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[McLovin]

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[bubbles3660]

Hi Fellow Canuck,

 

That is one unhappy clam. Those circular things look like snail eggs to me. How long have they been on it? What kind of condition was it in when you bought it? I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I think your clam's demise is imminent if your CUC are feeding on the mantle. You should think about quarantining it so that it doesn't foul the tank.

 

A couple of things to try:

 

Pass your hand over top to see if it reacts to the change of light. No reaction = bad news

 

If the foot comes loose from the rock then check the base for tiny pyramid snails. (At this point a fresh water dip is probably moot, but you could try that as well.)

 

 

--bubbles

[coolwaters]

razer blade those things off it and i would QT it just incase. or use net cages to prevent others to bother it.

[Urchinhead]

McLovin,

 

Clams, especially Corcea, are hard clams to maintain. They need good strong lighting so the light you have it under is most likely not strong enough adding to the problems. They also need good water conditions.

 

During the move and depending on how you moved it you may have inadvertently caused an air embolism to occur. If a clam gets any air within its 'innards' its a dead clam. The way to mitigate this is to both move them very quickly from one place to another as well as to roll them around 360* a few times to make sure any air that might have gotten in escapes.

 

The other problem is you may have caused it some kind of shock if the tank it came from is different in terms of pH, salinity, temp, etc. In general you will want to drip acclimate a clam or any other invertebrate over about 40+ minutes to mitigate this problem.

 

If the clam isn't already dead you can try to put it back into a tank where the lighting is sufficient (T5 or MH) and hope for the best.

[Urchinhead]

Hi Urchinhead,

 

Our crocea clam has died.

 

I have PFO's Solaris which is equivalent to 400 watts MH, more than sufficient for croceas.

 

The advice I've received has been varied and contradictory. Some have said, as you, that it may be air but others have said that in the wild, croceas experience prolonged periods of being out of water due to low tides. I tested the parameters, one of the first things I did, and all were good. Almost everything was from the old tank, the friend we got 10 gallons of cycled water from is the same person we got the clam from.

 

I suspect it was the move but we'll probably never really know. We're not going to run out and get another clam right away, we're going to wait awhile.

 

Oddly, our elegance and RBTAs are doing better than ever!

 

Thanks again for your input, everything helps!

 

You are welcome and I am sorry for your loss.

 

Yes. That lighting is fine for it. Unless of course you brought it from a lower light to a higher one without acclimating it to the new light. Furthermore I was referring to the bucket you were keeping it in not your main tank as I assumed (correctly thank goodness ) that you had proper lighting for it.

 

Unfortunately there is allot of contradictory information out there on the subject as well as many other subjects.

 

I have not heard of Maxima, Corcea, or Derasa etc clams being 'out of the water' for prolonged periods of time. They tend to be shallow but still submerged clams in the case of the Maxima and Corcea and deeper water in the case of Derasa. I do know that clams like Geoducks, sand clams, etc are exposed to air but these are a different type of clam. So I would treat that information with a high degree of skepticism unless you have a source that is reputable like Fenner et al from wet web media or the folks over at clamsdirect.com.

 

In general Corcea are the most difficult of clams to keep and can go south very quickly for no real apparent reason.

[bubbles3660]

I have not heard of Maxima, Corcea, or Derasa etc clams being 'out of the water' for prolonged periods of time.

 

Hi Urchin,

 

Fatherree claims that croceas are often exposed to air in shallow tidal waters ("Giant Clams in the Sea & Aquarium"). Some large-scale breeders also expose various varieties of clams to air and sun to stress them into a group spawning event. Still, I think you are correct about trapped air bubbles possibly causing problems. My own limited experience has taught me that a clam's resilience depends greatly on the individual specimen. Some can endure a lot of mistreatment, while others die if you look at them the wrong way.

 

--bubbles

[TJ_Burton]

Hello there again, I didn't realize you were on both boards!!!

 

I am sorry to hear the clam has passed

I didn't feel like getting in to a huge argument on AP with the other guy claiming that air and sand have nothing to do with it.

 

I have found in my experience with crocea clams is that they do become stressed when left on the sand bed - or are put in situations where sand entering the gills happens too often. Derasa, Gigas, Squamosa and Maxima are a lot more resilient to situations where sand/particles are mixed into the equation.

 

Also, it is true that clams should be able to expel air from themselves, as it is possible for some clams in the wild to be exposed to air during low tide (I have even seen pictures of this). However, I have seen first hand in the past what happens to a clam that has trapped air inside of it (thankfully not my own). I have since read a lot on clams, and clam husbandry (tridacnid sp. specifically) and learned about methods such as burping etc. I take every precaution possible when it comes to taking care of these fascinating and beautiful critters!

 

P.s. The stuff growing on the side looks like some form of Botryllus/Botrylloides.