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New derasa clam bleaching


mystersyster

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mystersyster

Anyone who has experience with clams I'd love some input. I noticed my new derasa I have had for about 7 days started bleaching. I moved him closer to under the LEDS yesterday after some acclimation. I'm guessing that it wasn't enough acclimation though. He started expelling zooxanthellae and I noticed he is getting lighter in color on the inside of the mantle. I'm obviously freaking out about killing my first clam, so here are the deets.

 

Mag: 1270

Cal: 400

Alk: 8.5

 

Lights are a single ocean revive t247 and they're at 45 blues and 20 whites. I knocked them down for now to 35 and 15... let me know what you think.

 

20160510_141423_zpsi8nuivnl.jpg

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JavaJacketOC

Doesn't look like there's anything wrong with it. The shell will get white along the edge where the mantle is, that's new growth. Typically if clams are getting too much light they will retract in the shell and only expose small amounts of their flesh mantle. You might be seeing new colors reflected as a result of the light change though.

 

Edit: Derasa's are fast growers so keep an eye on your Alk/Cal, they tend to suck it up pretty quickly.

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mystersyster

Doesn't look like there's anything wrong with it. The shell will get white along the edge where the mantle is, that's new growth. Typically if clams are getting too much light they will retract in the shell and only expose small amounts of their flesh mantle. You might be seeing new colors reflected as a result of the light change though.

 

Edit: Derasa's are fast growers so keep an eye on your Alk/Cal, they tend to suck it up pretty quickly.

Thanks man. I kept my lights the same and moved him out to the edge again, and I'll move him back towards his final spot in a few more days. I think I am worrying a lot and seeing things worse than they are.

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When it stretches it's mantle out all the way, it will usually make the colors appear a bit lighter than when it's only partway open. That might be what you're noticing. Mine will stretch its mantle out a ton and when it does that, it's colors look lighter.

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IronChefItaly

I can't stress how important it is to not move the clam around too much. When it comes to their longterm health aside from parameters your focus will be stability. If you have an ehiem heater for example your tank will be experiencing 3 degree temperature swings constantly. Get an auto top off if you don't already have one and be extremely careful with your feeding regimen. As mentioned above, look for pristine white shell beneath its mantle to be assured that its doing well. If its starving or under stress algae will collect faster than it can produce new growth.

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mystersyster

I can't stress how important it is to not move the clam around too much. When it comes to their longterm health aside from parameters your focus will be stability. If you have an ehiem heater for example your tank will be experiencing 3 degree temperature swings constantly. Get an auto top off if you don't already have one and be extremely careful with your feeding regimen. As mentioned above, look for pristine white shell beneath its mantle to be assured that its doing well. If its starving or under stress algae will collect faster than it can produce new growth.

Hey Iron Chef, thanks for the response. As far as stability, I've been essentially setting up my aquarium for "clam success". I have a temperature controller (reef safe solutions), so my system never swings below 79.0 or above 80.0. I have dosers for my two part, which have been keeping things nice and steady since around December. I have an auto top off that keeps the salinity in check constantly which is nice. The question I have is, when you say don't move it around too much, was it a bad idea to acclimate him to the light? Heres a pic of where I moved him to acclimate him.

 

20160515_124258_zpsp2g05xz5.jpg

 

And here is an image of where the light is coming from

 

20160515_124409_zps6wj4fjlz.jpg

 

That was my light acclimation process. What do you think Iron Chef? Thanks!

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IronChefItaly

Its not an uncommon method but a bit outdated as it can potentially be a bit stressful for the clam although it clearly worked for you. I prefer the shadow method where you use transparent sheets of say plexiglass or sandwich bags to dim the light in an area. For instance, I'll start by laying 5 sandwich bags on my tank's lid to shadow the area of my clam. As each week goes by you remove one bag so more light intensity reaches the clam. This way you can place the clam in its permanent place at the start and other inhabitants are not affected.

 

You seem to be on the right track. If you're planning to get a few clams do be aware of the parasites and diseases out there such as pinched mantle and parasites - see http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/jf/index.php

 

If you check out a lot of the featured tanks you'll notice one thing they all have in common is frequent partial water changes. The simplest and arguably cheapest way to maintain all water parameters in a nano system. Just make sure you're matching salinity and temperature so you don't shock any of the more sensitive inhabitants such as clams.

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