Clamtastrophe

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I've had it year and a half.... got it from another aquarist who'd had at least a year (more like 2 I think) - bit more than 5 inches

It is the pic - it had about 1/4" of new shell....


DonW said:
How old is that clam and how long has it been in your tank? In the pic there is NO sign of recent growth. Is it the pic?

Don
Click to expand...
 
TWallace said:
When my flame angel bothered my croceas a little over a year ago, he bothered all 3 croceas, but never touched the derasa. So I do think it's completely feasible for an angel to only bother certain species of clams. I doubt it's related to the color of the clam, but more likely the species.

Last night I put my derasa in the refugium of my display tank. It was in my QT and was doing great. So far it still looks fine in the refugium. I think I'll leave it there for a while to make sure it's fully recovered, then try reintroducing it to the display. Dang tells me he's had fire shrimp bother his clams (only at night). I do have fire shrimp that are very secretive in the day time. If I do get the derasa back in the display eventually, I'll keep an eye on them after lights go out.
Click to expand...

Hi TWallace,
Sorry for all the losses,

Do share with us if you experience any mischief fire shrimps. I have two fire (blood) shrimps and 5 true Caribbean peppermint shrimps (spawn regularly as additional food to my tank) currently and it has been 1/2 a year as well. I'll be worry if fire shrimps are unsafe :oops:.

Thanks
 
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I put the clam back in the display yesterday and have been keeping an eye on it. I noticed cleaner shrimp picking at the edge of the mantle occasionally and that seemed to bother it a bit, but it was still looking mostly healthy. Today I noticed the flame angel peck at it a couple times and the clam looked pretty irritated. So I caught the flame angel and put him in the QT. The clam still looks pretty unhappy, though and the flame angel's been in the QT for 2 hours now. I'll see how it goes for a few days. If the clam's fine, I'll be selling the flame angel. Luckily I have a fish trap that I used recently to catch a flame hawk. I left it in the tank for weeks before I got the flame hawk, and during that time the flame angel became quite accustomed to the trap, so it only took me about 10 minutes to catch him.
 
Just a suggestion, you should consider taking out the coral beauty temporary as well. I have a friend told me that even a small African Pygmy Angel is causing havoc after 9mths in his tank (was told by his LFS that it is reef safe :oops: )
 
just came back from jeeseb's tank today,,all i can say is wow!!!!all of his sps stunning color,,growing encrushing,,and guss what i found in his tank,,,
:)the incredible hulk and garf bonsai:)(i'm going back with my camera and,,,,:D j/k but soon)
fish community including flame angle,,very healthy ,,,,including clam,,,the whole time i was there about 1 -1/2hrs never seen the angle pick on either sps or clam,,

hey your tank is in tune(water quality) big time,your tank looked great and thanks for the frag. Jessie.
 
Wonder said:
Just a suggestion, you should consider taking out the coral beauty temporary as well. I have a friend told me that even a small African Pygmy Angel is causing havoc after 9mths in his tank (was told by his LFS that it is reef safe :oops: )
Click to expand...

I've put the trap back into the tank to let the coral beauty get used to it being in there. I'll try placing food in it tomorrow and see if he'll go in. The QT is too small for both the flame angel and coral beauty, but I can put the CB in the refugium. Clam definitely doesn't look happy right now, but I don't think it's on the verge of death.

I've just now placed the clam back in the refugium so it can recover again. Once I catch the coral beauty, I'll swap their places and see how the clam does.
 
I decided to put the clam in the QT with the flame angel to verify for sure if the flame angel is bothering it or not. I first did a 60% water change in the QT, refilling it with display water. This was to reduce shock to the clam, as I wasn't able to acclimate it normally (was afraid the flame angel may jump with the lid open and a large clam floating in the small tank). The clam has already opened up fully and the flame angel hasn't touched it yet. I'll see how they look when I come home from work tomorrow. Here's a pic of the happy couple in the QT:



derasa_qt.jpg
 
we all know there really is no such thing as a "reef safe" angel (right??)....short of the Genicanthus (swallowtail) species, being that they are planktovores by nature. i would be in agreeance that the flame is to not to blame. this has been too wide spread to pin it on angels. i'm a little embarassed to admit but i had a 40 breeder tank that wasnt really taken care of all too well and the clams all did fine even with *gasp* tap water. i mean pulse dosing additives and not really testing much. granted they were 2 derasa and 1 squamosa which dont seem to be coming down with this same problem. i think clams are alot hardier then most people give them credit. well anyways....hopefully Barry will have some new info for our consuption sooner then later.
 
I came home tonight and noticed my QT light was off. I don't know if the bulb is dead or the ballast is dead or what. The angel and clam still look fine, though obviously the clam is mostly closed up since the light is off. Mantle extension looks normal, though. The tank is about 5 feet from my display tank, so it's getting some light from that.
 
I ordered a new bulb for the QT from Foster Smith, don't think local stores have this particular kind of bulb. In the meantime, I setup my old refugium's light over the QT and placed a sheet of acrylic between it and the tank to prevent the fish jumping, or the clam shooting water at the light.

Here's a pic I took tonight:
derasa_qt_day3.jpg


It seems pretty apparent to me that the flame angel is not the culprit now. That pretty much just leaves cleaner shrimp or fire shrimp on the suspect list.
 
The only evidence I have is that Dang says he caught his fire shrimp bothering one of his small clams at night by flipping it over and picking at it. While none of my clams were being flipped over, it was clear that something was bothering them, and since fire shrimp are much more active at night, it's hard to rule them out. I have witnessed one fire shrimp bothering my derasa when it was back in the display last week, but I don't know if it was the main thing bothering it. I also saw cleaner shrimp picking at the edge of the mantle.
 
Herefishyfishy said:
This is telling more of the clam's condition
Click to expand...


I agree, as clams start to decline they stink and become food for everyone. You will even see tangs picking at the mantle of a unhealth clam. They are not eating the mantle but are picking at the slime on the surface.

Don
 
True, but something had to start bothering the clam and I don't know what that was right now. Seems obvious to me it's not the flame angel. I guess I'll leave the clam in the QT for a couple weeks to let it fully recover, then try adding it back to the display. I'm not sure there's any reason to keep the flame angel in the QT any more. It's been in there with the clam for 3 days and the clam looks great.
 
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