Where did my clam go?

[Seagars]

all is left is the clam shell. what happened???
i had a beautiful blue clam that i just found that his shell is completely empty. i had the clam for some 6 months or so and had been doing great. is this something i could replace or is my tank just not suitable due to the inhabitants?

 

[Squishie89]

What are your inhabitants?

 

[Jlobes]

+1^^

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Also, examine the shell and see if you notice anything in it.

 

[secretreefer]

Might be possible that it got eaten by a flatworm that hitchikes on live rock sometimes....

Something Fishy Forum • View topic - ID this creature

 

[Jlobes]

yeah...Or a mysterious other creature. Mine got eaten by what the LFS sold to me as a "giant nassarius snail" was actually a predatory whelk. I had an amazing cook island maxima that was thriving and healthy, over night....GONE. nothing but bare shell. Everything was/is healthy with proper params. and I have another clam that made it thru unscathed. needless to say, the "snail" is longer in the tank.

 

[Russellaqua]

Definitely sounds like a predator of some kind. Clams don't melt away overnight like some other marine inverts do, so it sounds like something ate it. Many fish, even those often considered "reef-safe" will eat clams at times. Wrasses are among the big culprits there, but a lot of commonly kept fish are not 100% safe around them. Knowing your stock list will help us figure out what the likely culprit is.

 

[fraggingfish]

Never heard of a wrasse eating a clam larger than it's own size.
Giant clam eating snails, however is an understatement.

90% of all angels will nip on them, but not fully consume overnight.

Clams aren't that big inside, once they die, it becomes shrivled and deflated.
You may want to see if there are chunks of clams anywhere, but definitely sounds like a predatory attack.

 

[skinz78]

It is really hard to say without a full list of fish and inverts.

 

[Seagars]

3 tangs, mystrey wrasse, naked clown, and madarin goby. then CUC - snails and hermits. But...
the latest addition is a very large snail - much larger than the clam.
that is the only thing that has changed in the last week.

 

[skinz78]

What types of Tangs and can you post a pic of the snail?

 

[Giancarlo]

Same happened to me, what i was told was a nassarius snail, turned out to be a whelk...

 

[Jlobes]

I'd look into that snail. Like Giancarlo and myself have experienced, some snails can and will eat a clam. And my clam disappeared, like gone nothing left overnight.

 

[mainereefer]

does the snail have a pointed shell? pointed shell means to watch out same goes with crabs with pointed claws for your reef

 

[Seagars]

What is whelk?

 

[Seagars]

Blue hippo, purple and blond naso. Will post pix later

 

[Seagars]

 

[Giancarlo]

I've never kept tangs, but I really doubt any of the 3 are the culprit. I've seen many tanks with those tangs housed with clams. I would start googling snails, whelks and pyramid snails in particular, then gently sift the top layer of your sand for them. I've never delt with the pyramid snails, but again as Jlobes and I mentioned a single whelk will make a quick meal from a clam.