New squamosa not opening much

[malawian]

So this clam came home yesterday. My parents were visiting my wife and I and we went to the LFS. He offered to buy me a clam and I got too excited at the thought of the offer and didnt do as much homework as I normally would. The fish seem to be leaving it alone thankfully so that is one hurdle cleared.

 

The clam isnt opening fully although it is still extending its mantle (but again, not fully I dont think). Certainly the clam's shell is at least partially closed. It still reacts well to shadows and when anything gets near it.

 

I am running LEDs, probably roughly equivalent to a Radion, at about 45% and the clam is on the sand bed (tank is 21" deep).

 

I think I can see a grain of sand or two on the mantle, could some sand have gotten on it and it is irritated? I would think the clam could handle things like that on its own.

 

My salinity is a bit lower than I normally keep it (1.024), Im currently bumping it up very slowly. pH is also lower than I would like (partially as a result of low salinity) and I am bumping that up very slowly as well. Clam was drip acclimated for about 3-4 hours though.

 

It has only been 24 hours. Should I be concerned at all?

[tetraodon]

id give it a couple days, im pretty sure the squamosa is a lower light clam, just make sure you know your nutrients and such. zeph give his two cents, aka the clam god

[malawian]

id give it a couple days, im pretty sure the squamosa is a lower light clam, just make sure you know your nutrients and such. zeph give his two cents, aka the clam god

 

Yea Ive read that as well that they do not have nearly as high of light requirements as other clams. It was under MH at the store (250s I think) and my tank is much deeper so I thought that would be ok. I will say LPS grow on the sandbed and I think even SPS do too although Ive never left any there long term (I just do that to acclimate them to light). I put a sheet of tissue paper to shade the clam but that didnt seem to help so I removed it. Should I put it back?

[gena]

Did you burp it when you put it in? Not sure if that would cause irritation if you didn't, and there are air bubbles trapped inside. You just need to turn it upside down, right side up, a couple of times to get the bubbles out.

[malawian]

Did you burp it when you put it in? Not sure if that would cause irritation if you didn't, and there are air bubbles trapped inside. You just need to turn it upside down, right side up, a couple of times to get the bubbles out.

 

I made sure it never touched the air, either at the LFS or in my tank.

[malawian]

I think the clam is doing better. extending its mantle more and opening a bit more too. I still dont think its opening fully but close. today is 72 hours since it came home. Ill get a pic quickly so you can tell me if you think its open all the way, im not really sure how much a clam of this size would open.

 

Feeding him phytofeast every 1.5 days (2 on one off). Salinity is back to normal, pH is better but still a bit low, still working on that. Kalkwasser is back on the tank so that should help tremendously in keeping kH and pH up.

 

Another quick question. I suspect I have some Bryopsis (it looks an awful lot like hair algae, not like other bryopsis ive seen pics of but I think it may be a different species of the same menace) and so Im pushing up my mag levels bit by bit. Are clams sensitive to high mag? Im sure a nasty swing in concentration would not make it happy but im avoiding that.

 

Thanks!