bradreef
always kidding
That is the way this hobby goes. You just learn from all your mistakes and misfortunes. Now when someone posts that problem with clams you can confidently reply with a solution.
A Saga: Nikki's 120 gallon
- Thread starter NaH2O
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Hi Nikki!
Yikes, you do have algae problems! Put a powerhead blowing across the front of the rocks! Humor me on this, okay? I'll bet you a quarter, that in about three weeks you'll see a big improvement!
See, that's what I was saying in that other thread - even without added nutrients, the bacterial mulm in the LR is enough to fuel the algae. It looks like your spray bar is blowing it towards the front of the tank, is that right? Keep blasting out the holes in the rock with a handheld Phead every week, too.
Awesome tank!! You'll lick that algae!
Yikes, you do have algae problems! Put a powerhead blowing across the front of the rocks! Humor me on this, okay? I'll bet you a quarter, that in about three weeks you'll see a big improvement!
See, that's what I was saying in that other thread - even without added nutrients, the bacterial mulm in the LR is enough to fuel the algae. It looks like your spray bar is blowing it towards the front of the tank, is that right? Keep blasting out the holes in the rock with a handheld Phead every week, too.
Awesome tank!! You'll lick that algae!
NaH2O
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Thanks TG! Yes, the bottom outputs blow everything towards the front...sweeps the bottom clean, minus 2-3 small areas. Interesting point about the bacterial mulm because that is really the only input I have. For sure, I'll do the powerhead after I make sure my clams have recovered from their issues.
Just to update on my clams. First, big thanks again to Barry at Clams Direct for helping me out. The 25 minute fresh water dip seems to have done the trick, as of today. Both clams were opened up and "normal" looking. The smaller one seemed a little ticked off when the lights came on, but the mantle was fully extended by early afternoon. I'm going to monitor them closely for the next few days. If they are totally back to normal, then I may go ahead and try to rig up a powerhead to give TGs thought a whirl.
Just to update on my clams. First, big thanks again to Barry at Clams Direct for helping me out. The 25 minute fresh water dip seems to have done the trick, as of today. Both clams were opened up and "normal" looking. The smaller one seemed a little ticked off when the lights came on, but the mantle was fully extended by early afternoon. I'm going to monitor them closely for the next few days. If they are totally back to normal, then I may go ahead and try to rig up a powerhead to give TGs thought a whirl.
Maxx
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Nikki,
Glad to hear that your clams are recovering from the "Pinched Mantle" thing they were suffering from.
Yeah, it was an interesting week for the both of us...No worries, call me whenever ya need....Rocio likes hearing from/about you guys anyway...
Brad amde a good point. there are times when you really just get discouraged and want to pitch it all in the trashcan. these are the times when you really need to sit back and learn from whats going on so that you can help someone else if the situation comes up again.
Do you have any pics of what the clams looked like with the Pinched Mantle, so that others can see it and recognize it when they come across it elsewhere?
What did Barry tell you about this disease?
Nick
Glad to hear that your clams are recovering from the "Pinched Mantle" thing they were suffering from.
Yeah, it was an interesting week for the both of us...No worries, call me whenever ya need....Rocio likes hearing from/about you guys anyway...
Brad amde a good point. there are times when you really just get discouraged and want to pitch it all in the trashcan. these are the times when you really need to sit back and learn from whats going on so that you can help someone else if the situation comes up again.
Do you have any pics of what the clams looked like with the Pinched Mantle, so that others can see it and recognize it when they come across it elsewhere?
What did Barry tell you about this disease?
Nick
NaH2O
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I do have pics and when I'm over this flu thing I have, I'll put them together to post, along with some post dip photos. Barry indicated that they don't really know what the cause is. It seems to be more prevelant in the summer months, so he has experimented with different swings to see if he could induce it. He's tried temperature swings, pH swings, etc....even put pinched clams in with healthy ones and couldn't spread it. Not certain what the cause is, but the fresh water dip seems to do the trick. Hopefully, mine will stay healthy - I haven't been downstairs yet to check on them (keeping fingers crossed). I don't think I'll be doing much with my tank this weekend because I feel horrible. Yeah right - fever or not...I'll be in there I'm sure.
Katchupoy
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Hey Nikki,
I hope you are doing fine with the flu. I just recovered from one and my family and I was down for about 10 days. And its a house arrest for 10 straight days. I dont even have the strenght to look at my tank.
Terrible!!!
Get well soon.
I hope you are doing fine with the flu. I just recovered from one and my family and I was down for about 10 days. And its a house arrest for 10 straight days. I dont even have the strenght to look at my tank.
Terrible!!!
Get well soon.
wrightme43
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Get Well Soon Nikki, Glad to hear about saving your clams. Good info to have. Steve
Angelscrx
Import Fish
NIkki, I hope you are feeling better?
NaH2O
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Thanks for all the well wishes, and thanks to those that have been following along on my tank's journey. I have been feeling much better today, finally. Must have been the snow shovelling I did yesterday 
.
Well, thought I'd update on the clams. So far they are looking pretty good. I took the opportunity while they were unattached to the rocks to get them to attach to a couple of pieces of flat rock I had in my refugium. This way, if I ever need to move them again, I can do so very easily, and not be a danger to myself with a sharp object in the tank...LOL.
Here are the before and after shots of each clam. The first clam is the larger one that only had the curling in one spot. I have it pointed out with a red arrow. The smaller clam had the curling much worse, which is evident by the arrows. As you can see in the photo, the mantle was almost folded onto itself, and you could see the underside of the mantle. Of course, the after shots show much happier clams! I sent Barry the after pics as well, for him to look over. I wanted him to look and see if he noticed anything else. Hopefully, I'll get a good report back. I still am shocked at how long these clams were in a fresh water dip.....without any serious issues. I suppose it has to do with how quickly I caught the problem, and the good health of the clams otherwise. They both responded well to shadows prior to dipping. Anyway....here they are! Let me know what you think....
.Well, thought I'd update on the clams. So far they are looking pretty good. I took the opportunity while they were unattached to the rocks to get them to attach to a couple of pieces of flat rock I had in my refugium. This way, if I ever need to move them again, I can do so very easily, and not be a danger to myself with a sharp object in the tank...LOL.
Here are the before and after shots of each clam. The first clam is the larger one that only had the curling in one spot. I have it pointed out with a red arrow. The smaller clam had the curling much worse, which is evident by the arrows. As you can see in the photo, the mantle was almost folded onto itself, and you could see the underside of the mantle. Of course, the after shots show much happier clams! I sent Barry the after pics as well, for him to look over. I wanted him to look and see if he noticed anything else. Hopefully, I'll get a good report back. I still am shocked at how long these clams were in a fresh water dip.....without any serious issues. I suppose it has to do with how quickly I caught the problem, and the good health of the clams otherwise. They both responded well to shadows prior to dipping. Anyway....here they are! Let me know what you think....
Maxx
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Looks good Nikki.
I'm glad you decided to post up these pics. I had the same issue with mine, and I wouldnt have known what was happening unless I had talked with yuou about it and seen the pics. As it was, I just dipped mine for 25 minutes and put em back in the tank. Their just fine now. Hopefully, other people can learn from this too.
Nick
I'm glad you decided to post up these pics. I had the same issue with mine, and I wouldnt have known what was happening unless I had talked with yuou about it and seen the pics. As it was, I just dipped mine for 25 minutes and put em back in the tank. Their just fine now. Hopefully, other people can learn from this too.
Nick
NaH2O
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The Saga Continues.....
I've had a frustrating couple of days with the beast. I noticed my clams' mantles started curling up again, and I will likely dip them for 25 minutes tomorrow - perhaps the first dip didn't completely do the trick.
Then, this morning - all appeared well. The RBTA had walked its way to the back side of the rocks at the end of the week last week. I checked it this morning - still back there. Well, I looked in the tank a few hours later and found my anemone sucked onto one of the closed loop intakes. I unplugged the closed loop pump and let the anemone try and work itself off. It was stuck on the front of the lower intake screen (the only way to describe it is that it appeared like it was trying to eat the screen - it wasn't, but that's how it looked). It manuvered around some, but the foot was just floating, and after an hour I grabbed a PVC elbow, stuck it near the foot. Immediately the anemone stuck to the PVC about a minute later I barely moved the PVC away, and the anemone was free. I stuck its foot inside the PVC and put it back in the original spot it seemed to like. Now that it opened back up I was able to assess the damage, which was just a few gnarly looking tentacles....other than that it seemed alright. It has since walked out of the PVC and is again stuck to the rock and moving toward the front of the tank. I'll keep an eye on it for the next several days and make sure all is well. I really think its going to be fine, but I was pretty upset to see it stuck on there. Good thing the anemone doesn't understand English....I called it a POS for making me worry like that.....better go apologize . *sigh* I'll keep ya posted on the anemone and clams......
I've had a frustrating couple of days with the beast. I noticed my clams' mantles started curling up again, and I will likely dip them for 25 minutes tomorrow - perhaps the first dip didn't completely do the trick.
Then, this morning - all appeared well. The RBTA had walked its way to the back side of the rocks at the end of the week last week. I checked it this morning - still back there. Well, I looked in the tank a few hours later and found my anemone sucked onto one of the closed loop intakes. I unplugged the closed loop pump and let the anemone try and work itself off. It was stuck on the front of the lower intake screen (the only way to describe it is that it appeared like it was trying to eat the screen - it wasn't, but that's how it looked). It manuvered around some, but the foot was just floating, and after an hour I grabbed a PVC elbow, stuck it near the foot. Immediately the anemone stuck to the PVC about a minute later I barely moved the PVC away, and the anemone was free. I stuck its foot inside the PVC and put it back in the original spot it seemed to like. Now that it opened back up I was able to assess the damage, which was just a few gnarly looking tentacles....other than that it seemed alright. It has since walked out of the PVC and is again stuck to the rock and moving toward the front of the tank. I'll keep an eye on it for the next several days and make sure all is well. I really think its going to be fine, but I was pretty upset to see it stuck on there. Good thing the anemone doesn't understand English....I called it a POS for making me worry like that.....better go apologize
. *sigh* I'll keep ya posted on the anemone and clams......
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NaH2O
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Another quick update...
That didn't take long....here's another update. After my last post I went to check the tank. The RBTA had moved towards the front of the rock kind of between 2 peaks, and I had a good look at its foot.......with a big hole in it! I know the hole wasn't from the wrestling match with the closed loop because I checked it over when it came off the closed loop. I could see its foot clear as a bell when it was sucked on the CL, too - so I know the hole wasn't there. I guess when you want to induce a split.....suck your RBTA onto a closed loop intake. It was having some difficulty dealing with the flow when the ball valve would switch to the side its on, so I turned the timer off. My closed loop is now only on the right side. I'll be keeping an eye on it and let you know what happens....
That didn't take long....here's another update. After my last post I went to check the tank. The RBTA had moved towards the front of the rock kind of between 2 peaks, and I had a good look at its foot.......with a big hole in it! I know the hole wasn't from the wrestling match with the closed loop because I checked it over when it came off the closed loop. I could see its foot clear as a bell when it was sucked on the CL, too - so I know the hole wasn't there. I guess when you want to induce a split.....suck your RBTA onto a closed loop intake. It was having some difficulty dealing with the flow when the ball valve would switch to the side its on, so I turned the timer off. My closed loop is now only on the right side. I'll be keeping an eye on it and let you know what happens....
gramma Nikki !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd still keep a close eye on them "grams"!
God only knows, it may be twins
God only knows, it may be twins
Nikki absolutely great thread. I'm glad you are feeling much better. I was just wondering, two things really about the algae, are all your levels stable now? No fluctuations of calcium, ph, alkalinity etc? and two how much surface movement do you have? I know you have a lot of current in the tank but does the tanks surface have a lot of movement?
Once again great thread and helping so many people. . . Just like you always do.
Mac
Once again great thread and helping so many people. . . Just like you always do.
Mac
NaH2O
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Thanks, Mac. Everything has been pretty stable. As far as surface movement - the coast to coast overflow does a nice job with the surface water - there are no stagnant spots. If you picture how the water flows into an overflow box....it does that across the whole tank. In the sump, I do have a powerhead pointed at the surface because my sump is pretty deep.
I'm about to check on the anemone situation - hope everything is alright. I've been brainstorming for a quick DIY (and one I can accomplish...lol) to temporarily cover my intake screens - just so I can be comfortable with the CL on and me not home. No sponges, but I considered window screen?
I'm about to check on the anemone situation - hope everything is alright. I've been brainstorming for a quick DIY (and one I can accomplish...lol) to temporarily cover my intake screens - just so I can be comfortable with the CL on and me not home. No sponges, but I considered window screen?
Nikki, have you thought of trying to make something with egg crate. Your intakes are in the back, so it shouldn't be to unsightly.
Scooterman
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Fiberglass screen would probably be a pain to keep clean. I like Charlie's idea, crate is easy to work with, you could box them in easily with tie wraps.
