We got out clam about 2 weeks again. It has been doing great, opened right up an looking beautiful. However, it looks like the mantle may be receding a bit and now its closed up in the middle of the day. Any thoughts or recommendations are welcomed! Thank!
Is my Clam OK?
- Thread starter Daryl.h
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reefrider777
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Unfortunately it doesn't look good. Hoping for the best
4FordFamily
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I agree, doesn't look good. Don't pester it, be quick to remove it if it recedes inside as it will quickly pollute the tank heavily
ReefJunky
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Yeah, your maxima is certainly doomed if the mantle is detaching... sorry for the bad news. :'(
The three Tridacna crocea I have right now are over 12 years old. I run 250 watt HQI metal halides (Iwasaki daylight, which they quit making last year as far as I know *not happy!*) about ten inches above the water. The clams are about six inches below the water surface on the rock work so they can anchor themselves. Tridacna maxima are fine on the sand bed, but crocea would not be happy there at all.
I agree with TheHarold that the lighting is way too insufficient. I've tried LED lighting (Apollo Reef LED lights) and had them at 100% on blues and whites. The coloration was not as good as when they were under metal halides but the electrical bill was a bit nicer! Any way, when the LED lights started burning out, just prior to the warranty expiring and Apollo Reef going out of business, I switched back to the old HQI metal halides and the clams are very happy!
So my guess is that the lighting was insufficient, but you might also check the bottom of the clam where the hinge is for tiny 2mm-4mm white cone shaped snails. What I'm referring to are Pyramidellid snails and they can wreak havok with Tridaca clams really fast! Take a look at the link below for more detailed info.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/jf/index.php
I bought a small maricultured clam 15-20 years ago and lost several large maxima that I'd had for 5 to 8 years because of them. They are nasty little buggars and sneaky too, they usually only move around at night! If you find them, wait several months to let them starve out before buying a new Tridacna. And as always, stable water chemistry is very important as well as strong lighting. Just acclimate them over several weeks to the high lighting and they should be fine. Hope this helps!
The three Tridacna crocea I have right now are over 12 years old. I run 250 watt HQI metal halides (Iwasaki daylight, which they quit making last year as far as I know *not happy!*) about ten inches above the water. The clams are about six inches below the water surface on the rock work so they can anchor themselves. Tridacna maxima are fine on the sand bed, but crocea would not be happy there at all.
I agree with TheHarold that the lighting is way too insufficient. I've tried LED lighting (Apollo Reef LED lights) and had them at 100% on blues and whites. The coloration was not as good as when they were under metal halides but the electrical bill was a bit nicer! Any way, when the LED lights started burning out, just prior to the warranty expiring and Apollo Reef going out of business, I switched back to the old HQI metal halides and the clams are very happy!
So my guess is that the lighting was insufficient, but you might also check the bottom of the clam where the hinge is for tiny 2mm-4mm white cone shaped snails. What I'm referring to are Pyramidellid snails and they can wreak havok with Tridaca clams really fast! Take a look at the link below for more detailed info.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/jf/index.php
I bought a small maricultured clam 15-20 years ago and lost several large maxima that I'd had for 5 to 8 years because of them. They are nasty little buggars and sneaky too, they usually only move around at night! If you find them, wait several months to let them starve out before buying a new Tridacna. And as always, stable water chemistry is very important as well as strong lighting. Just acclimate them over several weeks to the high lighting and they should be fine. Hope this helps!
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Not 100% sure, but this clam looks like it could be a "wild" caught specimen. Their survival rate is very poor.
ReefJunky
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Daryl.h,
How big would you guess that your clam is? As you measure it from left to right, if the valves are on the top and bottom. As bsgea suggests, wild collected Tridacna clams can have a very low survival rate due to the great amount of stress endured during shipping. Clams are great at hiding their stress until they just give up the ghost all at once. But yours may be maricultured which would explain why it gives the possible appearance of a wild collected specimen. Again, just a guess.
How big would you guess that your clam is? As you measure it from left to right, if the valves are on the top and bottom. As bsgea suggests, wild collected Tridacna clams can have a very low survival rate due to the great amount of stress endured during shipping. Clams are great at hiding their stress until they just give up the ghost all at once. But yours may be maricultured which would explain why it gives the possible appearance of a wild collected specimen. Again, just a guess.
The clam was about 6-7 inch at its widest point. I'm not sure if it was wild, we got it about 2 weeks ago from a friend who was breaking down his aquarium. He had it for 2-3 months under a pair of Radion xr15w.
Mat1018
Community Member
Would say it was your lighting also. Photons are more then capable of keeping a clam. But the light intensity is way to low, you want them to build up to 100% as long as the light isn't extremely close to the clam. But 18% in my opinion is far to low. I run photons on my tank that is 24in deep and I have 3 clams on the bottom that grow extremely fast. Are they not the best lights out on the market yes but will they grow stuff definitely.
