Clam death.

[Doug]

Well its officially an epidemic now. BLAH

[Skimmerking]

whats the count now

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Skimmer King

whats the count now

Three Mike....

[whatcaneyedo]

I've given up on them for a while. I had a nice little collection of 5 clams ranging from 5 years to 2 years old that all died within a few months in 2010. Pyramidal snails... In 2011 once the snails disappeared I tried again, one after another over the course of a year I bought a squamosa (from a local's tank), derasa and Tahiti maxima. The derasa and the maxima died after about a year, and the squamosa lived for 3. I have not seen any of those snails since 2010... but something still isn't right. Meanwhile I've got other non-coral inverts (urchin, cucumber, abalone) that are pushing 7 years old. So I'm stumped.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by christyf5

How was the shell growth? I find that to be an excellent indicator of their overall health. I keep an eye on mine and adjust my various parameters accordingly. Sometimes clams can give you an indicator of whats going on, other times its just one day they appear happy, the next day dead. I'll never get them figured out, especially the expensive ones. Sorry to hear, unexplained deaths always suck

Hard to say on shell growth Christy. I have not owned them that long.

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

I've given up on them for a while. I had a nice little collection of 5 clams ranging from 5 years to 2 years old that all died within a few months in 2010. Pyramidal snails... In 2011 once the snails disappeared I tried again, one after another over the course of a year I bought a squamosa (from a local's tank), derasa and Tahiti maxima. The derasa and the maxima died after about a year, and the squamosa lived for 3. I have not seen any of those snails since 2010... but something still isn't right. Meanwhile I've got other non-coral inverts (urchin, cucumber, abalone) that are pushing 7 years old. So I'm stumped.

I checked with a mag glass for snails. None that I could see. Everything else is fine. Ya Im stumped also. So far my last maxima looks fine and my two croceas also.

[asylumdown]

That sucks it might just be a disease. There's organism specific bacteria and viruses for every member of the tree of life. You'd never be able to test for it, but maybe your tank caught the clam equivalent of small pox?

[Delphinus]

Sorry to hear Doug.

That's my biggest fear with clams, when one goes, it seems to start a chain reaction..

[Skimmerking]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

That sucks it might just be a disease. There's organism specific bacteria and viruses for every member of the tree of life. You'd never be able to test for it, but maybe your tank caught the clam equivalent of small pox?

ya Doug didnt you say that you swapped out clams with another reefer probably caught it from him/her

[Doug]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

That sucks it might just be a disease. There's organism specific bacteria and viruses for every member of the tree of life. You'd never be able to test for it, but maybe your tank caught the clam equivalent of small pox?

That sounds like the best explanation.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Sorry to hear Doug.

That's my biggest fear with clams, when one goes, it seems to start a chain reaction..

Thanks Tony. I never thought it would happen like it did. Guess one never knows. Besides the loss, its also pretty expensive.

Originally Posted by Skimmer King

ya Doug didnt you say that you swapped out clams with another reefer probably caught it from him/her

I just traded my ultra blue for my 2 blue croceas,s back. He also bought one of the three I bought from the coast. His are all fine, plus he has others. And the three I did buy from the coast, my remaining one looks fine as is his.

HOWEVER, I have to research. I bought one from a dealer out east and it was sick a couple days later. Could it have started there I wonder?