I feed at most, three times a week. It's been controversial at what size they rely mostly on photosynthesis only..... This maxima is 2.5-3 inches.

Pretty tank btw I'm surprised to see how close your torch is to that blue maxima.

And is that a giant Majano in there??

Thank you. No, no majano or aiptasia or any other pests in my system. That's a Borneman anemone http://www.sareefkeeping.com/forum/showthread.php?p=330428 . I have 3. Majano tentacles are a bulbous and short compared to these. These anemones tentacles are beadded/corrugated. They're also larger than I've heard of a majano getting. Fully opened they are 4-5 inches across. The torch appears close, but it really isn't. I see a huge difference in the clams after I feed something with phytoplankton.

The two things that they rely on for survival are phytoplankton for nitrogen and phopherous (Zooanthella have no means of producingthis) and sufficient light. Light falling upon the zooanthella it's the primary means by which the clam gets carbon/energy in the wild.

Got home today and the clam was gone, and a snail in it's place......... It was open pretty well, but of course closed up when I picked it up and put it back on it's rock....

(stares at clam..... looks at super glue..... stares back at clam with shifty eyes.....) jk

This is ten minutes after picking him back up... any suggestions on how to "keep him in one place"?







If anything he looks a bit more colored. The gaping has reduced, although it's still there from him falling and getting stressed I imagine. The exhaling siphon looks better too. It was sort of collapsed originally a little bit.

Does anyone think I should do another FW dip?

no more dipping for now, i think he looks good....cheers to his good health in the future.

Thanks Burt

Here's to hoping

Your clam definately looks better, color and over-all appearance.

I have had my maxima for almost 2 years and I have not ever fed it, it is not needed contrary to popular belief.

http://www.reefaquariumforum.com/tridacnid...ruth-t3482.html

I would suggest you use a half of a clam shell and try to get him to attach to it. This will make moving him around a lot easier and less stressful (for both you and the clam)!

Maxima is still looking good Gaping is gone and mantle is fully extended.

I didn't realize having the clam up that high would make water changes so interesting. His is only out of the water for a matter of minutes. But he shot me about three times.... I don't know where he was hiding all the water........ :/

he was aiming right 4 ya!

Thats funny....... Mine did the same thing to me yesterday while I was doing a water change!

Every time I would think that he was out of ammo.... then surprise, saltwater in my nose.

So I squirted him back (to keep him wet), and he would just shoot it right back.

It at least made me feel better about having him in the air. I felt bad as it was, so I just laughed about it all.

Pinching is back

Looks like I'll be doing another FW dip.

Man, this is upsetting....

One option that a lot of people recommend is to get a clam shell half from your LFS (they usually have some lying around from deceased clams) and let the clam attach to the inside. You can then place the shell in the rockwork or wherever you want it (glued down if necessary) and it should give the clam space to open fully.

I did my third FW dip on the clam last night. The dips are becoming less and less effective.

However, on some of the articles I've been reading (and as I've mentioned already) GFO is believed to trigger PM. Last week, I realized my two little fishes nano-mag was falling apart, and the magnet has been dissolving away in my tank.....

So I'm not giving up yet....

Unfortunately, from what I've read, getting rid of PM is a "hit or miss" thing and there is no sure-fire cure. FW dips are only temporary at best, which I think you're finding out.

Good Luck with your clam and hope he makes a recovery.

Hey it was good to read that your clam is still alive, and then I read that it is getting PM again damn it. But keep up the good work. Hopefully clammy will pull through. Do keep this page updated as to how the clam is doing etc.

I update this thread every so often. Not as often as I probably should to make it of any use...

Yeah I know, I've come to that realization. I wish there was another way. I have no other tank for the clam. And it's hard to "sell" a clam with PM....

This is odd to me,

I have had the worst luck with croceas as far as clams go - all the clams I have kept have been fine except for small croceas (adults over 4" have never been an issue). The problem I always had with small croceas was PM. What boggles my mind is that you are claiming that the "PM bug" will remain in your system and therefore cause your other clams to contract PM. All the reading I have done on PM says that they suspect the actual "bug" can only successfully spread and infect once the host with PM dies and begins to decompose (they require the anaerobic conditions caused from the decomposing tissue to mature and replicate). If that were the case, as long as you remove the clam before it decomposes, the other clams in the system would not be affected by the PM. In my case this would prove to be true as no other clams in my system were ever affected by new clams contracting PM.

Just something I thought would be worth mentioning.

This clam of mine is still limping along. I've held off on the FW dips recently just to let it destress. It's still pinching, now in a different spot than originally.

My hopes are that I can get my 70 gallon tank together and cycled before this clam kicks the bucket, dip it, and move it to that tank....

But I'm torn, I don't just want to infect my newly set up 70g that I eventually plan to have healthy clams in...

Make sense?

Yes it does,

but like I was saying, unless you allow the clam to decomp in the 70g or even in the current tank, the PM bug wont be able to infect new clams. The clam you have came with PM, it didn't contract it in your system.

My point was that I have had clams in a system, brought home a new clam that ended up having PM, and even after it's demise and removal, none of the other clams ever contracted PM.

I don't think you need to worry about your system being contaminated; that is all I was getting at.

Just out of curiosity how long were your FW dips?

I dipped for 20 minutes at a time.

If TJ is right, and PM doesn't spread the way it's believed to, I would be a very happy man. I REALLY want clams in this tank.....

But it's an expensive risk.

I'm not saying it can't spread that way - I am just saying it should not as long as you don't allow your clam to die and rot in your tank. If you remove the clam once it looks to far gone (mantle is starting to sink in past the rim of the shell and the clam stays open) than you should not have a problem.

So if you quarantine that clam while it's alive and keep it out of the system you want to keep clams in, you should be gold.

I think it should be common practice to remove specimens that show signs of PM from your system before they succumb to the parasite, and treat them in quarantine to prevent spread.

It's been some time since my Maxima contracted PM, and it seems to be steadily making a recovery. The mantle still doesn't fully open where the intial signs of PM reared it's head, but it seems to be looking better every week. I'll see if I can get some pictures tonight.

I stopped FW dips a few months back, and I've removed any GFO from my system (just wanted to add that)

Also, I've spotted lots of new growth under the mantle when it retracts I'm quite pleased. (knock on wood)

glad to hear it!!

That's good news bamato!

Very good indeed!