Clam Mortality Part 2

[fencer]

Congrats to all who have had clams survive a one year...my hats off to you. IMHO getting a clam to survive is harder than SPS. I trying to get a handle on these clam deaths. I have read some of the most experienced reef keepers have reported sudden clam death. So tank quality is probably not the number one cause of death. I wonder if it has more to do with the age of the clams. Older clams may have more problems in adjusting to reef life. Also the number of crawly inverts in reef tanks are much higher may also contribute to this syndrome.

[Joe Reefer]

I have had a teardrop maxima for well over 2 yrs.

[Quinster]

Oldest clam on the right, had it going on 7 years now, was just 3 1/2" when I got it, will just fit in a 5G pail now.

[michika]

My clams range from 3+years with me until around 2 months. I've only ever experienced two natural clam deaths (e.g. not eaten by something in the tank), and have experienced a total of 4 deaths since I've been doing this, two to random death in 24 hours, and 2 to a lunare wrasse snapping and going crazy.

[fencer]

Catherine was the clam(s) that expired were they 3"+ or smaller?
Lando and Catherine: are there a lot of crabs in your tanks, how about flat worms? There is another thread on the forum : that they were feeding clams by target feeding. I have never done that but do put phyto in the tank every 2 days but never targeted the clams. I wonder if the clams were not getting enough food. My clams were sitting on bottom (16in, 300watt MH's) is that enough light. Qunister...nice clam...his clam seems to fit my suggestion that smaller younger clams can adapt more easily to new reef systems.

[michika]

Originally Posted by fencer

Catherine was the clam(s) that expired were they 3"+ or smaller?
Lando and Catherine: are there a lot of crabs in your tanks, how about flat worms? There is another thread on the forum : that they were feeding clams by target feeding. I have never done that but do put phyto in the tank every 2 days but never targeted the clams. I wonder if the clams were not getting enough food. My clams were sitting on bottom (16in, 300watt MH's) is that enough light. Qunister...nice clam...his clam seems to fit my suggestion that smaller younger clams can adapt more easily to new reef systems.

My big was was about 5.5", the smaller one was just a bit over 3". There are two, maybe 3 crabs in my tank, and they are hanging out in my overflow! Never had flatworms. I don't target feed anymore, but I do add in frozen rotifers with DHA to my food on a semi-regular basis.

[untamed]

I've had my Crocea for maybe 4 years now. At the time I purchased, it was the smallest clam I had ever seen for sale...maybe 1". Now, it is about 6".

It has moved from the small tank to the larger tank, with most of the 4 years in the small tank. I fed DTs almost every day, and started because I had heard that small clams needed it. For the past 2 years or so, that tank had red flatworms. I tried flatworm exit while the clam was in the tank, and there seemed no harm done to the clam. (although a lot of flatworms certainly died!)

I always thought they were easy to keep until I started reading all these terrible stories.