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aesop
11/22/2002, 09:18 PM
I've had this clam for close to a year; and it recently started to act a little weird. It used to extend fully, but now the front where the mouth is is curled up and it wont' extend on either end.

This is the 2nd clam to do this. The first one did the exact same thing; but was put in just 2monts ago.

Could it be some kind of parrasite? Seems to have spread to a third clam from the looks of it :(

Image Attached:
http://reefcentral.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?s=&postid=884347

Peabody
11/22/2002, 10:45 PM
Have you Taken them out at night and checked all over VERY carefully for nasty snails like Pyramids? You might be surprised! (I was when I found them on my clam!, but it's been 3 weeks and no more than the first 2 I found :) )

If your water params are all good, I would think predation might be the prime suspect, before a disease. (Just my little opinion)

aesop
11/24/2002, 10:10 PM
There are pyramid snails :(

I've only found a few on the outer shell nothing underneath at all. Seems they are everywhere. Went all aver town looking for a six-line can't seem to find anything when your looking.

Are there any other wrasses that will prey on these snails?

Seems this specifc clam is getting worse; the original maxima that exhibited this behavior has recovered a little since I've started the manual removal process.

Peabody
11/24/2002, 10:49 PM
Keep removing every one of those bastards! Search for the snails here in the forum and you'll find that different people have had success with different fish. But, keep picking 'em off! I found 2 or 3 on mine once, and have never found any more (Been weeks!)

Best of luck to you and your clams!

firechild
11/24/2002, 11:32 PM
Juvenile coris wrasses are quite good at removing the dreaded Pyramid snails.

DT's_Reef
11/24/2002, 11:38 PM
I got rid of these snails by getting up in the middle of the night for several days and picking them off the glass and around the clam. It worked really well and I never saw them again.

Darin

Marco
11/25/2002, 01:31 PM
I have a Red tail Tamarin Wrasse that keeps my clam snail free. These wrasses are supposed to be hard to keep but I have had no trouble yet mine takes several types of frozen foods as well as hunting in the rock work. I have actually seen this wrasse get flatworms in his mouth but he always spits them out. Just my .02

aesop
11/27/2002, 08:01 PM
Here is an update;

The first clam that had problems is recovering. the clam that is in the first post is not.

I'm suspection its more then just pyramid snails since I don't think one small snail can do this much damage.

Here is a pic of the clam as of today.

http://members.rogers.com/khamchang/images/shrinking clam 143-4349_IMG.jpg

Going to attemp a freshwater dip since I think it could be a disease also (ref: Minh Nguyen; and a post he made on reefs)

Peabody
11/27/2002, 08:57 PM
Hi again, glad the first one is recovering, but trying to rack my little brain on that other one......
Unless I missed it in my extreme tiredness, I did not see you say how big these guys are. That second one looks pretty small. How big is it? If it's a baby like around 2 inches or smaller, are you taking him out and feeding him DTs in a bowl?

Best of luck!
Jeff

aesop
11/27/2002, 10:22 PM
Hi Jeff,

I've had this specific clam for about a year; and since then it has grown about three of those ridges. Up till recently it was doing great.

I've never fed DT's, of any sort till about a month ago, when I got cryopaste from a local reefer.

So many things have happened in the past month or so that its really hard for me to narrow down the problem.

~1month ago 5inch maxima spawned
~ 1 water change day after ~30%
~3month ago started feeding cryopaste (once a week)
~3weeks ago got two frags (didn't use the water they came in)
~water last weekend (3 days ago) ~30%.
~1weeks ago is when this started happening (nov20th)

Water test showed that everything is ok:
Taken at 9:45 1hr after main light (400w MH) go out.
anomia:0
nitrate:0
ph:8.5
alk: 3.01meg/l
sg:1.026 ( normaly ~ 1.025->1.026)
phos:0
cal:450
temp:82 (stable)

Hippoppus & the 5" maxima is fine (they are about 1+ feet away from these three)

http://members.rogers.com/khamchang/images/jumping fleas 142-4294_IMG.jpg

#1 is recovering? or stabilized
#2 is now on a shelf close to the light (hoping that will help in terms of more light; and further away from everyone else)
#3 the front lip hasn't extended or withdrawn anymore then it has. (stabilized?)

All three are away from each other and in away from the other two healthy clams.






Originally posted by Peabody
Hi again, glad the first one is recovering, but trying to rack my little brain on that other one......
Unless I missed it in my extreme tiredness, I did not see you say how big these guys are. That second one looks pretty small. How big is it? If it's a baby like around 2 inches or smaller, are you taking him out and feeding him DTs in a bowl?

Best of luck!
Jeff

aesop
11/27/2002, 10:26 PM
Just for completeness; here is a link to the message that Minh posted, about a similiar problem with his clams.

Link to message (http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=169654#169654)