Clamicide

[Hairytank]

AHHHHHHHH! Something killed my clam! It looks like something attacked it from below where the soft tissue connects the halves and ate the insides...The nice blue coloured mantle is still there even though it is shrunk and pulling back into the shell. The hermit crabs and shrimp are now swarming it...inside and out.

I placed it on the sand bed a couple of days ago and it was looking great last night.. approx 09:30.


Suspects: nassaris snails, hermit crabs, shrimp (cleaner & pepermint), serpent star.

Boy, this has been a heck of a day!

[Carmen]

I know nothing really about clams but read somewhere online that bristleworms can attack clams on the sandbed from the bottom/inside out???
Maybe one of the novice clam owners can shed some light?? So sorry to hear as it looked beautiful!

[Hairytank]

Apparently, nassarious snails like to eat clams...in exactly the manner my were eaten.

The link below describes this phenomena.,

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...-problems.html

One more mistake to entered into the journal....

[Hairytank]

Thanks for your comments Carmen

Yes, it was a really nice clam and real shame. I was more than a little disapointed (see angry) when I cam home from work to find hermit crabs and snails had turned it into an all you can eat buffet.

The link I just posted seems to explain what happened, but if anyone else wants to chime in, I would appreciate it.

[fkshiu]

Nassarius snails will only attack clams (or anything else) if there is dead or dying tissue present. This will most likely happen with an otherwise healthy new clam if the byssal threads are damaged. This is usually caused by a store which doesn't know how to display clams and allowed the byssal foot to become attached and an employee who carelessly yanks the heretofore attached clam out ripping the foot to shreds.

You can prevent scavengers like nassariuses and bristle worms from attacking a new clam by initially placing it in a plastic salad strainer with live rock rubble in the bottom. After the clam heals and attaches to the rubble you can then easily put in your position of choice. You can also take some two-part epoxy and smoosh the clam onto it while the epoxy is still pliable. When the epoxy hardens you'll have yourself a custom protective mold for the clam to sit on.

[mark]

It's the small white Pyramid snail that's known to go after clams, your suspects are more scavengers of the dead.

If it was fairly new wondering about acclimatization as clams can be sensitive.

[Hairytank]

I was worried about the acclimatization of the clam and did a drip from the display over a 1.5 hr period, adding about 2-3x the water volume over this period.
Please understand, I don't want to point fingers, I just want to learn and prevent it from happening again.

Thank you for the replies so far.

[Black Phantom]

It was probably already damaged unless your water parameters are really out of whack. Most healthy clams will close the second a predator gets close. And they close up hard. I accidentaly let a small cleaning brush fall in the tank right on top of my clam. That sucker would not let go. Held on for the better part of a day until it realized the brush was no threat.