What happened here..?

[Saltyanimals]

I had a sudden death of a maxima I've cared for for 5+ years. Can't figure out what happened so looking here for some other reefer / clam keeper experiences. Haven't moved the clam, all fished left it alone, plenty of light.

My tank:

- Mature 180g running for the last several years after an upgrade from a smaller 65g reef running 5+ years.
- SPS mixed reef tank so I try and maintain high water quality: Alk 9s, NO3: 7-12, PO4: 0.03ish.
- Routine ICP taken couple weeks ago did not show anything out of the ordinary and consistent with ICP over last several years.

Photo 1: Healthy Clam - 5-6 inches

Photo 2: Gaping - noticed it one evening. Stayed like this for 3-4 days

Photo 3: Empty shell with the flesh as fish food found this morning

Any one else had experience with a rapid death? I'm looking to learn and understand before I get another one.

 

[shakacuz]

did you check for pyramid snails? could have been introduced recently if any new additions were made to the tank. otherwise i am scratching my head at this one.

something could have walked across it (CUC), and maybe nicked it to the point of bacterial infection -> death?

 

[Saltyanimals]

What's the best way to look for the pyramid snail as the culprit? Looking inside the now empty shell, everything is pretty much all white now that the flesh is gone. I don't see any penetration that may suggest anything ate it from the outside-in.

 

[shakacuz]

What's the best way to look for the pyramid snail as the culprit? Looking inside the now empty shell, everything is pretty much all white now that the flesh is gone. I don't see any penetration that may suggest anything ate it from the outside-in.

at this point its impossible to know if it was pyramid snails or not, unless you see any on the shell itself which is unlikely since its now dead, but who knows?!

 

[minus9]

These’s no shell growth, so it likely starved over a period of time. I lost my noae in the same way. It was getting plenty of light, but stopped growing, then it took about a day before it was totally gone. Sorry, it’s always tough when you lose something that you’ve spent some time with and caring for.
You’ll notice pyramids mostly at night, they’re nocturnal and will be on the hunt then. You can usually find them on the shell near the top, just under the mantle and also near the byssal opening. Look at your glass at night and you might find them . Without food, they’ll die after 30 days.

 

[Saltyanimals]

These’s no shell growth, so it likely starved over a period of time. I lost my noae in the same way. It was getting plenty of light, but stopped growing, then it took about a day before it was totally gone. Sorry, it’s always tough when you lose something that you’ve spent some time with and caring for.
You’ll notice pyramids mostly at night, they’re nocturnal and will be on the hunt then. You can usually find them on the shell near the top, just under the mantle and also near the byssal opening. Look at your glass at night and you might find them . Without food, they’ll die after 30 days.

hi @minus9 That's a interesting theory. I'd like to know more. Are you saying no shell growth because the upper/outer rims aren't white? If this is the case, I'm trying to think back on when I saw it white because I have seen it plenty of time. That makes me question why it stopped growing since it had it for many years and all under SPS level lights. It gets 400-500+ par boosted by the reflection off the front glass where it sits so plenty of light.

My other speculation and it's a stretch is that I might have disturbed too much of the sand near it and suspended all gunk into the water. Filtered through the clam and stressed. Stretch here because it's likely would have been food for it and I'm a regular sandbed stirrer so shouldn't be toxic gas buildup.

Puzzled here so I can understand and replace knowing how to handle it for the next clam.

Edit: I found a photo from last year. Not the best, but I can see the white growth bands here. So I wonder why it went downhill.

 

[minus9]

I think there are mysterious deaths among clams that we’ll never know the cause. There have been countless stories of clams living for years and all of a sudden, they die. Maybe there’s a pathogen or something else? But I can say that stirring up your sand wasn’t the cause or every single clam that I’ve cared for would’ve died a million times over and we’re going back to the 90’s. It’s easy to figure out low lighting, pests, etc…. but when something like this happens, it’s hard to say. We could convince ourselves of numerous mind stories, but they are exactly that, mind stories. It sucks, but you’re not alone.
I think it’s important to share these things, because through sharing these events, we could as a collective, see something that may help us provide them with better care.

 

[Saltyanimals]

I think there are mysterious deaths among clams that we’ll never know the cause. There have been countless stories of clams living for years and all of a sudden, they die. Maybe there’s a pathogen or something else? But I can say that stirring up your sand wasn’t the cause or every single clam that I’ve cared for would’ve died a million times over and we’re going back to the 90’s. It’s easy to figure out low lighting, pests, etc…. but when something like this happens, it’s hard to say. We could convince ourselves of numerous mind stories, but they are exactly that, mind stories. It sucks, but you’re not alone.
I think it’s important to share these things, because through sharing these events, we could as a collective, see something that may help us provide them with better care.

Thanks. That was a stretch because I've stirred for years.

Couple other hypotheticals:
- Alk - I had some recent alk swings over the past several months experimenting with kalk along with my CaRX. Swings were +/- 1.5-2 dkh at most when I refilled kalk. However all events stayed within the 8-11 dkh ranges so never went too extreme. Alk swings were speculated to cause issues. Thoughts?
-Footing. I have a clay tray that I set the clam on. It never really attached to that tray over the years. I thought maybe I moved it too many times and it never settled in, but I also read it would attach in days to a week at times. It fell over and laid on its side for maybe 5 days in the sand few weeks ago. Still looked happy so I didn't try and correct it immediately. Maybe there was some exposure there in the sand that didn't help the situation.

 

[Macbalacano]

Sorry for your loss, I would be heartbroken also. I used to have clams in my previous tank and stumbled upon this amazing thread. Lots of really great info to help: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/g...covered-right-here.30005/page-27#post-8404886

Here was my own issue with my clam a couple of years ago. I was able to save it. I documented what I did in this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/e...closed-for-past-36-hours.795606/#post-8477087

 

[DJF]

I lost a mature blue squamosa that I attribute to low calcium. I may have missed it but what’s your Ca level?

 

[minus9]

Thanks. That was a stretch because I've stirred for years.

Couple other hypotheticals:
- Alk - I had some recent alk swings over the past several months experimenting with kalk along with my CaRX. Swings were +/- 1.5-2 dkh at most when I refilled kalk. However all events stayed within the 8-11 dkh ranges so never went too extreme. Alk swings were speculated to cause issues. Thoughts?
-Footing. I have a clay tray that I set the clam on. It never really attached to that tray over the years. I thought maybe I moved it too many times and it never settled in, but I also read it would attach in days to a week at times. It fell over and laid on its side for maybe 5 days in the sand few weeks ago. Still looked happy so I didn't try and correct it immediately. Maybe there was some exposure there in the sand that didn't help the situation.

I’ve had major swings with alk with no issues. I even spiked to 15dkh a couple months ago and the only thing that didn’t like it was a very small banana lokani, which TN’d on me, everything else kept humming along. Parameters would have to be really out of whack to cause issues with clams and those would be temp and salinity (which are the ones that would cause more issues). If your calcium is 380-500, no problem, alk between 6.5-11dkh, no problem, magnesium 1300-1500, no problem. Again, it isn’t the number that’s important, it’s that they stay stable and don’t change rapidly all the time. Your corals would react to those conditions faster than the clam would. Remember, some of these animals are completely exposed during low tide and are pounded by the sun and the rain, so minor swings aren’t going to do them in. It would be nice to have a definitive answer here, but like most things in this hobby, we’re only guessing.

 

[Saltyanimals]

The alk swing was a reach, but the rest of my parameters including Ca are all inline. Ca 420s. Mags in 1400, high 34s ppt salt. etc. I did have an ATO failure that might have dropped salt down to lower 34s, but not a major swing there.

I guess at this point, I'll leave this as a mystery. I'll replace the clam at some point. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

[Shigshwa]

The alk swing was a reach, but the rest of my parameters including Ca are all inline. Ca 420s. Mags in 1400, high 34s ppt salt. etc. I did have an ATO failure that might have dropped salt down to lower 34s, but not a major swing there.

I guess at this point, I'll leave this as a mystery. I'll replace the clam at some point. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Wonder if the alk swing was a contributing factor?