I need some BIG help here

[twilliard]

This is what I found thismorning when I woke up.

I stired it around a little and this stuff got every where (mainly on the left of my tank)
Here is a shot of some of this "stuff" on a string

It looks like it is comming from my clam. There are some zoos and shrooms around the clam. This has never happened in my tank before. At first I thought something died, but all is alive in my tank.
The zoos around my clam are in SAD shape now. Like they are getting choked out. At lunch today I cleaned this "stuff" off from around the clam but when I got home from work it was all back again.

Do clams have any sort of chemical warfare stuff? I do not know what type of clam this is but it is pretty and I want to keep it like that.
WHAT IS IT?
WHAT DO I DO?
besides freak out

Thanks all!

 

[Krish]

Wow man! Never seen anything like that! Chris is pretty sharp when it comes to clams (chris&barb) so maybe he will know. I hope it is nothing bad and everything works out well

 

[twilliard]

Thanks Krish

I too have NO idea what is going on.

Nothing seems to be bothered by it except for the shrooms and zoos on the clam base.

I just noticed that my mushrooms are all comming off the rock?? Like they are moving away from it?

 

[ronj]

do you have any leathers? it is kind of hard to see ,but it looks like the film that leathers release every now and then.

 

[twilliard]

Nope I dont have any lethers.

It realy looks like it is comming from the mantle of the clam.

 

[chris&barb]

was it coming out of the ex-current siphon (the tube part)of the clam?

if so i would check your PH ,Alk and temp. i would also run some extra carbon and maybe a 25%water change(hold off on the water change for now)

 

[chris&barb]

looking at the pics again it really looks like its spawning. most of the time its caused by stress, so check your temp, Alk and Ph if any of those are out of wack you need to correct them but do it very slowly(take a day or two).

have you started or stopped any additives or made any other changes to the tank?

 

[twilliard]

No no changes have been made to the tank.

One issue I have been dealing with is temp swings. 77 to 83 daily ( a chiller is in the plans)

Other than that all the numbers are ok.

The wife calls it "cob webs" in the tank.
oh and no it is not comming out of the ex-current. I realy cant tell where its comming from.

 

[nccmike]

If its coming from your clam it could be pinched mantle.
My clam got it when I first put it in the tank.
Had todo a 10 minute fresh water dip to clear it up.

Was not nearly as bad as yours. usually it comes on slowly.

 

[twilliard]

Ya this was overnight

It seems to be clearing up but most all the mushrooms have now came off the rock the clam is on.
Its just weird to me.
I will run some carbon just to make sure theres no chemical buildup.

 

[chris&barb]

i dont think its pinched mantle.

do you have a vermeted snail on the side of the clam or on the rocks near it

http://www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/0897/0897_8.html

 

[twilliard]

I thought about that one.
Yes I do have one of those snails but about 12" away from it. Also that snail doesnt make NEAR what was in the tank but it was the same kind of stringy stuff.

PS.. is that your pic? what camara can get such a closeup??

 

[chris&barb]

no its not my pic (stole it from google)

are the mushrooms and zoas doing this?

 

[MarineTeng]

i have two of those, what should i do with them, i was actually just thinking about posting an id thread on it, my lets that stuff out and gets over my frogspawn, it seems to use it as a net to get food, it actually eats my ever annoying algae, but doesn't clean the rocks, just gets the free floaters

 

[twilliard]

Thats what that kind of snail does. It sends out the threads like a net and eats the floating stuff in the water.
Actualy IMO kinda cool to watch.

But does a clam do it

 

[chris&barb]

it does use the slime to catch food, but i dont think it eats algae. there ugly but harmless

 

[MarineTeng]

i think it's kinda cool too, but it's growing on my frogspawn stalk, i'll probably break off the frogspawn soon as it is, mine's more brown then the picture earlier

 

[chris&barb]

But does a clam do it

no. clams are primarily photosynthetic.

 

[Aqua Addict]

i do know that one a year corals in the wild, well, reproduce! It usually happens at the same time. Everyone releases this milky white substance(no comments please..LOL) and the currents bring it together, for both male and female. Is the clam relatively new? It could be trying to reproduce, but i'm not 100% sure.

 

[MarineTeng]

ya, i've heard about that too, i believe i've read they often do this under stressful times, reproduce to survive, i remember reading about people pouring vodka or ammonia liquids into the tank to get clams to spawn, i don't remember where i read this though, sometim when i thought clam breeding would be facinating, (not that it wouldn't be but just too many projects and too little experience right now)