Golden Maxima Help!

[JArnold]

Recently purchase a small golden maxima - 4” about a week ago. The clam hasn’t fully extended since acclimating (slow acclimation at around 1hr15mins) or started to put a foot down. The foot looks fine with no damage as far as I can find.

Tank: 120g planet aquarium system
Lighting: (2) Hydra 32hd

Tank is a little over a year old and growing softies, lps, and sps fine…

Parameters:

Salinity: 1.025
Ph: 8.1
Phos: .19
Nitrate: 12
Calc: 430
Alk: 6.7
Mag: 1800 (I know this is high - water change to slowly bring down this weekend).

I have not checked the par but could the lights just not be enough?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I have previously had clams but that was many years ago in a much older system running t5/mh.

 

[SaltyWalty]

How long has the clam been in the tank?

 

[crazyfishmom]

A few things… besides the magnesium being high your alkalinity is pretty low. Clams love light… is yours responding if your hand comes near it? Does it contract? Looks a bit rough right now.

 

[JArnold]

How long has the clam been in the tank?

A week tomorrow.

 

[JArnold]

A few things… besides the magnesium being high your alkalinity is pretty low. Clams love light… is yours responding if your hand comes near it? Does it contract? Looks a bit rough right now.

It does. I was worried that my sailfin may be bothering it but I have not observed any fish messing with it. It does retract when my sailfin (largest fish) swims by it. My urchin did grab it yesterday for a short trip but its status has been the same before and after.

I have also feed phytoplankton so food is available.

As far as Alk - what should I target?

Thanks for your replies.

 

[crazyfishmom]

It does. I was worried that my sailfin may be bothering it but I have not observed any fish messing with it. It does retract when my sailfin (largest fish) swims by it. My urchin did grab it yesterday for a short trip but its status has been the same before and after.

I have also feed phytoplankton so food is available.

As far as Alk - what should I target?

Thanks for your replies.

Since it’s a bit low I would think about raising slowly up to between 8-9 dkh. That’s generally a pretty safe range.
Do you dose alkalinity at all? Do you know how stable your tank is when it comes to alkalinity? Which salt mix do you use? I know… too many questions. Trying to think of the best way to try to raise those levels slowly and safely.

 

[JArnold]

Since it’s a bit low I would think about raising slowly up to between 8-9 dkh. That’s generally a pretty safe range.
Do you dose alkalinity at all? Do you know how stable your tank is when it comes to alkalinity? Which salt mix do you use? I know… too many questions. Trying to think of the best way to try to raise those levels slowly and safely.

Haha the questions are fine - I appreciate your help. I have been in reef keeping off and on for a long time but now that I am older and settled in I am actually paying attention to parameters and trying to be consistent.

I am currently not dosing. Last month my alk was at 8. I just switched to Redsea Blue box (I believe this used to be called coral pro?). Previously I was using reef crystals.

I do have have a doser and some brs sodium bicarbonate. I am also going to do a water change tomorrow (~20g) in hopes of leveling things out.

How about the lighting? Are the hydra 32hd’s enough? They came with the tank that we bought. I have always ran t5/mh and before I kinda got out of the hobby I had started building my own LED fixtures. So I am not super familiar with the hydras. I would assume for the price they should be sufficient? Haha!

 

[JArnold]

Also I just wanted to add that I did check for snails before purchasing.

 

[crazyfishmom]

I really do think that alkalinity may have something to do with it. If you’re seeing drifts it might be time to start dosing. Your trace elements may also be low if your alkalinity is dropping like that.

Hydras are solids lights but of course it all depends on where you have them set and the distance of the clam from the light. I attached my lighting schedule below. What’s yours like?

 

[JArnold]

I am running a slightly modified version of David Saxby’s schedule.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I don't like the placement, it looks like it leaning in a weird way, it doesn't make me comfortable to see that, it should be straight, facing up, with nothing around it.

Be careful there isn't too much flow, it will not expand fully if the flow is too much.

Lights are a concern for sure, and you should try to find out the par level (should be 250-300+ minimum IMO), but it would not be receded like that simply over lower light. In a low light environment, it will just slowly die over months. Its something else thats keeping it closed.

Personally I would move it to a more suitable spot, maybe its the picture angle, but I don't like that spot at all. With that said, I get the impression you've touched it a few times already, ideally, once its set down, it should not be touched again.

 

[JArnold]

Personally I don't like the placement, it looks like it leaning in a weird way, it doesn't make me comfortable to see that, it should be straight, facing up, with nothing around it.

Be careful there isn't too much flow, it will not expand fully if the flow is too much.

Lights are a concern for sure, and you should try to find out the par level (should be 250-300+ minimum IMO), but it would not be receded like that simply over lower light. In a low light environment, it will just slowly die over months. Its something else thats keeping it closed.

Personally I would move it to a more suitable spot, maybe it’s the picture angle, but I don't like that spot at all. With that said, I get the impression you've touched it a few times already, ideally, once it’s set down, it should not be touched again.

Correct. It has been moved. My urchin decided to grab it once so after that I placed it in an area with less flow and slightly higher up. The condition is the same.

 

[JArnold]

Everyone - I just wanted to again say thanks for your help. I dont have a lot of experience with clams but hopefully with all of your help I can get parameters inline enough to be able to keep them.

 

[Charles Zinn]

Personally I don't like the placement, it looks like it leaning in a weird way, it doesn't make me comfortable to see that, it should be straight, facing up, with nothing around it.

Be careful there isn't too much flow, it will not expand fully if the flow is too much.

Lights are a concern for sure, and you should try to find out the par level (should be 250-300+ minimum IMO), but it would not be receded like that simply over lower light. In a low light environment, it will just slowly die over months. Its something else thats keeping it closed.

Personally I would move it to a more suitable spot, maybe its the picture angle, but I don't like that spot at all. With that said, I get the impression you've touched it a few times already, ideally, once its set down, it should not be touched again.

could start as low as 146 to 180 and go up from there. and make sure n0ot to move if foot is down can go thru sand to bottom of tank.

 

[Charles Zinn]

could start as low as 146 to 180 and go up from there. and make sure n0ot to move if foot is down can go thru sand to bottom of tank.

 

[minus9]

How about a FTS and updated pic of the clam? This could help us have a complete picture of the tank and where best to place the clam. They can take a good amount of flow, but you don't want the mantle to be pinned down, but it's perfectly fine to move around a little. Clams in the wild see more flow than in our tanks, so unless it's sitting directly in front of a powerhead/return, you should be okay. They will orient themselves based on flow and lighting, so it's best to place them where they can move a little, but not jump off. Provide at least 300 micro moles to start and go from there. If the mantle isn't fully open within a few days, then I might start to worry.
I don't like fast acclimation with clams, even if you purchase from a LFS close to you. Acclimating too fast can cause a lot of issues with clams, so always take your time, they'll be fine in a container for hours if needed. Remember, these clams are exposed to air during low tides.

 

[JArnold]

How about a FTS and updated pic of the clam? This could help us have a complete picture of the tank and where best to place the clam. They can take a good amount of flow, but you don't want the mantle to be pinned down, but it's perfectly fine to move around a little. Clams in the wild see more flow than in our tanks, so unless it's sitting directly in front of a powerhead/return, you should be okay. They will orient themselves based on flow and lighting, so it's best to place them where they can move a little, but not jump off. Provide at least 300 micro moles to start and go from there. If the mantle isn't fully open within a few days, then I might start to worry.
I don't like fast acclimation with clams, even if you purchase from a LFS close to you. Acclimating too fast can cause a lot of issues with clams, so always take your time, they'll be fine in a container for hours if needed. Remember, these clams are exposed to air during low tides.

This was the placement after he was moved from the first location. In the pic he is closed up because my fish thought it was time to eat and started all coming out. I will post a pic shortly of just the clam.

After several small water changes the alk is now at 8.

 

[minus9]

I think your placement is fine, but the tank looks pretty new, so I'm not sure how developed your system is at this point? You might need to rent/borrow a par meter and see what you're providing the clam is enough. I honestly think maximas are one of the toughest clams to keep and not a beginner clam (I know you mentioned you kept them before) so experience really helps here. As per my usual advice, I would buy this book and make sure you have a good understanding of their care. The good news is, it looks like the clam has been taken care of and there's new growth on the shell, so at least it's been growing. It could be stress from a quick acclimation? It's really hard to say/guess. I would strongly suggest that you start implementing a dosing regime to keep alk/ca/mag stable, especially alk. Unless you're doing daily water changes, you parameters (alk) are swinging too much, which isn't good. You can start off by dosing kalk (clear effluent) to keep up demand until you add more corals, then switching over to another method that suits your routine.
Based your your last round of pics, the lighting doesn't seem to be too strong, so I would make sure you have enough to begin with for the clam.

 

[JArnold]

I think your placement is fine, but the tank looks pretty new, so I'm not sure how developed your system is at this point? You might need to rent/borrow a par meter and see what you're providing the clam is enough. I honestly think maximas are one of the toughest clams to keep and not a beginner clam (I know you mentioned you kept them before) so experience really helps here. As per my usual advice, I would buy this book and make sure you have a good understanding of their care. The good news is, it looks like the clam has been taken care of and there's new growth on the shell, so at least it's been growing. It could be stress from a quick acclimation? It's really hard to say/guess. I would strongly suggest that you start implementing a dosing regime to keep alk/ca/mag stable, especially alk. Unless you're doing daily water changes, you parameters (alk) are swinging too much, which isn't good. You can start off by dosing kalk (clear effluent) to keep up demand until you add more corals, then switching over to another method that suits your routine.
Based your your last round of pics, the lighting doesn't seem to be too strong, so I would make sure you have enough to begin with for the clam.

I appreciate the advice and the book recommendation. My knowledge of clams is less than that of corals and fish but clams are something that I would really like to keep. I am working on finding a par meter to borrow so that I can test settings as well as adding some t5 to minimize shadowing + increasing par. The tank is younger but I feel that it is very well established overall. Other than the clam everything is thriving and growing at an amazing rate.

Update as of 8.24.24 - the clam has arranged itself and seems to be happier. I am keeping a close eye on alk and testing about every 3-4 days while dosing to maintain ~8dkh.

Thanks for the advice and help. I will continue to check back in with updates. I’m sure I’ll have more questions

 

[minus9]

Hopefully it'll improve with time. Maximas are not beginner clams and I find them a little finicky. Keep us posted.