Why are all of my clams dying???

[hound96]

i added 2 derassas 1 hippo 1 ultra maxima and my big guy i have a habit of addin when i lose but i'm done now if i lose any more i have to quit its cost too much

[doch]

%&#@! One of my new additions (crocea) is looking like crap.... I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't make the night. My first one wasn't gone very long at all before I pulled it from the tank. The second was within the last couple of days (I was out of town, so II'm not really sure) and the third was tonight (one day after I got home and noticed the 2nd dead one.... maybe the 'corpse' of the 2nd one is in the tank somewhere and causing this??? Times like this I wish I had a second tank here.... I could hold them in there until I can get them all up to Fort Mac.

BTW, I have added recently... also on the blue squammy shipment.

[zion-aquatics]

where the clams close to each other? i dont know if this has anything to do with it but i at my work in our 265 display i had two hippous clams and 2 crocea that where happy and healthy for years , then we started renos on the coral tanks so we moved the remainder of the corals in to the display so i had to move the clams closer to each other , a month later they where all dead

[chris121277]

My guess is that you have something in there that is eating them, maybe some kind of hitch hiker crab?

[whatcaneyedo]

In my case I believe it was an infection of some sort. Protozoan or bacterial I suppose... My squamosa was always off and on. I think I gave it 3 fresh water dips over the 2 years that I had it. It would start to show signs of pinch mantle so I'd dip it. Then it would look alight for a little while before it started again. I think whatever was bothering it, that it brought in, transferred to the other clams. The dips may have cured it but then it could have easily contracted the problem again from one of the others. I never dipped all of my clams at once or completely separated them. The next clam I get will be quarantined for at least a month before it goes into my system and I'll be quarantining problematic clams from now on as well.

April: My big gold teardrop maxima of 5 years looks like crap on a Monday and was dead on a Friday.
September: The little Squamosa finally dies, after looking not right all summer... normally when a clam doesn't look healthy its dead within a week so this was really weird. The very next day one of my 5 year old croceas is dead in the morning. The previous night it looked absolutely fine, the same way it had looked for the past 5 years.
October: My 2 year old blue maxima dies after looking dull (poor coloration) for at least a month.
All four of these clams were fresh water dipped at some point while I owned them, some of them more than once. The dipping seemed to cure the problem for a while but then I believe they just re-contracted whatever was infecting them from the other clams.

I've ruled out crabs in my case. My system has been subjected to several interceptor treatments and I own a snowflake moray plus a fu-manchu lionfish. So its not a very crab friendly environment.

[daniella3d]

I guess it,s like antibiotics... you have to continue the fresh water dip even if it looks better because it probably looks ok but it's not yet fully healed, and of course like you said, they must all be treated together so that what ever infection is not returning. I don,t think 3 fresh water dip over 1 year is enough to cure pinched mantle.

If the fresh water dip improved it temporary it is sign that it was working on what ever was affecting the clam, not just enough to cure it.

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

It would start to show signs of pinch mantle so I'd dip it. Then it would look alight for a little while before it started again.

The dipping seemed to cure the problem for a while but then I believe they just re-contracted whatever was infecting them from the other clams.

[doch]

Well, it's official... my 2 remaining clams are now in my other tank in Fort Mac (where I work). I gave them each a 25 minute freshwater dip last night (I couldn't quite muster the cajones to do a full 30 minutes) and now my fingers are crossed. Hopefully all works out OK.