Hundreds of Clams at QT Aquarium

[TWallace]

Dang tipped me off about this yesterday. QT Aquarium in downtown Seattle has literally hundreds of clams that they got Friday night. The owner showed me his invoice showing 200 each of crocea, maxima and squamosa clams. The place reeked of clam when I got there because, as you may expect, many clams died in shipping. So they were cleaning out clam shells when I got there.

I asked if they gave a discount for PSAS and showed them my card. He looked like he'd never seen it before, but told me he'd give me 10% off. However, when he rang me up, he actually gave me 15% off. I wasn't going to argue with that. The clam prices are pretty good, even without discount. $25 for small croceas, I think maxing out at $55 for large (5"+) croceas. Their maximas were disappointing to me, very bland colors. They did have several teardrop maximas, but they looked dull to me. So I picked up 5 small-medium croceas with great color. With discount and tax applied, I paid $134 for them.

Here's pics of what I got:

Here they are next to my 8" derasa that I've had for over a year and a half:

They're all currently in my refugium while I try to catch my coral beauty from the display. Then I'll put all 6 clams into the display. That flourescent bulb in the fuge is enough for the derasa, but not for the croceas.

I inspected the shells of all the croceas and did not see any pyramidellid snails.

Here's pics of the store:

DOA bucket:

 

[TWallace]

Forgot to mention, QT Aquarium is at 5th and Jackson in Seattle in case you didn't know. I'd never even heard of the store, but Dang says it's been around a long time.

 

[soyadrink]

I was there as well but couldnt buy a clam because if they looked ok they were probably diseased. I saw a lot of pinched mantle. they also had two copperband butterlys in with only clams and of course they were just going around nibbing on the clams just to stress them out even more. I only saw one teardrop that I really liked but as said, I didnt want to risk it as my last deresa died on pinched mantle and I know how fast it can happen.

 

[JackCastle]

I've never had a clam. What is a pinched mantle?

 

[surf_buddy]

I've gottem both of my clams from Andy over at QT, and they are doing great. My maxima I've had now for 6 months, and my corcea I've had for two months. I go by QT at least a couple times a week since it's down the street from my office, and they have great prices on IO too! $35 for a pail all the time. If you live close to downtown QTs is worth checking out.

 

[BCT182]

I picked up three. A green/blue, a gold, and a purple/gold crocea. Looking very nice in tank and got a great deal. One of the clams I would put in the "ultra" catergory.

 

[jamiehill]

I just got back from QT Aquarium. They are only a few blocks from my work. I didn't even know they were there. I picked up a couple small clams. They are acclimating right now. I will take some pictures of them in a couple hours or so when they are in the tank and opened up.

This is a pretty cool little shop. I was expecting to just see a couple tanks of saltwater, but there was actually quite a bit.

 

[jamiehill]

I got the clams in the tank and they are fully open. I don't see any evidence of pinched mantle and there were no pyramid snails on the clams.

As a bonus, I found my black clown that dissapeared a few weeks back. He was back in the back chamber of my aquapod. What a bonus. I was convinced he had died. I had nearly emptied the tank and looked for him when I was putting in my sandbed. He swam into the return chamber and back underneath the middle area. I just happened to see him poke his head out while I was looking down at the return pump chamber. 2 hours and a halfway drained tank and he is back in the main display.

Nothing like a near death experience to bring you out of your shell. He is much more social and is swimming all over the tank. He used to just hang out in one spot near the top of the tank. Now he is all over the place.

 

[JackCastle]

ok, well i guess i'll answer myself and maybe help other noobs as to "what is pinched mantle?"

It is a disease that is easily cured. So whats the big deal? Dip the clam in fresh water that's the same temp and ph for 30 minutes shake it and voila no more pmd.

here's a link:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/jf/index.php

 

[barrierreefcf]

ok, well i guess i'll answer myself and maybe help other noobs as to "what is pinched mantle?"

It is a disease that is easily cured. So whats the big deal? Dip the clam in fresh water that's the same temp and ph for 30 minutes shake it and voila no more pmd.

here's a link:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/jf/index.php

Unfortunately its not that easy. It can reappear within a few weeks, we don't know anything about the pathogen(?) that causes it, its life cycle, how its spread, and not all clams react to a freshwater dip the same. I've read some threads where people ended up dipping their clams every two weeks for a year and still lost the battle. Everyone is anxiously awaiting more info from the work that Barry N. has been leading for a few years now.

 

[JackCastle]

I'm guessing the water is too bitter. If you look at the clams with pmd they look like this:

Notice the "pinched" look. This is caused by too bitter of a liquid. Now water is a liquid, and I'm just making an educated guess so please don't start a website saying you've figured out pmd based on my assumption, but that liquid is probably too bitter.

Next step, find a bitter-proof water. Maybe we have to go north, as the land of Canada is referred to as "bitter-cold" and none of them have this human version of pmd. Anyways gl

 

[jamiehill]

Here are a couple pics of my new clams.

 

[KrautBurner]

cool,

I'll have to check that place out


anyone know what there hours are?
(I work "Graveyards" in DownTown)

 

[mschrissygil]

Does anyone know when they get their big clam shipments in?

 

[chend2]

Yeah can't wait to see Croceas on the endangered species list.

 

[Red C Aquarium]

he has a collecting permit, i think its 450 clams each month, thats a lot of clam meat