Small hole in Derasa Mantle.

[Aeiyr]

Been awhile since I've posted. But I noticed something on my little [3+inch] Derasa clam today. It has the smallest little pin hole in its mantle, directly centered and between the inhalant and exhalant siphon. Beyond this, the clam doesn't seem to be stressed. No gaping, no constant movement and isn't being pestered by any crabs or anything. Pictures included. Mantle seems to be fully open and extended, and the clam enjoys a nice spot dead center of about 125-150 ish PAR, and also gets fed a good bit of easy reefs phyto daily.

Anyone know what this could be? I know clams can swing downhill extremely fast so I want to get ahead of this if it's indicating anything. Don't mind my clueless looking YWG.

 

[Tahoe61]

Lol at the YWM goby.
Boy that's a tough one. Two things come to mind, a potential hot spot from LEDs or salt creep falling on to the clam.

It's a beautiful Derasa, and it certainly looks otherwise healthy.

 

[Aeiyr]

Lol at the YWM goby.
Boy that's a tough one. Two things come to mind, a potential hot spot from LEDs or salt creep falling on to the clam.

It's a beautiful Derasa, and it certainly looks otherwise healthy.

Thanks! Yeah I wasn't sure what to make of it. I'd seen other threads noting the same two possibilities as well. I tend to only get salt creep in one back corner near my intake (the system is a 15g aio) and I flick it into the filter section. As for lights, I turned them down about 10% from 40 to 30 on intensity to see if it heals up. My lights are two 12 inch AI Blade grow lights. Overkill for a tank this size but one sits at 10% with just white to add a little full spec. This tank is not a permanent home, and everything will be moved to a larger 25 gallon lagoon in a couple months where the two lights will offer better coverage and be more relevant.

It wasn't asked but my tank has always run stupid high nitrates. Almost two years old and it has just always been a battle of keeping it below 35ppm. Phosphate hangs at .03ppm and never peaks above .04.

I dose redsea alk, 3.4ml a day with a pump spread over 16x 0.2ml squirts, and I have to dose calcium as this guy just gobbles it up, so I dose 1ml daily of redsea calcium.

The phyto is a new thing, so I doubt it's that. Moved to easy reefs gel which is supposed to have a huge room temp shelf life if you keep air out of the pouch. I got off algaebarn phyto because in a tank this small, I never get through a 16 oz bottle before it goes bad.

Also sorry for the info dump and babbling. I've had some other clams, macima and a crocea perrish months ago and was only able to chalk it up to this is just not the tank for higher demand clams, and I don't wanna lose this guy. In the 25 I plan on making one side high par for clams and my stylos, and one side dimmer for my mushies and hopefully try lps again, as all prior attempts at lps have been a slow melt away death over several months.

I shoulda started with a 25g tank looking back at it.

 

[Tahoe61]

No worries. :)

I have lost clams to pinched mantle, bacterial issues and broken hinge, and the dreaded Pyramid Snails.
When clams start to show signs of distress it's often too late.
Elevated nitrates have never been an issue though, my clams appeared healthy.
I have never tried feeding products, I am inclined to think small clams might benefit.
Tridacna are my favorite tank inhabitants, as of late I couldn't house one and the dosing required was not practical. That all might change though.

Is it the IM 25 gallon lagoon? I have been giving that tank some serious thought.

 

[Aeiyr]

No worries. :)

I have lost clams to pinched mantle, bacterial issues and broken hinge, and the dreaded Pyramid Snails.
When clams start to show signs of distress it's often too late.
Elevated nitrates have never been an issue though, my clams appeared healthy.
I have never tried feeding products, I am inclined to think small clams might benefit.
Tridacna are my favorite tank inhabitants, as of late I couldn't house one and the dosing required was not practical. That all might change though.

Is it the IM 25 gallon lagoon? I have been giving that tank some serious thought.

Love clams. Grew up obsessed with aquariums by age 13, 22 years later, I've moved into the saltwater world finally and I love it. Tridacna Clams were the tipping point for me getting in. Imo, no other creature can boast the same beauty.

As for the tank, I was actually going to do the IM 25 lagoon but, after months of waiting for it to be in stock with the stand I called them to ask about it. I was informed that they will no longer be selling the 25 with the APS stand, so that removed it as an option for me. They also will not sell that size stand by itself. Odd because it's the same stand for their 40 gallon tank as well, which they DO sell with the stand.

I instead went with the Laguna tank from @Reefcasa.(a company owned by March from fragbox corals in toronto) Great all in one, insanely huge second chamber. And they have a custom stand for it, all priced basically the same or even cheaper than the IM 25. Shipping was also less than 100usd, and the included 3 year warranty was a pretty sweet selling point. I'm very excited to get it set up soon. I will be giving maxima clams another try when it is. I think the additional water volume will help me manage elements more easily and help me get away from doing 5 gallon wc's every week the way I have to now. It bugs me less that it's 5 gallons and more because that 5 gallons is basically 50% of the water in the tank.

 

[Tahoe61]

That worked out alright than. I already have a stand so I am going with the IM. I have had 4 different sizes of IM.

One of my favorite Tridacna are the Hippos. They are as hardy as Squamosa and Derasa. My 1st love is Crocea though.

My Hippos below.

 

[Aeiyr]

That worked out alright than. I already have a stand so I am going with the IM. I have had 4 different sizes of IM.

One of my favorite Tridacna are the Hippos. They are as hardy as Squamosa and Derasa. My 1st love is Crocea though.

My Hippos below.

Hippos are gorgeous. I've seen a few being sold at aquaSD way over in Washington state. Crocea are also by far my favorite. I had two, they lasted 10 months. I could not get them to stay on rockwork, and on sand they were getting plowed around by other creatures. I tried everything, setting flow lower, creating a gentle zone, focused light, everything. In the end I just don't think I can create an area that both they would like, and would still be suitable for some of my corals. They constantly threw themselves to the sand face down. I would like to try again with the 25. I'll be setting up some rockwork super low to the sand with some barrier rock to hopefully divert harsh flow away or upward, giving them a calmer bubble to enjoy.

Now that I think of it, I could probably glue my stylos around the edge of said structure so they facetank any heavy flow and shield the clams.

It sucks losing one of them, but it would be made much worse if I had learned nothing from it, and I believe I learned a lot to be honest.

 

[Tahoe61]

Hippos are gorgeous. I've seen a few being sold at aquaSD way over in Washington state. Crocea are also by far my favorite. I had two, they lasted 10 months. I could not get them to stay on rockwork, and on sand they were getting plowed around by other creatures. I tried everything, setting flow lower, creating a gentle zone, focused light, everything. In the end I just don't think I can create an area that both they would like, and would still be suitable for some of my corals. They constantly threw themselves to the sand face down. I would like to try again with the 25. I'll be setting up some rockwork super low to the sand with some barrier rock to hopefully divert harsh flow away or upward, giving them a calmer bubble to enjoy.

Now that I think of it, I could probably glue my stylos around the edge of said structure so they facetank any heavy flow and shield the clams.

It sucks losing one of them, but it would be made much worse if I had learned nothing from it, and I believe I learned a lot to be honest.

When I kept Crocea successfully it was under MH lighting. I prefer MH and T5 for clams. I think I am a little biased against LED, but I use LED.
You're right Crocea have to be high up in the upper par levels. A clam that doesn't stay put and jumps is almost always a dead clam. Basically it's hard dialing in the LEDS for clams.

 

[Aeiyr]

When I kept Crocea successfully it was under MH lighting. I prefer MH and T5 for clams. I think I am a little biased against LED, but I use LED.
You're right Crocea have to be high up in the upper par levels. A clam that doesn't stay put and jumps is almost always a dead clam. Basically it's hard dialing in the LEDS for clams.

Yeah. I just don't have the space or budget for that kind of lighting. It's mainly a space issue as I can save for whatever but I can't fold space and time to put it somewhere, lol. What I will most likely do is create a nice rocky spot on the sand with some stubby reef rock, and because it's a lagoon it's only about 11 to 12 inches deep so, ill hang an AI Prime right over that spot specifically. Just for them.

 

[Tahoe61]

Yeah. I just don't have the space or budget for that kind of lighting. It's mainly a space issue as I can save for whatever but I can't fold space and time to put it somewhere, lol. What I will most likely do is create a nice rocky spot on the sand with some stubby reef rock, and because it's a lagoon it's only about 11 to 12 inches deep so, ill hang an AI Prime right over that spot specifically. Just for them.

This time I think I am going with AI Blade Grow. If I could find an ATI Sunpower 24 with 4-6 bulbs I would purchase that.
Probably some Maxi-mini Anemones, and against my better advice a couple old school sps.
I am not really interested in fish.

 

[Aeiyr]

This time I think I am going with AI Blade Grow. If I could find an ATI Sunpower 24 with 4-6 bulbs I would purchase that.
Probably some Maxi-mini Anemones, and against my better advice a couple old school sps.
I am not really interested in fish.

My two lights are both AI blade grows. I would like to try their glow light and do a grow-glow-grow combo over the lagoon, but when I purchased the blades two years back, they were 126$ usd, now they want around 160$. Big turn off

 

[minus9]

I wouldn’t worry about the hole, it should heal over time. How’s the growth? Nice white shell growth on the upper margins of the shell?
Also, hippopus aren’t tridacna, there are a completely different genus, Hippopus hippopus. Btw, that’s a great looking hippopus!

 

[minus9]

I wouldn’t worry about the hole, it should heal over time. How’s the growth? Nice white shell growth on the upper margins of the shell?
Also, hippopus aren’t tridacna, there are a completely different genus, Hippopus hippopus. Btw, that’s a great looking hippopus!

 

[minus9]

I wouldn’t worry about the hole, it should heal over time. How’s the growth? Nice white shell growth on the upper margins of the shell?
Also, hippopus aren’t tridacna, there are a completely different genus, Hippopus hippopus. Btw, that’s a great looking hippopus!

 

[Aeiyr]

I wouldn’t worry about the hole, it should heal over time. How’s the growth? Nice white shell growth on the upper margins of the shell?
Also, hippopus aren’t tridacna, there are a completely different genus, Hippopus hippopus. Btw, that’s a great looking hippopus!

I knew the bit about hippopus. Only two clams in that family. Hippopus Hippopus, and Hippopus Gigas. As for the hole, it looks to be getting better, I think. Its not getting any bigger. Infact looks to be closing. But is now a white ish/light spot. It looks similar to scar tissue if I had to analog it to anything. Will continue to monitor and I'll post another picture when m lights come on again.

As for growth, seems to be doing well. It's grown more than half an inch of new white shell in the few months I've had it, and has me dosing calcium twice a week in between water changes. It's a hungry fella. I'll try to show the new growth in the coming photos as well.

 

[minus9]

Sorry about the triple post, my reply wasn’t posting and apparently I hit post reply several times .
For hippopus, we have H. hippopus and H. porcellanus and for tridacna we have T. gigas, derasa, squamosa, maxima, noae, squamosina and crocea. There are a few other tridacna species, but the ones listed are the ones found in the hobby.

 

[Aeiyr]

Sorry about the triple post, my reply wasn’t posting and apparently I hit post reply several times .
For hippopus, we have H. hippopus and H. porcellanus and for tridacna we have T. gigas, derasa, squamosa, maxima, noae, squamosina and crocea. There are a few other tridacna species, but the ones listed are the ones found in the hobby.

Oh, i was mistaken then. I thought gifas was in the Hippopus family, completely forgot about Porcellanus. Admittedly I haven't read up much on the Hippo family as they aren't a species family I will ever try to care for. I have no interest in a tank large enough to home one. Still beautiful animals though. Also, pics included of the "hole" in its current state.

Pics taken with varying filter contrast to help highlight the spot in question. As you can see it seems to have closed, but become a white-ish scar

 

[minus9]

The scar may heal completely or you may have a little scar that will be there forever.

 

[Aeiyr]

The scar may heal completely or you may have a little scar that will be there forever.

As long as the clam lives, that's all that matters. Being a Derasa it's gonna get big enough one day that it will just blend in anyways.