Is this maxima dying…? It is not fully extending since bought on 4/15, and today it suddenly show very gaped mouth (you can see white flesh inside), the mantle is very retracted, and barely react to light shade… anything I can do to save it?
Is my clam dying
- Thread starter KKY
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- clam health
Sorry . That looks like its on its way out. I also see no evidence of new shell growth so this clam has not been doing well for some time. Was this from the lfs or online?
The mantle is shrunken and tissue receded and hate to say, but I do not see it coming back.
Have any of your numbers changed such as salinity, temperature, nitrate and calcium ?
Any pyramid snails on the shell or crab inside its cavity ?
OP
OP
I bought from a local reefer, he got them from a whole seller and had them for a couple weeks. The other one I got from him is doing fine (I hope)…
OP
OP
I don’t see those snails…. It is a nano tank so parameters are never at the same number (slowly up and down in a small range). The other clam I bought on 4/2 is doing good, and I have kept a handful of arco frags in this tank, so was thinking maybe the environment is ok for clams. Maybe this one is extra sensitive….
Generally aco is a good rule but clams are a little more sensitive with water quality.
changes in temperature, oxygen levels, pH, or alkalinity can make your maxima unhappy. Maxima clams also need light and lots of it which promotes photosynthesis carried out by the zooxanthellae inside their mantle. Without proper light, any clam will starve.
A few numbers to keep in mind with them (ranges) :
Temperature not to exceed 80
Ca not to exceed 450
Ph not to exceed 8.3
Alk not to exceed 11
Salinity best at 1.025
Nitrate not to exceed .08
Moderate water flow
Good lighting
These are ranges and not absolute. If you learn nothing today yet, remember this rule: The more colorful the clam, the more light it requires.
OP
OP
Last test is Sunday, with Alk 7.0, Cal 370 (slowly bring them up) and they are under my hydra 26 80% right under the water surface. I think lighting should be ample, maybe the water is not good…
Alk quite low for clam - at least 8/8.5 and calcium minimum 400-425
OP
OP
Thank you for the advice! I was not sure if the water flow was a bit too strong (the wave maker was pointed at one end of it, but I have moved the wavemaker slightly last week). My parameters are a bit on the lower end (Alk 7.0, Cal 370) for a while, and I am trying to dose more to bring it up. I haven’t tested nitrate for a while, last time is was below 0.9, and phosphate wasn’t moving (I test phosphate more frequently, last Sunday at 0.08). The lighting should be strong enough (right below the surface, hydra 26 at 80%). Hope the other clam will make it…. And thanks again for the advice!
by the way it can still close the shell when i touch it, but smells quite funky. should intake it out now and kill it? i have 25gallon so the pollution could be a disaster, but its reaction makes me want to keep it longer to see if it ever revives…
It should not foul water if it dies
You’ll know for sure in the morning
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Water parameters didn’t kill this clam, it was on its way out when you brought it home most likely. If it was water quality, the other clam would show signs of stress. Was it attached to something when you brought it home? I agree that you can slowly raise some parameters, but I don’t see anything that would cause the demise of the clam other than damage to the bissal organ, pests or not enough light while at the LFS. Judging by the scutes or lack of, this was a wild caught clam and wild maximas have a notoriously poor survival rate.
