Andrew402 Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 No. Not at all. Your clam is fine. Also know that most clams die of eventual starvation in aquariums, even with plenty of light. Reasons for this are absolute zero nitrates, and over use of carbon or ozone. My clams are doing so much better since i stopped running any carbon at all. A little doc in the water is what they need most. If they get to a near starvation point PM disease can pop out of nowhere. Kind of like a healthy fish can carry ich around all its life, but if it gets weak, the ich becomes a problem. Some speculate that all clams carry the PM pathogen, it just stays dormant. Thank you very much for your help doc. Through your experiences and your kindness you will help save alot of lives. Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 Thank you very much for your help doc. Through your experiences and your kindness you will help save alot of lives. Hey, Im the clam man. Thats what Im here for. Link to comment
OMGSIIK Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 So Zeph, you don't use any carbon in your tanks? How often are your water changes? How long have u gone carbonless? As for the clams that "starve" are they usually the larger ones in your experience? Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 So Zeph, you don't use any carbon in your tanks? How often are your water changes? How long have u gone carbonless? As for the clams that "starve" are they usually the larger ones in your experience? Hello again....and I thank you for your interest. With the hopes of not wanting to contridict myself, as I have been accused of in the past, it will take a somewhat deep explanation of my system to explain why I do things the way I do. Ive been planning an update for this thread anyway, so give me a day or 2 to get some pictures and writing time in and I will show you what I am working with these days. In short, I have been running my clam tanks without carbon for almost 5 months now, and clams never looked better. When we have had problems with gaping in the past, now ALL clam mouths remain slammed tight....like this. As fo size, the larger ones are better "eaters", and the smaller they are the more likely they are to starve. What the phyto companies dont want you to know is that feeding does not help at all. It is no wonder, that after all the clams problems I have encountered and overcome, my longest survivor is my biggest clam, which is about 30" and I have had it for over 6 years. Link to comment
OMGSIIK Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Sounds good Zeph. I thought it would be the opposite, although I do know the smaller ones are harder to care for, the extremely large ones, you would think would be the ones starving due to the amount people would have to dose/light. I wonder if Dr. Mac runs carbon, and what kind of other things he does. I am very interested in your successes in keeping them. I havent lost one yet, but t would be good to hear about your techniques as well. Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 BIG UPDATE COMING SOON!! HOLD ON TO YOUR PANTIES!! Link to comment
icedearth15324 Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 I finally read this write up, and boy am I glad I did. I just noticed my deresa clam has the early stages of PM. I'm most likely going to give it a FW dip later today or tomorrow. I'll get a pic added soon just to make sure it has PM. Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 Hey! Just got back in town sorry for the delay. Much going on in my clam world, including the very first documented successful spawn of T. Deresa in a home aquaria!! Very exciting!!! If your a clam nerd as I am! Stay tuned! Link to comment
albertthiel Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Hey! Just got back in town sorry for the delay. Much going on in my clam world, including the very first documented successful spawn of T. Deresa in a home aquaria!! Very exciting!!! If your a clam nerd as I am! Stay tuned! That is a super achievement indeed ... following ... Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Hello all! My deepest apologies to all I have not gotten back to on clam issues. Between computer issues and my Las Vegas trips I am way behind. I STILL can not log on to NR, have contacted Chris, but he is even worse then me when it comes to getting back to people. Currently I can only log on from my girlfriends house, as my home computer is locked while logged on to a restricted NR name and I have exhausted every method to rectify this. I even tried posting from a computer café in Ca, but it wouldn't allow pictures so that was that. We have been having really good success working with diseased clams over at REEF CENTRAL, and I am sorry to say that PINCHED MANTLE DISEASE is once again raising its ugly head in the word of clam keepers. It had been quiet for about 8 months, and we were all excited that PM was feeing like an issue of the past that we had overcome, boy were we wrong....as it is BACK WITH A VENGANCE!!! SOOooooooo...with that in mind a big PM update is in store. My own system is FINALLY able to maintain healthy clams after a 5 year battle with PM/perkinsus, and in talking with some BIG BRAINS at RC, I have learned a few interesting theories I would love to share. ....So let me get to these 8 PM's that have been waiting over a week for a response (SORRY!!!) and if your interested in clams stay tuned for some very valuable information. I finally read this write up, and boy am I glad I did. I just noticed my deresa clam has the early stages of PM. I'm most likely going to give it a FW dip later today or tomorrow. I'll get a pic added soon just to make sure it has PM. Pics please. It is very unusual for a Deresa to get PM. Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 A couple of my favorite farmed clams. The maxima is from PEA, the blue squammy from LA DD. Link to comment
1reefluvr2 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Congrats on that new baby clam.. How are you feeding it? What are you feeding the baby? Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 Congrats on that new baby clam.. How are you feeding it? What are you feeding the baby? its in the NPS tank which gets a 24/7 drip of 4 different types of frozen phyto, and it gets lots of this mixture that I target feed the corals which includes: 4 phytos kent microvert liquid invert food frozen daphnia/water flees frozen rotifers freeze dried Cyclops The NPS and dendroneptheas get fed like 20 times a day so all this stuff is pretty much in there at all times. Not running carbon or anything at all but a skimmer and a PO4 pad. Link to comment
sfdanksta650 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Zeph what about algae growth on the outside of the shell? Should I trip about ? It's a corcea . Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 Zeph what about algae growth on the outside of the shell? Should I trip about ? It's a corcea . You should scrub it off with a medium hard toothbrush. The algae can irritate the mantle for sure. That is a super achievement indeed ... following ... I had to remove the picture of the baby Deresa until the copyright is approved. THanks for all the positive feedback! Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 FRENCH KISSING CLAM. WHO LOVES YA BABY XOXOXOX Link to comment
icedearth15324 Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Here's the photo of my Deresa. You can see what I think was PM on the left side near the front. I did a two minute freshwater dip and it seems to be looking better. Or it could have just been irritated, not sure. Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 Yes it looks a little pinched. But I would not worry about it too much. Im willing to bet it you moved it to a different location in your tank it would stop. Link to comment
icedearth15324 Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Unfortunately in my current tank, I don't really have any other places to move it to. I'm in the slow process of building a 75 gallon reef, so he will eventually get tons of free and open space for him to grow and enjoy, but until then, it may just require occasional FW dips to keep himself ok. Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 What do you do if you wake up one morning and your clams look like this ?? We have a new outbreak of PM in town....more later I just wanted to get the pictures up. Link to comment
Chris L Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Zeph, That new Squamosa i got last week is showing signs!! Damn it MAN!! I gotta dip i guess...... Link to comment
TallReefGuy Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Thanks for your Help, Zeph!! I've got some RO -pH balanced water ready for a 35 min dip tomorrow, and I have Chemi-Pure & Poly Filter on order at the LFS. Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted July 14, 2013 Author Share Posted July 14, 2013 Zeph, That new Squamosa i got last week is showing signs!! Damn it MAN!! I gotta dip i guess...... My guess is it is not PM, but obviously i wouldnt know without a picture. But like i said - We are ALL loosing these little squamosas, everyone I know. So I can guaarantee its not our fault. Just the trials and tribulations of clam keeping aka clam god hijinx. Thanks for your Help, Zeph!! I've got some RO -pH balanced water ready for a 35 min dip tomorrow, and I have Chemi-Pure & Poly Filter on order at the LFS. Give them a second dip about a week later. Dont think they look better so you can skip it. It will come back for sure. Its in both your clams so it is pretty strong. Link to comment
ZephNYC Posted September 12, 2013 Author Share Posted September 12, 2013 Ok, so yall know how much I brag about Dr. Macs clams over at PEA. I do love them, I truly do, but as I have said before you still need to be careful because his clams have arrived carrying pinched mantle disease. Importantly, NOT on any of his farmed clams but I have had several of his larger ones arrive with PM. Not many. 3 out of 14 to be exact. SO you're thinking its my fault? That my system is still contaminated ? Nahhh. THis 4 inch wild Maxima was put into a brand new system, with NOTHING alive. No live rock, dead sand, bio cycle initiated the old fashioned way - by nature only. Infact it is not even in the same room as my other tanks. Zero chance of cross contamination. So 2 days in this practically sterile system and this: I calibrated the ph meter to be sure all readings will be spot on. SO the first step is to fill a bucket with 100% reverse osmosis water, and raise the temperature to match the display tank. The Ph of RO water is very low, and the most important step in this procedure is to raise the PH to an acceptable level. If you do not do this your clam will most likely die. I raised the PH to an acceptable level with Seachem Reef Buffer. Not reef builder, that wont raise it at all. I dipped the clam for 5 minutes, but spent a couple more scrubbing her with a toothbrush, so it was actually about an 8 - 10 minute dip. I put her right back in the display with 4 other healthy clams and will post results in the next few days. I would also like to add that despite this situation, I still feel Dr. Mac has the healthiest clams available at this time. Like I said, I have only seen PM disease in his wild clams, and far less then I have with Live Aquaria. ALso know that Dr. Mac gives all his clams a fresh water dip before posting them. Now you know why. Link to comment
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