Brad,
I highly doubt it is some mystery illness.
I am not saying it was one spike of two degrees.. constant repetative raising and lowering of temperature is what will stress a clam. I know that even on a cool day when I had my 250W come on over my tank the temp went up In the winter, spring, summer and fall it is the same thing. No way around it short of a chiller to keep the tank temp at bang on 79 or whatever you chose. Everyone has it. Maybe those clams that came via J&L had experienced a large heat spike PRIOR to arriving at J&L and all it took was the moving into a new tank and then another into yours that was the last straw?
If it is a bug why has the distributors(ie growers/pickers) not lost huge numbers as well?
The only commonality that is in this whole thing is the hobbiests tanks. Small tanks with wider temperature swings. The farmers don't run small gallon systems with large MH lights blasting heat out. They run huge systems that take a lot more energy to heat up. And thus temperature wise, much more stable. I'll bet most are running natural lighting or pendant systems which do not introduce heat into the water as we get in a sealed hood.
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One person treating with antibiotics circumvented a clam's death (so far)
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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">To me someone saying he saved his clam by putting it in a Qtank with an antibiotic is not proof he saved it. It is someone who has many different factors in one large equation who is
assuming that the anibiottics did it. Does he know with 100% certainty? There are too many factors in all of this. Can he prove with 100% certainty that it was the antiboitics that saved it? Could it have been cleaner water? More stable water? Dirtier water? lower lighting? higher lighting? food? lack of food? Better angle for the moons gravitaional pull? LOL! He doesn't know what saved that clam anymore than I do or even you do. All you see are words on a screen that someone else typed from him observing something else without any quantitative data or studies done. Did he send off all of his fatalities to be autopsied? I didn't. They are in a dump somewhere now. Maybe the antibiotic did do something. He doesn't know that it killed off some disease of pathogen. All he knows is his clam got better. A hobbiest saying that drug X saved his clam is like me saying because I pay a bear patrol tax I haven't been attacked by a bear in my third floor apartment in the middle of Coquiitlam. lol
See my point? There is no scientific basis for his claims that the anit-biotic saved his clam. He didn't test the tissure prior to or even after. There were no long term studies or testing done. He plopped the clam into another tank and a half day later said his clam was saved. lol
I still ask and will keep asking. Why have none of the major distributors lost clams in the numbers we are? Don't you think LFS's would hear about a major die off? Do you honestly believe if they knew they would even buy a single clam from the distributor? I find J&L to be a very honest store. They aren't going to buy clams from a supplier that they knew had lost a large percentage of stock and chance having all they had bought die in the store. That isn't sound business.
I didn't do anything different either but I lost two clams I have had for over a year. Made it through a move across to Vancouver and everything. This wasn't one heat spike but a number of parts to one large equation.
Maybe that one clam that died released enough of something from inside it to get your clams that were fine that little bit weaker and more succeptible to the heat swings. If that is the case then when that one clam was moved and treated in a sepatarte tank all that saved that clam was clean water.
There are too many clams, in too many tanks, over too wide a distance to test and know for sure that there was a mysterious disease. Unless every clam that has died is tested we can't say a disease caused this. I am going with temp myself as I don't buy into the dreaded clam disease... lol I asked John if all of that batch of clams he got in died. He called the other owners and found one predominant response. No. My clam is fine. It is the small number of reefers who visit a couple of boards online that are screaming clam disease. Why think it is your own fault if you cna come up with some fantastic clam disease sent to you by the wholesalers.. lol.
This is going to fade away till the next time a bunch die with the owner not having all the facts and jumping at a conclusiong as to what is causing it. Then it will get dragged up again and panic will set in with people screaming "IT'S BACK!" lol
The clam virus story is just fantastic enough to get peoples natural suspicions and paranoias going. Heck he could have put lemon juice in his tank and had the same results. Or else prepping it for dinner. ;)
lol
[img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]
[ 27 July 2002, 15:07: Message edited by: DJ88 ]