

So this is my second clam. The first one was consumed by whelks in less than one day. I had them the tank because my LFS sold them to me as nassarius snails. This second clam was doing great until yesterday. Any ideas what can kill a clam that fast? The tank is well established and I need to learn something from this

 

[Fishnut]

Clams are usually slow to die which makes it hard to pinpoint a cause. Did you have a stable PH and alk ?

 

[DSC reef]

So this is my second clam. The first one was consumed by whelks in less than one day. I had them the tank because my LFS sold them to me as nassarius snails. This second clam was doing great until yesterday. Any ideas what can kill a clam that fast? The tank is well established and I need to learn something from this

I can't tell from the pic but the best indicator of health is new shell growth. Clams can slowly starve, protzoans, parasitic snails, etc, all can cause an early demise of the clam. It's very hard to pinpoint a clam death sometimes.

 

[RJinPV]

Clams are usually slow to die which makes it hard to pinpoint a cause. Did you have a stable PH and alk ?

KH has been between 7.7 and 10 for the last few months. I don’t bother with PH anymore because if Calcium and KH are good, PH has always been solid. I was lowering the nitrates with Red Sea NoPox. It was about 4 ppm a week ago and now it is 0.5 ppm. Calcium has always been between 380 and 410. The clam’s mantle has always been a colorful purple/blue. There wasn’t any browning. I guess I’ll do more reading

 

[hotashes]

When you “cleaned the tank” did the clam get taken out of water?

A.

 

[Whisperer]

I don't have any answers on why your clam died. I also lost a few clams myself. They were all placed on the sand. My last remaining one, a 3-inch, isn't doing well and decided to place it on the rock works since in most of the footage I've seen, the clams are on rocks. This makes sense to me because during larval stage, they have to anchor or attach to something stable and begin developing. I have yet to see if it will rebound when placed on the rocks.

 

[Airspy01]

When you “cleaned the tank” did the clam get taken out of water?

A.

I know this is years late, but should they be taking or when water changes are being done?

 

[Miami Reef]

I know this is years late, but should they be taking or when water changes are being done?

Clams can handle being exposed to air. They can get exposed to air for hours during low tides in nature. I wouldn’t expose a clam to this long without water, but a quick water change won’t have any harmful effect IMO.

Small maxima clams are very finicky.