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Clam receding

Rostato

Rostato

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I’ve had this clam for a few months. All seemed fine, but it hasn’t really grown much.

Lately it’s been receding, and today it looks horrible.

Any idea what may be the issue and if it’s resolvable? Is it done for?

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It looks like had been starved for awhile. There’s no new growth.

I had a clam receded like that and didn’t recovered. I fed Phyto daily as well. I kept nitrate at 10ppm and phosphate at 0.03. I think clam prefers dirtier water. Best of luck.
 
What's your system parameters?
What's your dosing regimen?
Where is the placment of the clam wtr to light and flow?
What's your live stock?
Is the clam on deep sand, shallow or on rocks?
Has the clam attached itself using its foot?
How healthy is his foot(do not pick it up to see, answer only if you inspected the foot when u got it)

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That clam has been going downhill a while. Check for pyramid snails (on the clam specifically, the ones on turbo snails won’t eat the clam). Photo won’t save a clam that isn’t getting enough light. A light shortage along with fish picking at them are the two main causes of clam decline that I’ve seen once pests are ruled out.
 
My nitrates stay low and phosphates are usually between 0 and .2

I feed reef nutrition phyto and oyster feast mixed with rods food daily so it’s not starved.

It was attached to some rubble when I bought it. I put it on a rock on the bottom of my tank.

I looked for pests when I bought it and saw none. I did gently touch it and got no response so I picked it up. No pests, but the foot it not trying to lock to anything.
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I fear that it’s a goner already. [emoji22] my guess is that it never fully anchored to the rock and was stressed or maybe bristleworms got at the foot.

I’m really disappointed. I have never had luck with clams for some reason, and this is my best tank.
 
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Rostato said:
My nitrates stay low and phosphates are usually between 0 and .2

I feed reef nutrition phyto and oyster feast mixed with rods food daily so it’s not starved.

It was attached to some rubble when I bought it. I put it on a rock on the bottom of my tank.

I looked for pests when I bought it and saw none. I did gently touch it and got no response so I picked it up. No pests, but the foot it not trying to lock to anything.
91205bbe750b394f73fce9d584e72ca0.jpg


I fear that it’s a goner already. [emoji22] my guess is that it never fully anchored to the rock and was stressed or maybe bristleworms got at the foot. I dunno but

I’m really disappointed. I have never had luck with clams for some reason, and this is my best tank.
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Do not give up on it yet. I have revived clam that was in really really really bad shape and had a compelty broken shell.
My biggest clam never attached and I have it for 10 years to date..

They like moderate to high light, I see sometimes reefers try to have them in low light condition which I do not get...these clams like light, they do have zooxanthellae that metabolize light...

Is it in high flow? They like gentle flow high flow will make them retracy

Any fish that is picking up on it? Any fish that will pick on it even once or twice a day it will make the clam retract almost all day
Do not target feed alot, they are filter feeders, but dumping food on them directly will irritate it and can cause some food to go in to places that it cannot push it out and rot inside.

If indeed your po4 is zero, clam do not do well in such ultra low nutrients, they live closer to shores where nutrients are bit high and there is access to suspended nutrients.


Finally, I have seen direct impact from dosing iodin and strontium on clam health.
I also use Sponge power which is very good for filter feeders like clam and sponges. It's a zeovit product, when I dose it I can see the clam react almost immediately...if you will use this product however, make sure you follow instructions and DO NOT OVER DOSE...

Good luck..

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It gets around 120 par where it is. I have the par meter now and I’ll double checking tomorrow.

My tank is pretty high flow, and since it’s on the bottom, it gets a lot because I run gyres. But it’s not bad enough to make the mantel moved around or anything while it’s open.

I have added a marine beta, a damsel, and a dotty back in the last few months. I’ve never seen a fish nip at it.

Most of the time my po4 is around .02-.1 but it does hit zero here and there.

I have never spot fed it on purpose, but I do feed the fish over it, or some food may have gotten in there at some point. I never thought of that.
 
I do have good strontium levels according to my last ICP test. I dose b ionic, so it has strontium in it.

I am a bit low on iodine though, and I’ve never dosed it because I can’t test for it.
 
I had a clam before and kept it at the lower levels in the tank and it slowly declined and died. Par level was about the same as yours currently~120. I have since purchased another clam at the last CFM and placed it up high on the rockwork where it gets about ~350 par and it is happy and I have new shell growth. You may need to move it up closer to the light source.
 
Rostato said:
I do have good strontium levels according to my last ICP test. I dose b ionic, so it has strontium in it.

I am a bit low on iodine though, and I’ve never dosed it because I can’t test for it.
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If you do ICP you should know ur I level.
I do not advice you chase iodin dosing just for the clam all of the sudden to be honest. Unless you know how to dose I in your system I would not dose randomly cause overdoing iodin is not fun..

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Rostato said:
I’ll try and find a spot for it a bit higher. Going to be tough. My tank is packed.
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Clams should rest on the bottom.
Just have it under a visibilandgood light not hidden.also make sure flow is gentel..they do not like high flow...

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ofzakaria said:
If you do ICP you should know ur I level.
I do not advice you chase iodin dosing just for the clam all of the sudden to be honest. Unless you know how to dose I in your system I would not dose randomly cause overdoing iodin is not fun..

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Click to expand...

Yeah I don’t plan to. Especially since everything else is good.
 
Rostato said:
Hmm sounds like conflicting info here. Now I’m confused
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What's conflicting?
Have it placed on bottom but under a direct light. Not shaded...
Depend on your light, the bottom of the tank should still have enough PAR..

Good luck

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You and Klems posts...one say move higher and bake with par, and the other basically says leave it be. It’s okay I’m just trying to figure out why.

Maybe it’s the gyre flow since I swapped from MP’s to gyres...that’s the only huge change I’ve made in a while.
 
Rostato said:
You and Klems posts...one say move higher and bake with par, and the other basically says leave it be. It’s okay I’m just trying to figure out why.

Maybe it’s the gyre flow since I swapped from MP’s to gyres...that’s the only huge change I’ve made in a while.
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Lol why it has to be extream.
I never said bake it. I said they like moderate to high light.
These animals live close to shores so they get the high end of the spectrum.
But at the same time, my understanding is that you do not want to have it om rocks because it might move while it open and drop or even injure its foot, or its mantel.

And yes, flow is big factor with clams, high or direct flow will bother them...

I will stop adding comments to this post to avoid confusing you.good luck

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