Please help

[Coralfuture]

My wife’s clam here fell into some zoas below mantle down. The clam is new to the tank and only been in there about 3 weeks. Been happy more or less every day but today when it dove off it’s rock. I usually know what I’m doing but clams are an expensive mystery to me that I’m trying to help my wife with. I run the reef she runs Fish and softies+1 clam..... it looks like it’s done for to me due to the mantle looking like it’s peeling away from the shell but I have no clue and since I’m at work I don’t have the ability to research it either. Can someone help me out and or suggest how I could save it. I put those rocks around it so it can no longer fall no matter what it does.
Waster is
Temp 79
Alk 8.7
Cal 400
Nitrates 5-10ppm

 

[Florida Sunshine]

I wouldn't say it is done for, but I don't have any specific advice either really. Just make sure it is getting good light and steady flow. The parameters you posted look fine, but how old is the tank and what kind of light do you run?

 

[DSC reef]

Clam looks to be a goner unfortunately, it's gaping pretty bad. Not sure the zoas had anything to do with it though. High lighting, being able to fully open, stable parameters are just some of things clams need.

 

[Coralfuture]

Yeah it’s a 300gal system running 2 Black box led and 4 T5 lights. Systems been up a bit less than a year but without issues otherwise. I don’t feel like it’s going to pull through sadly either. Just didn’t know if anything may improve its chances

 

[Shigshwa]

Yeah it’s a 300gal system running 2 Black box led and 4 T5 lights. Systems been up a bit less than a year but without issues otherwise. I don’t feel like it’s going to pull through sadly either. Just didn’t know if anything may improve its chances

Sad to say, just gotta wait and see if it'll pull through. You don't seem to have a shortage of lighting, but, where was it positioned? I would assume that it was high up in the tank?

 

[Coralfuture]

It started low as I was trying to get it to attach to a rock so that I could get it higher safely. It kept moving off the rock and onto the sandbed so I decided to move it higher up and then it fell onto the zoas. I have it zip tied now to see if the mantle can heal from the gaping but I don’t feel confident as there were a lot of snails on it last night. Not pyramid snails....nassarius snails and stomatella snails. No crabs at it tho

 

[DSC reef]

Can it open fully being zip tied?

 

[Coralfuture]

Nope it can extend out it’s mantle but it can only open about 1/8-1/4in. My wife read a forum on here and it was a suggested easy fix that could save them from death as long as other parameters were in check for happy clam life. I will have to ask her for the link. Apparently tho the mantle can still 90-100% extend through that size opening. I’m interested to see results if any.

 

[Coralfuture]

 

[Coralfuture]

My wife’s Work just after it’s zip tied

 

[DSC reef]

I would not recommend that by any means. That clam cannot open. I'd remove it from that spot if it keeps falling. I'd remove that ziptie asap.

 

[Coralfuture]

Well I don’t get off work for another 5hrs so it will sadly have to wait. I figured tho with as low of chance of survival that I thought it had (0-5% my guess) it wasn’t going to be a major impact. I’ll see if the wife can get on it tho

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

No offend but it's freaking funny, I almost fall off my chair LOL
This picture should win 1st prize if R2R having some sort of contest :P

 

[Coralfuture]

None taken its my wife’s system that she is responsible for and she read that it would help. She tells me the clam looks dead now tho. So for future use don’t zip tie a gaping clam mostly shut. She try’s and she loves the tank and that clam so I will be having to get her another one I’m sure but not in the immediate future. Any suggestions? It’s cradled now so it cannot jump into zoas or fall if I put one in that spot. I had read tho start them on the sand with rock under them so they can attach.

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

I'm quite sure that Zoa have nothing to do with the clam death. I got clam with Aiptasia growing right under it the edge of the shell/mantle and the clam don't give a darn about that, it's open like nothing growing there.
*It's just annoying see that thing so after awhile I just super glued that Aiptasia :)

 

[DSC reef]

Letting a clam acclimate on the sand bed is a good idea. Deresa and squamosa you can leave on the sand bed. If you go with another maxima or a crocea you can have them attach to a smaller rock so you can position it better in the future or move it if need be. A good rule is to never glue, wedge or zip tie a clam so it can't fully open. Sorry about the clam.

 

[Coralfuture]

I'm quite sure that Zoa have nothing to do with the clam death. I got clam with Aiptasia growing right under it the edge of the shell/mantle and the clam don't give a darn about that, it's open like nothing growing there.
*It's just annoying see that thing so after awhile I just super glued that Aiptasia :)

For the future clam....what do you suspect COULD have caused its demise? Keep in mind it had been in the tank about a month and only the last week did we move it up there...in hindsight my wife admits that was not the first fall the clam took. It fell from that ledge 1-2x a day for a week and she only told me about it when it was face down in the zoas. (My vote on what killed it is the many falls) Otherwise when it was on the sandbed it opened fully she just didn't like the fish swimming past it and the mantle opening and closing all the time as she thought that was stressing it out. I had a small rock for it to attach to in the sandbed but the clam would move off it and she would move it back each day it sounds like. As she started telling me this stuff I had to stop shaking my head for her to continue. I have interest in getting a clam myself but I know my reef tank main display is way too much flow for it so I maybe will add a 75gal to my reef and make a clam garden. (My wife knows NEVER TOUCH MY DT I notice EVERYTHING!!!)

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

For the future clam....what do you suspect COULD have caused its demise? Keep in mind it had been in the tank about a month and only the last week did we move it up there...in hindsight my wife admits that was not the first fall the clam took. It fell from that ledge 1-2x a day for a week and she only told me about it when it was face down in the zoas. (My vote on what killed it is the many falls) Otherwise when it was on the sandbed it opened fully she just didn't like the fish swimming past it and the mantle opening and closing all the time as she thought that was stressing it out. I had a small rock for it to attach to in the sandbed but the clam would move off it and she would move it back each day it sounds like. As she started telling me this stuff I had to stop shaking my head for her to continue. I have interest in getting a clam myself but I know my reef tank main display is way too much flow for it so I maybe will add a 75gal to my reef and make a clam garden. (My wife knows NEVER TOUCH MY DT I notice EVERYTHING!!!)

Exactly, its died because of the stresses from constant fall and its tried to move to some better place, or its shell mechanic open and close, squirt out the water when its got spooked and made it fall down.
About the fish movements, the clam will get use to those fish shadow and learn not to react and stay open in most cases but clam won't die from those fish annoying shadow over it.

 

[Shigshwa]

It's a gamble with clams, sad to say. Injuries to the byssal organ or stress from shipping can take a while to finally take out the clam, when you finally get it. Starting with a healthy clam in the first place is half the battle, and the other half is to read the clam's behavior in the tank and help it settle in as fast as you can. If the clam kicks itself off constantly, that was already a sign that it did not like its location. As Yuki also said, if the clam is not placed in a stable spot, the closing action could also knock it off, they propel water pretty rapidly when they close.

Those blue Maximas seem to also need as much light as a Crocea would, they come from shallow regions where light is quite intense. Light starvation is also a gamble to deal with too, but I like to err on the side of giving too much light and just hit them as hard as I can with light. If it kicks itself off, I then try to place it on a frag tile on the bottom of the tank. Once it starts to lay byssal threads, I know that I've gotten the sweet spot. With too little light, you may not find out until the last few days of the clam's life, when it's too late to save it.

I've dealt with tons of clams in trying to figure them out, and of all of them, I've yet to have a Maxima that's stayed alive in my tank for longer than a month, despite getting the other species to grow like no other.

Oh, as far as flow goes, yes, you don't want to whip the mantle around, but if you don't mind re-aquascaping, just place some rocks as a guard, to create a region of gentle current for the clam to sit around in. This is what I do for the clams that sit up top, and I have two Gyres ripping hurricanes around the tank. The mantle gently waves about, but so long as it doesn't constantly push the mantle inwards into itself, you will be fine. Another technique is to place the clam so that the direction of flow pushes along the length of the clam, versus pushing against one side, this will help mitigate mantle flapping. This is what I do for the sand dwelling clams.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

My wife’s clam here fell into some zoas below mantle down. The clam is new to the tank and only been in there about 3 weeks. Been happy more or less every day but today when it dove off it’s rock. I usually know what I’m doing but clams are an expensive mystery to me that I’m trying to help my wife with. I run the reef she runs Fish and softies+1 clam..... it looks like it’s done for to me due to the mantle looking like it’s peeling away from the shell but I have no clue and since I’m at work I don’t have the ability to research it either. Can someone help me out and or suggest how I could save it. I put those rocks around it so it can no longer fall no matter what it does.
Waster is
Temp 79
Alk 8.7
Cal 400
Nitrates 5-10ppm

There is no issue with claims falling into things or getting their mantle ripped. Your clam’s issue is a pinched mantle. New clams get that, and it can infect other clams. I believe it’s a Protozoa issue. I’ve managed to save clams like that, with a dip in rodi for 10-20 minutes( look it up) , but it needs to be done properly and right as it happens. FW dip can be very stressful to a clam that’s this far gone and you need to adjust a ph with baked baking soda.