Derasa Clam mantle sinking in

[quicksilver]

I dont have a picture as of yet but my derasa clam is slowly moving to the left and his mantle is slowly moving into his shell and not comming out as much. My water is good and what not my other derasa died and did this same thing these guys are not small like 6+ inches this should not be happening. Is it the curent in the tank my maximas and squamosa and Crocea Clam are doing Great. I just dont understand. :doubt::doubt::doubt::doubt::doubt::doubt::doubt::doubt::doubt::doubt::doubt::doubt:

 

[DonW]

When you can get a full tank photo. When you say water quality is good what are calling good?

Don

 

[returnofsid]

It could be any number of problems from water condition, too much flow hitting it, parasitic snails, not enough light if the Derasa is lower in the tank, as it should be, since Derasas are sand dwellers. Pictures and detailed information about your tank would help narrow the problem down.

 

[quicksilver]

here it is i have a current usa 48inch light with 150w MH and its in a 75 gallon tank been up and running for 2 years. I had my water tested and everything is falling within the guide lines. no nitrates or what not my calcium was at 450 yesterday when tested. alk is perfect could not be better temp. was around 79 degrees and i check it over before it whent into the tank there are no snails and check it again today its been in the tank for 2 weeks and I slowy increased light over 5 days to my normal 10 hours that it is up. like i said my other derasa went the same way and it was from a show tank. I am about to give up on the derasa i think other clams are easyer.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I am about to give up on the Derasa i think other clams are easyer.

Most likely they gradually starved to death under low light and less than perfect water conditions.

I would recommend you read up on tridacnid clams before buying any more. Derasa is considered the least demanding of them.

James Fartheree wrote an excellent book on giant clams.

 

[quicksilver]

you did not read the top i have a bunch of clams they are all doing great except for my derasa clams i have about 600w on a 75gallon tank more than whats need. I Have read alot on clams own a bunch of books. its only the derasa clams that have problems. water quality is good I even have carbon to clean it up more.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

have a current usa 48inch light with 150w MH

OK guess you're the expert, sorry

 

[returnofsid]

No where in your post did you say that you had anymore than 150 watts of lighting. Derasa are actually the easiest and least demanding of the Tradacnid family to care for. Something is definitely going on in your tank if you've lost 2 in this short amount of time.

 

[quicksilver]

thats what i am thinking I will bring my water to a specialist. Maybe they can bring a little light on the topic. sorry I just figured that if maximas were doing good then you would know that my derasas should be ok at least with light. My squamosa could not be better. there is 2 150w MH and 2 130wat accent lights. total is 560w of light. light bulbs are 3 months old.

 

[DonW]

Its very difficuly to come up with an answer if you dont have any numbers. We see folks all the time that assume their water is fine and when they finally give the test results the numbers are way out of whack. You will find its much easier to provide the information needed when asking these sort of questions, so you cn get the right answers. As far as the lighting goes 560w total is pretty much meaningless, its all about intensity and you have the intensity of 150w metal halides. Depending on the bulbs you may not have enough light.
If you like clams I wouldnt give up on the durasa, they are one of the easiest and grow very quickly into a prize clam. It may be something as simple as how they were acclimated but as much information as you can give will help sort out the problem.

Don

 

[roscoe]

Just curious you say your alk is perfect? What is it? You said you had your water tested did you test it yourself? Do you have any test kits?

 

[Barry N.]

We see folks all the time that assume their water is fine and when they finally give the test results the numbers are way out of whack.

That statement above is SO true. Everytime someone has a problem that is what we hear. There are many things that people do not test for. The norm is salinity, pH, ca and alk and people say everything is perfect when indeed most likely it is not.

Like mentioned above, it could be many different things.

 

[quicksilver]

I had it tested buy jacks aquarium and pets pet land and i also did it. all came out about the same. But
Calcium 450 ppm
Salinity 1.026
Alkalinity 4 meq/L
11 dKH
Ph 8.4
Magnesium not tested
Temp 80 deg F
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Phosphate 0.03 ppm
Ammonia 0.1 ppm

I am going to bring it to a specialist and get to the bottom of this.

 

[quicksilver]

O yah my test kit is a Red sea one I guess it's a good set but not the best by far