Maxima clam is folding in on itself.

[Zizzer]

The shell of the clam is open but the the pretty blue part is folding in on itself. What is happening? What do I need to do? Is this normal? Is he not eating enough? Is he getting too much or not enough light?

 

[jda]

It looks like it is dying. There is nothing that you can do about it, so please don't mess anything up trying to chase a number or anything.

If this is around 6", or so, this is likely a tahitian clam. These are well known to live for 3-12 months and then just die out of nowhere. They can look good until the last day while they were slowly dying the whole time. Do not take it personally, few can keep them alive for long.

 

[Zizzer]

It looks like it is dying. There is nothing that you can do about it, so please don't mess anything up trying to chase a number or anything.

If this is around 6", or so, this is likely a tahitian clam. These are well known to live for 3-12 months and then just die out of nowhere. They can look good until the last day while they were slowly dying the whole time. Do not take it personally, few can keep them

Oh no. That's what I was afraid of. Yes, it's about 6 inches or so. All my numbers are good except ph is annoying staying around 7.9 . Everything else in the tank is fine. This is sad news. I read that I should take it out before it does die. Is this true?

 

[Zizzer]

Here's a better color of it.

 

[Zizzer]

I moved my hand over it and it didn't move. I poked the shell and the clam and it didn't move. I picked it up and it didn't close. I pushed it close and it just pops back open. I took it out. Oh well.

 

[jda]

You can take it out. It is not coming back. Soon enough, your clean up crew will get to work on it if you leave it in there.

 

[jda]

Don't take it personally. These are hard. Avoid them in the future unless you have just a ton of daylight lights near the 1000 PAR range. They are still even 50/50 with this.

These are collected in French Polyneisa in water 68-70 degrees at very shallow depths where they are getting a few thousand PAR of about 5500-6500k light. Often transported out of water, they get stressed. They have protozoans called perkinsus in them that start to take over from the stress and having less energy from light they cannot fight off the protozoan and slowly succumb. If you have other clams in the tank, the perkinsus can spread to them. People used to call these "time bombs." When people had halides or other strong, daylight lighting and also when they were kept in water after being collected, these were often very hardy clams.

In French Polynesia, you can see them underwater in the hundreds of thousands in some places. People eat them for food there.

Dr Mac at Pacific East has written about these a lot if you care to read more.

 

[Zizzer]

Don't take it personally. These are hard. Avoid them in the future unless you have just a ton of daylight lights near the 1000 PAR range. They are still even 50/50 with this.

These are collected in French Polyneisa in water 68-70 degrees at very shallow depths where they are getting a few thousand PAR of about 5500-6500k light. Often transported out of water, they get stressed. They have protozoans called perkinsus in them that start to take over from the stress and having less energy from light they cannot fight off the protozoan and slowly succumb. If you have other clams in the tank, the perkinsus can spread to them. People used to call these "time bombs." When people had halides or other strong, daylight lighting and also when they were kept in water after being collected, these were often very hardy clams.

In French Polynesia, you can see them underwater in the hundreds of thousands in some places. People eat them for food there.

Dr Mac at Pacific East has written about these a lot if you care to read more.

Thank you friend. I think I will be staying away from them for now on. Thank you for answering my question so quickly in this morning of an emergency.

 

[Saltyanimals]

Good read. But that reality sucks. I'm on my replacement Tahitian Maxima. Last one I had for 5 years and 6+ inches and went downhill all of a sudden. Searched and found a replacement almost identical to the pattern and color, except this one is little smaller about 4-5 inches. Seemed visually healthy when I inspected with the white growth bands and reactions to light and movement. Only been in the tank for a week and not as fully extended as my last, but likely still settling in. I didn't hear of the "time bomb" label until now so hopefully this one last as long as the last. ..time will tell, but beautiful clams