Previously happy clam closed and looks unhappy

[D E N I N O]

Hello all,

My Squamosa clam looks unwell, today I came home from work to find it was closed up.

It's been happy for a while, I've had it for over 2 years at this point. It's probably 7" tip to tip at this point and it's grown 1.5" since upgrading my tank in May. I left for work last night at 8pm and fed my tank, everything looked happy including the clam.

I've tested parameters and nothing looks out of balance.

Ammonia/Nitrite 0
Nitriate 15ppm
Alk: 8.5
Ca: 410ppm

These are normal readings for my tank.

I've not changed anything recently from normal other than switching to frozen food from flake food as I ran out but I normally feed frozen 2-3 times a week anyway so that's not really that out of the ordinary.

Where do I begin with this? I really don't want to lose the clam, I've had it since it was 1.5"

Thanks

 

[D E N I N O]

Ok I have had an inspection of the clam and noticed a lot of bristleworms at the base of the shell where the foot is. Some were in there pretty tight, I've removed them all and put the clam on a piece of acrylic instead of directly on the sand bed.

Could that have been it? The clam showed signs of life when I touched it, it closed up 100% which is encouraging.

I'll be truly gutted if I lose the guy

 

[DeniseAndy]

I understand your worry. You checked for pyramid snails also? They can come in with inverts (I found out the hard way on that one). Could any fish have decided to test it for food? I had a couple fish after years decide to eat my clam mantle.
Any change of lights? Also check it did not damage its foot. I had a derasa split itself during a rather violent close once and it did not recover, but took week or so to finally die. Poor thing. It was large though.
It is good news that it is reacting. Get it settled, leave it alone and hope it comes back.
Wishing you the best.

 

[D E N I N O]

Thanks for the reply!

I've not added any inverts since adding CUC in May/June. I didn't see any pyramid snails and I did look for them.

Fish don't seem to have touched it, I have:
4 x longfin anthias
2 x clowns
1 x silver belly wrasse

I don't think any of those are known for eating clams but could be wrong?

Other than the bristleworms living under the clam near the foot I could not see any issues or damage.

Fingers crossed!

 

[DeniseAndy]

I cannot see those fish bothering it either. The bristle worms my be going after dead tissue if the clam is not doing well.

I hope it comes around. In this case, I may consider moving it to a flat piece of acrylic or egg crate off the sand to keep critters away for a bit and easier for you to look for snails. Squammies are usually more tolerant of movement.