Emergency Moral Dilema

[Aquattro]

My dying, but still alive for now clam is turning my tank into milk. Do I remove it now, killing it for sure, or do I give it the oppurtunity to fight and hang on? I've added carbon, the slime has shut my skimmer down, the fish LOVE whatever is being spewed and nothing else seems affected. Quick responses please!!!

[Dale D]

If it is gaping really badly I would pull it out and put it out of it's misery. I always hate doing that, but, sometimes it is the best thing to do.

I might be nuts [img]tongue.gif[/img] but, I always find myself saying " I'm sorry" to an animal as I am putting it out of it's misery. I always feel that I have let it down and should have been able to do more.

Once they (sick clams etc) start giving off "substances" it usually attracts the savengers and decomposers of the tank and their activity usually finishes the animal off.

Sorry about your clam. :(

[Delphinus]

Is this your last clam? Man that is bad. Sorry.

If you're pretty sure it's done for, the humane thing would be to ... well, you know. I myself have never been able to do that except under extreme duress. Very difficult.

I'm sorry for your run of bad luck. :(

[ 17 July 2002, 22:28: Message edited by: delphinus ]

[Aquattro]

Ya, it's clouding the tank pretty bad. I know it's done for, but the way they die from this "disease" is weird. It is mostly extended and completely responsive to light...but spewing about a tablespoon of gunk every 10 -15 seconds. It may affect the O2 levels in the tank, so it looks like freezer time.
The clam that introduced this problem was a last minute spur decision....I guess it was the wrong decision. :(

[EmilyB]

Freeze it.

Then bury under your favorite tree. :(

And the black maxima??? No more ?

[Aquattro]

Originally posted by EmilyB:
Freeze it.

Then bury under your favorite tree. :(

And the black maxima??? No more ?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Deb, the "black" one is actually blue. And is the one that is the subject of this post. And my last clam. 3 clams in 2 weeks. Not happy....

[EmilyB]

Very sorry Brad....

[DJ88]

Sh!t......

Sorry Brad.....

I feel the pain..

[Troy F]

Terrible news.

[Aquattro]

Well, I went to pull him out and it looks fine. Of course this was what the gold one did just before it died. It is strongly attached to the rock, and still responsive to light. No scavengers are near it (although they never went near the others when they were dead). I'm just too sucky to pull it before it is officially beyond recovery. And although I'm 99% sure it won't last the night, I have to give it the chance. Maybe this one is different than all the other hundreds of clams dying this month.

Darren, is your black still OK?