Is this clam in trouble?
 

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...psea068c06.jpg


My clam is showing alot of inner shell today and yesterday, is this normal?

from my luck with clams, would say it's on the way out. Sorry

Noooooooooooooooo...what can I do?

Freshwater dip that thing, might not work but its gonna die if you do nothing anyway

I question fresh dipping a clam
what would be the benefit?
it is a invertebrate and typically don't mix well with freshwater
have you done this before?
on another note, I don't think the clam will make it regardless of what you do.

What's in the tank with it?
Any new additions?
Water parameters?
How long have you had it?

The picture in my signature is of this tank. This tank is new to us, we bought it from a guy here in our town. It's been in our house for almost a month. New things that have been added in the last week are: RTBA (extra small, other side of tank) and a Kenya Tree. We just did a 30% water change 4 days ago.

Temp: 80.5F
PH 7.96
Salinty 1.026

I'm not going to fresh water dip it.

There are two clams in my tank and both have been in there for almost a year. The other one seems fine.

This clam is massive, if it dies I would expect a huge spike in my nitrates and ammonia. I have a 40 gallon in my basement, should I transfer it to that aquarium? It's running MH 250 W. My thoughts are that if it dies in that one a water change would be much easier.

I'm not so sure its a goner like the others....but something is definitely bothering it. Do a close inspection and see if there is something on the shell. I had a snail that parked it self on the shell but close enough that it kept touching the mantle. The clam was closed up for a couple days until I saw the snail and removed it.

Smell it.. You will know if its dying.

if you have hermits or nassarius and it is on its way out they will be all over the clam.
I know when one of the clams in my store is going to die by the way the inverts act..they are like sharks on a blood trail.

I've done it to a squamosa a few times over the years always worked like a charm if things didn't seem right, about 15 mins I think I did, google freshwater dipping clams lots of people do it usually for pinched mantle issues but I thought my clam was gonna die more than once and it saved it, better than tossing in the trash in a few days but that's upto you

Actually 30 mins is what they recommend

OK...I fresh water dipped it for 30 minutes. Will look first thing in the morning to how it's doing.

I figured I've got nothing to loose at this point.

Freshwater dips are fine and recommended for pinched mantle. I've done this quite a few times over the years, I toss it in some RO water for 30 minutes. Saved most that way.

Give it a few days to start recovering but hopefully it works out.

I should google things before opening my big mouth
once again, I put my foot in my mouth
I just would never think of putting a clam in fresh water
hope it works
I have now learnt something new

Now that's something I didn't know.

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1ce59065.jpg

Is it dead? This is a shot of it this morning.

Don't think so... Not yet. Someone asked how does it smell. What's the verdict?

It doesn't smell. I poked it this morning and it closed half way so I guess it's still alive. I will give it some time then I guess.

Very interesting. I had no idea they were exposed during low tide. I always thought you should never have them out of the water.

http://youtube.com/#/watch?v=J5FZGNW...%3DJ5FZGNWSlUQ

If it doesn't smell leave it alone its still alive. Dead clam is one of the most wretched smells.

I'd say it's about done, sorry.

The way I know something has died is if I see a bristle worm poking out of its hole in broad daylight or my nassarius snails are up out of he sand bed and cruising around ,doesn't look good for our clam n the pic

So is this guy still holding on ?

I came home to find white slim looking stuff being blown around the tank and from my past experience that was never a good thing so I took it out and put it in a bucket with saltwater. It smelled bad but was still closing when being touched. As much I didn't want to give up on it I dumped it out :(

I'm super disappointed though as it was was of my favorite pieces in the tank...it was about 10" and beautiful! ...and now my Monti Cap looks like it might be next. This tank is a new addition to my house so maybe the move was just too much for somethings.

RIP Clam

That sucks it blows losing things I hope everything else makes it ok for you

not to high jack the thread but is mine on the way too ?

http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/...psac9ffb73.jpg

i was walking by my tank and i saw this

I speak from experience of losing way more clams then most people except for Fishytime ( we both got wiped out around the same time a while back ) but sad to say both Swill & Spike your clams are as good as gone. Once they start to show the insides of the shell & gets progressively worse it's just a matter of time. :sad:

so should i try to dip or no?

As others have said dipping a clam is even worse for them & it's already to late.

The snails are on it for a reason

That to & I imagin if you where to lift it up & look at the bottom you will more then likely find several bristle worms in it.

I don't know if anybody mentioned it but for a freshwater dip the water must be at the same temperature and at the same PH so that not to shock the clam.

not doing this part will probably kill the clam.

...and now I am loosing the other clam :(

thats about right , its common for one clam to die then another die as well, the issue your new clam had has been passed to your other clam , could be a pathogen of sorts we dont know but its pretty common, sorry to say it but all your clams are probably toast except the most hardy.


have you ruled out predators like pyramid snails?


where did you get all your clams , how long have you had them,what do you use for source water and what type of clam are they........your answers are prob in one of these four questions unless your tank was inadequate for them to begin with.



this is the reason you dont see clam dominated tanks very often , in fact you never see them , a nice as they are you would think lots of people would do a clam only tank , realistically though they tend to die in numbers and for odd reasons of which prob has nothing to do with us or has everything to do with us.

Crap...pyramid snails!!! No one mentioned anything about these guys prior to you. See long story short, I bought this tank from a guy here in town, he owned the tank with full setup for about 6 years. He said these clams for about 2 or 3 years. This tank has all the bells and whistles. I use R/O water and for type of clam, I'm not sure, he couldn't tell me and I asked on here but no one seemed to know. It was the only thing that bothered me about buying this tank, I really wanted to be familiar with everything in it and wanted to read up on all the corals since most were new to me (went from LPS to SPS tank overnight almost) ...anyway, I have pyramid snails for sure, they were just covering the huge clam and actually before I dumped the clam I thought I would save the snails, so I took a toothbrush and brushed them all off into my Seahorse tank :( I am not sure how much harm they can do in there to the Seahorses but I am as we speak trying to get them all out of that tank....I've seen them in the past stuck to the Seahorse so I hope to god that they didn't harm them...ugh...sometimes this hobby frustrates me to no end...it is my fault I guess though for not doing my research on owning a clam :( Fail!!!

thats ok it happens man , whenever a coral, fish or invert isnt doing well always look at water quality, enviroment and tankmates/predators this will usually narrow down your search pretty fast.

pyramid snails i believe are nocturnal and a carnivores , they will also eat large snails( ive witnessed them eating smaller ones)

usually a few snails wont knock off a clam but they are almost always in numbers , they hide in the snad and rocks untll dark then go hunting.

usually a brush and a fresh water dip will help , there are also wrasse that eat them , my mystery wrasse eats them as my roomate had them in his tank too.

remember for almost everything that lives there is something that hunts it;)


go hunting at 3am with bait ( clam meat )and add a wrasse to get rid of the snails you have if the tank allows for one


cheers and good luck.


denny