maxima clams ?

[slojmn1]

texman, where are you hearing that the strange "thing" stays in the tank long after the hosts, the clams, are long gone. I was hoping this would not be the case. Have others with this same phenomena tried to add clams some months later only to lose them in the same weird, one-by-one way?

 

[danmhippo]

I used to have up to 7 clams in my tank sizes ranging from 3" to 7". Over a period of 4 weeks, they die off one by one. I think it is not until the 4th clam showing signs of stress that I decided to crack open the clam and see what it is that's causing it. Upon cracking it up, I found a pea crab hanging on tight to flesh of the clam with it's legs curled up and claws pinching. Immediately, I "destroyed" the small crab. 3 days later, one more clam showing stress. Yep, another crab taking residence in the clam and is slowing chewing the clam up a bite at a time. That night, I found another female pea crab in my refugium ready to release belly full of eggs into water.

It is then I introduced a niger into the tank to see if it will help ridding the remaining crabs, if there are any. I haven't lose anymore since. I am now left with only a green/yellow crocea, and am unwilling to replace what I have lost.

 

[Sue Truett]

slojmn, when this was going on in my 120 back at the end of February to early March I lost all but 1 larger size derasa. This clam never did or has shown any problem or stress like the others did. I waited til within the last 2.5 weeks to "try" one of Barry's clams I had had for 6+weeks. I have moved it over to the 120 and it is doing awesome. I waited til this last weekend and moved another maxima I had gotten from Barry on another ocassion and this clam is doing awesome too. I waited for what seemed like forever and had no trouble doing so, to see what would happen to the derasa and finally if the new-ish maxima would be ok. As of now they are doing fine in the 120. This is still early but the maxima's have been in there for 2.5-3 weeks and are already showing new shell growth. The others did too though right up until they died. I do think whatever it was that it had a lot to do with where the clams that died came from.

my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
www.marshreef.org/members

 

[texman]

slojmn1 - the reason that I believe it is something which stays in the tank is: My clam deaths occurred before I had a mjaor tank disaster in which the tank almost completely drained accidentally. I filled the tank about 6-8 hrs later with cold tap water mixed with salt to try to save something (I had an empty 500 gallon tank in front of me on a day that I needed to be at work immediately and did not have 500 gallons of RO/aerated water available) Anyway, a few fish survived, and a few corals (amazingly, an acro which was dry for 8 hrs and then received a jolt of 65 degree tap water actually survived) The clams had all been dead several months earlier. After getting my tank stabilized again 3 months later, I tried two clams and both died, one at a time, 4 days apart, about 2 weeks after first getting them.

danmhippo - I also once cracked open a dying clam (hard to do to a still alive $100 specimen isn't it) and also found a small crab - almost albino - I think that I may have a picture. I figured that it was a coincidence and that the crab was preying on something that was already dying. Did you say that you put a niger trigger in your tank. Wow. I have a hundreds of small hermit crabs, shrimp, and other little things in my tank which probably wouldn't take kindly to the trigger. Anyway, is it common knowledge that such crabs are a problem?

 

[danmhippo]

Eventhough Daniel Knopp's book warned against all crabs and hermits, I don't really find hermits are much of the problem. Knop listed species of crabs, mostly members of the Xanthidae and Portunidae are responsible for the tissue damage in the vicinity of the mantle or the byssal orifice. "Large chunks of tissue can be missing"

One of the crab I found is light green in color, and I believe I read in TRA that it's pea crab. The other 2 I found is white, almost transluscent, including the female I found in the sump.

Long ago, I have banished all crabs and hermits to LFS. I no longer trust any of them in my tank. I rely only on the snail and conch to do the cleaning chores.

 

[toptank]

I have been hearing about some of these loses and have racked my brain out trying to figure why.

Thinking all afternoon about this I was reading some old e- mails that I saved and I remember that another person had a simular problem a few months ago and after we discussed just about everything in his tank, I told him to check the expiration label on his DT's bottle and found out that it was a about 6 weeks past the expiration date. Suggested a few major water changes and in a few day with some new Dt's they stated to perk up. He did how ever lose 3 of of the 8 that he had. Just a thought.

Also thanks for the kind word about clamsdirect. We really TRY HARD

Barry

 

[texman]

Thanks toptank, but I do not think that DT's gone bad caused my deaths. I have recently started using it, but never did use it back when I lost all my clams. That situation should cause all the clams to start losing their health simultaneously as should any problem with water quality. With an infectious outbreak, you would also expect an exponential increase in deaths (1,2,4,8 etc) So far, the nasty crab patrolling the tank, killing 1 clam at a time sounds like the best theory to me. I wonder if we can put Daniel Knopp onto this thread for his opinion.

 

[toptank]

You can try but the last e-mail I received from him he was going to do some traveling and has been VERY busy running a company, author and editor. I know that Sue T got a letter from him several months ago.

Yes it could well be a bacteria infection but then again a lot of dealers get their clams from the same source so if that is true then why aren't we hearing a lot more about this. I know Sue problem was months ago and now we have a new outbreak now. I guess I am lucky, I have had close to 520 clams these past 3 months and haven't had this problem and hope that I don't.

Barry

 

[slojmn1]

I have not cracked open any of my dieing clams. If one of my last two clams starts to go out I will definately find a way to muster up the energy to actually crack it open and search for a crab inside. I'm not sure I can do it, but I'll definately give it a try.

 

[Sue Truett]

In my first post to this subject I replied that I had contacted Mr. Knop and in my lengthy email, trying to cover all bases to give him background etc. he stated that he could only offer a suggestion that this was a bacterial infection. No research was or is being done due to the fact that some think it is not financially feasible. I lost one clam at a time. Never did I in all this mess loose or have more than one clam at a time look bad or die. One would start gapping and within 24-48 hours it would be all shrunk into the shell. Then the next clam would start to gap and so forth. One by one is the way these would die. I have a lot of blue legs in both of my systems and after their "cleaning" the shell they totally leave the clams alone. Even on the apparently sick clams they never got on them.

my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
www.marshreef.org/members

 

[texman]

Sue - I had virtually the exact same experience as yourself, but unfortunately still have the same problem. I wonder how many people out there have had this happen to them. I was thinking about posting "why do all my clams die ?" recently, but was afraid to get flamed since I have tried adding some more after all the initial deaths. To anyone that reads this thread, please let us know if you have had a similar problem - I promise not to reply with any nasty comments.

 

[slojmn1]

Sue, your description is exactly how mine have been going, one at a time. I also noticed some red hermits on the clams as they weredieing but only for a short time and then they left the meat alone. I also had the large byssal gland of my 8" t. max behind the rock work for a couple of days and no one even touched it. I was finally able to get it with some help from a friend and some tongs. I am down to two left and have gone 3 days without seeing the gaping behavior out of either of these clams. Only time will tell though.

texman, looks like a few of us have had this same exact experience. Seems to me that the bacteria infection is the most viable theory. Although it would seem they would all go at the same time or there abouts. Like Sue, my deaths were spread over weeks, one at a time so difficult to come home each day and find another one going, or to wake up each morning to find one gaping and retreating into its shell with the mantle stuck open. TOTAL BUMMER!!!