(Un)Happy as a Clam

EricTheRed

EricTheRed

No, I'm not a communist..
I have 2 clams. The bigger one I've had it for ~ 8 months. The smaller one for about 2 months. For the last month they have not opened fully. I'm not sure what is going on. There is no visible injury or tissue damage. The coloration is the same. The only issue is that they don't fully open. Since I've had the larger one, there has been good growth with 3 new plates. The smaller one is also showing growth that is visible in the photos.

Here's my param's:
Nitrates = 0
Phosphates = 0.01 (Hanna Checker)
Sg = 1.026
Temp = 78-80
pH = 8.0 - 8.35

I'm running GAC, GFO, Biopellets, & 8-Bulb T5 fixture w/ ATI bulbs. I don't think it is lack of light since the first 7 months produced good extension and growth. Also, my "guess" is that lack of light would cause the the mantle to be very extended to catch as much light as possible (as opposed to under-extending.) I also feed phyto 1-2 times per week. A few weeks ago I upgraded to an mp40, but I still had this issue before the mp40. The flow on the sandbed is gentle.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Here are before and after photos...

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img_2842.jpg
 
my clam doesnt like my mp's, i have to turn them down to 15-20% so its mantle doesnt start pinching. nice lookin clams, hope they recover for ya
 
Pick them up and make sure there aren't any snails underneath it.They are hard to see if they're tiny,be thorough in searching.
 
BADGUS said:
Pick them up and make sure there aren't any snails underneath it.They are hard to see if they're tiny,be thorough in searching.
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I have nassarius snails in the sb, is that what you mean or are you talking snails that are on the clams?
 
Pyramid snails is correct,they're tiny and usually stay near the foor and underneath the clam,sometimes hard to find,use a small plastic "pick" to search underneath,you might find a few.
 
EricTheRed said:
I'm running ... GFO ...
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Here is your problem. Running GFO has been linked to increased susceptibility to pinched mantle. If you want to keep clams, I'd take the GFO off line otherwise you'll be treating for pinched mantle repeatedly. To treat for PM, take RODI water and match temp and pH of tank. Dip the effected clams for 5-15 minutes. Repeat after 24 hours if necessary. Failure to treat PM, will result in a decline of health and death.
 
a hypo dip has worked for me. easier than matchin ph, just get to bout 1.009sg. can go for up to an hour in the dip, start with less time like eric said, if it doesnt work then go longer. i dip in a bag floating in my tank
 
Thanks for the info guys. Just finished an hour of research on pm. I'll be looking for pyramids first and then proceeding with a fw dip if no snails.
 
I can also contest to the GFO. I would get PM when I ran it, but when I removed it from my system, no more PM.
 
Yeah my clam died as soon as I hooked up my gfo and I asked my buddy and he said the same thing as soon as he hooked up the gfo his clam started to die as well! Soo id unhook the gfo IMO good luck they are beautiful!!!
 
poidog said:
You will still have to dip. Without the GFO it will stop coming back.
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Thanks! I gave them a good scrub with a toothbrush and dipped them last night. There weren't any pyramids, but there were some tiny stars and what looked like tiny astrea snails.
 
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