HELP clams all dying

[daReefPeep]

okay well one after the other my clams are dying the only one that hasnt started is my gigas clam and I dont want him to die. day after day my clams continue to die. Nothing is wrong with my water it is a disease or something anybody know what I should do? freshwater dip? anything? so sad my prize squamosa died a few days ago I just need some help!

 

[krisfal]

I have no advice but it seems like I have seen many of this same type of post recently, it seems to me something might be going around. Had you added any new clams recently? It seems most people who have this problem did not have real recent additions but had added a clam within the last 1-3 months.

Just an observation . . .

 

[DonW]

Some more info would be helpful? How long have you had the clams. Have you added anything to the tank lately (lr, sand anything along those lines)? What controls your temp? How many have you lost? How many are left?

Don

 

[WA coral]

I had the same issue a while back with pinched mantle and ended up loosing 6 out of eight clams.. I would not recomend fresh water dips as I lost many of my clams only a day after doing so and I think the extra stress of the dip put them over the edge. If you dont know what is causing the problem I have had success with just isolateing the clam from the tank I ussally put a large tuperware container in the water floating with no tank water in it and mix mostly fresh saltwater to put in it this way you keep the same temp and lighting but get the benifit of no unexplained water probs or fsh/ inverts picking on them... Look at the base of the shell where the clams foot would be look for small white snails also look for pinches in the mantle. I will pm you my # if you need more info as I wont be at indoor this week andy

 

[daReefPeep]

added a new clam about a month and a half ago died two weeks ago. I added live rock from a guy on here about two weeks ago. I have been watching the clams at night after that one died no snails moved the snail sifted through the sand nothing. I did find a few little starfish on the outside of the clam but they are small and I got rid of those. I have one clam left that seems fine I think its about a 14 inch gigas we have had it for about 9 months. We had the squamosa for about a year it died 3 days ago about 8 inches 1 maxima about 6 months dying right now it wont close up now so I am pretty sure its dead its 4 inches and that clam bought recently 2 inches maxima dead

 

[skinz78]

can you post a pic of the clam?
What kind of fish and inverts do you have?

 

[skinz78]

Any new additives?

 

[daReefPeep]

some purple up but I started to add that a week ago and the clams started dying a few weeks ago

 

[daReefPeep]

on the squamosa on the side of it when I pulled it out of the tank it looked like it had rotten foot or something I wish that I would have taken a picture but it had flesh color on its shell on the outside I used a toothbrush to brush the shell and it came right off it wasnt a worm or anything it looked like part of its foot but really long and had a hole in through it.

 

[daReefPeep]

here is the clam

 

[dailydriven911]

Have you tested your water lately? If so what are the results?

 

[skinz78]

What kind of fish and inverts do you have?

 

[skinz78]

I don't see any new shell growth, what are your water paramaters?

 

[daReefPeep]

our calcium is around450 no nitrite no ammonia nitrate last time I checked 80 but I stopped feeding our eels everday to every other day

 

[daReefPeep]

its pinched mantle I know it is the mantle on my gigas is pinched now

 

[daReefPeep]

we have like 100 astros 100 hermits or more we had a seahare that we got a couple days ago but hes lost mexican red footed snail two eels sting ray foxface sohal tang naso yellow tang blue hippo lionfish frogfish sand sifting star linkia star

 

[WA coral]

it is protozans that is what I was trying to tell you earlier that you are trying to get rid of if it is pinched mantle. I know there are other more expensive things you can buy to treat but ich attack has that listed as one of the things it kills I had my only successes with removeing the clam with new water and seperate from reef no new clams and no clams in the tank for a host to the parasite and treating lightly with it as well as regular / daily/ everyother day 50 % water changes and light water flow.. granted my clams were visibly sick and dieing and I saw a remarkably noticeable improvement in a week or 2 I have read tons of posts on this and as far as I can tell there is no real answer I cannot say for sure what you are seeing is pinched mantle it just sounds alot like what happened to me and I know it sucks so I am just giving you some Ideas as it sounds like doing something is better than just watching them die also just doing the fresh water and frequent water changes may help any bad water conditions insde the tank anyway good luck

 

[chris&barb]

can you post some clear photos of the clams

 

[Scooterman]

One thing It sounds like your doing several things in out that tank, hard to troubleshoot when changes happen that fast, I would do as mentioned & isolate the remaining clams until you can get them healthy once again. How big is your tank? What are you putting in there daily or additives etc. How well are you controlling temps. water changes, through information is important if you want real help.

 

[DonW]

Non of the information posted points towards protozoans, alians or anything other than speculation. As chris&barb stated a pic of the remaining gigas would be helpful. The alk and temp parameters were also left out.
As of now with the limited information and short term that the clams have been in your care I'd say its a spiraling water quality issue.

Don