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Cymonous
03/23/2013, 12:07 PM
I have had a clam that was attached to a rock since I started my tank. It was just some gray clam. I started to clean the glass with a magnetic scrubber. Next thing I know, the clam came off its foot and fell. I picked up the clam and the mouth came open easy. So, I know it died for some reason. I am going to do a water change. But what I am wondering is do I need to somehow get the foot off the rock and out of the tank?

bnumair
03/23/2013, 01:07 PM
clams do attach themselves to rocks with a foot and if one tries to move them that foot can break/tear resulting in sudden death. its probably what happened in ur case. u can scrub the foot attached to rock or even let it be and i am sure it will be ok.
sorry for the loss though.

Cymonous
03/23/2013, 05:11 PM
Is there anything else that can be related to its death? Or could anything get released after its death? I saw my bloodshrimp picking at something below a rock nearby for a while. I came back to find it on its back near death. I just setup and got the shrimp in a quarantine tank. Any other advice? I am running general tests now on the DT. My fishes and turbo are doing fine so far.

bnumair
03/23/2013, 05:18 PM
if the clam was under 3" then they require moderate flow and strong light along with phytoplankton as food source. beyond 3" and up they can solely survive on photosynthesis.
if the systen is very new or u havent been introducing phyto or direct feeding it and if lights are not strong enough if could have died due to all the above mentioned reason along with crabs or some fish picking on it etc.
i mean its a wide range of things that could have happened.

Cymonous
03/23/2013, 05:25 PM
The clam was more than 3" large. It has been in my tank for almost a year under the same conditions. I had asked about this clam middle of last year and was told it is a filter feeder and does not need to be fed. This was not one of the colorful clams. It was all gray and opened only occasionally. It is not a photosynthesis type clam. I can post a pick of what it looked like if needed.

bnumair
03/23/2013, 05:33 PM
advise given on a clam over 3" was right. but to my knowledge all clams require strong lights to photosynthesis and feed themselves and they also filter feed.
clams get 70-100% of their food from algae that grows within then that gives them their unique colors and rest or very little on filter feeding specially if they are over 3".
algae requires lights (photosynthesis) to survive within the tissue.

Cymonous
03/23/2013, 05:36 PM
These are the best pics I can find. These are from when I first started the tank. Don't mind all the bad stuff that used to be in there.

bnumair
03/23/2013, 05:38 PM
i couldnt make out from the pic. sorry.

Cymonous
03/23/2013, 05:50 PM
I also want to note the clam survived a cycle from the beginning of my tank. Could the shrimp have eaten something from the clam that is killing him?

My ammonia, nitrite were 0. I have about 5ppm of nitrate.

Cymonous
03/23/2013, 08:26 PM
And my shrimp did not make it long. He is already dead in the QT.

Cymonous
03/24/2013, 07:21 AM
Nobody has any insight as to the death of both my clam and then my shrimp? I have no ammonia from my test.

Gary Majchrzak
03/24/2013, 07:24 AM
nobody knows what type of clam you're talking about.

Was it a Tridacna?

Cymonous
03/24/2013, 07:48 AM
It is not a Tridacna. It had no bright colors inside and out. The mouth was not curved like a wave, but pretty flat. It was a light gray outside and a bit darker inside. It had a long, but thin tongue when it opened up. It only opened up once a day for about 30 mins at most.

Gary Majchrzak
03/24/2013, 07:59 AM
without knowing what type of clam it is....
you cannot get any meaningful advice other than in the future you should research / know what type of animal it is BEFORE placing it in your reef aquarium.

There's thousands of types of clams. Maybe somebody sold you a temperate species?
Caveat emptor!

I think people want to help you but at this point it's all just a guessing game.

jon99
03/24/2013, 08:16 AM
He said it was "some gray clam" which would very likely not be a Tridacna, which means it's not photosynthetic so all the "3 inches and up can survive on photosynthesis" is inaccurate.

How long has it been in the tank? It's most likely a hitchhiker that came in on the live rock. As most clams are filter feeders, they often starve in reef tanks that do not supply adequate plankton for them to feed on. A water change certainly won't hurt and if you do have the possibility of scraping the foot off the rock with a razor blade I would. A cleaner shrimp would also be helpful here and would pick the rock clean of any remains of the clam.

Gary Majchrzak
03/24/2013, 08:31 AM
He said it was "some gray clam" which would very likely not be a Tridacnaassume nothing. There are gray Tridacna

Cymonous
03/24/2013, 08:32 AM
@Gary: I did not know I had a clam till after the cycle was done on my tank. It looked like it was part of the rock when I got it. It even had old stony all over itself and was disguised very well. I understand it is hard to give advice based on the info I have given, but any advice is better than nothing. If there are any known clams for releasing something into the water upon death, this would be helpful too.

@jon: Thank you! It sounds like you understand a bit about my clam at least. It was in my tank since last May(so about 10-11 months). Yes, a hitchhiker. I did a 2 gallon water change yesterday right after the clam fell off its foot. I will try to get the foot off the rock.

Another question if this can relate to any species of clam. On the "instant death" part bnumair mentioned when it comes off its foot. Is it normal for tissue to start instantly coming off from the inside? There was a bit of small tissue that came out when I was taking out the clam and the mouth opened. There were only two pieces that I saw and I got them out with a net. Or had the clam already been dead for a bit?

Gary Majchrzak
03/24/2013, 08:37 AM
from the info given it SOUNDS like your hitch hiker clam died (most likely) from stress associated with liverock transfer, aquarium cycle, perhaps starvation (easy to happen in a small aquarium). It's now fish food.
I wouldn't concern yourself with this much although I do recall the first time I had a snail die on me over 19 years ago :)

nynick
03/24/2013, 03:27 PM
Most clams are filter feeders and do not live long in a tank so the fact that he is in a tank is likely the reason he died. Shrimps are sensitive to a lot of stuff and sudden changes, the clam could have been dead for a day or 2 before you noticed and fouled your water.