Tridacnid clam

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ewelch

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jan 8, 2006
Messages
66
Location
Upstate NY
My wife surprised me with a Clam today. I believe it is a Tridacnid crocea. She had already placed it in the tank when I came home. She said she acclimated it for temp and water. My tank parameters are NH3 0, pH8.2, temperature 82, Nitrate 0, Calcium 420ppm, Alk 120ppm.
The problem is the clam is large and partly open. It does not respond with complete closure. I noticed an emerald crab had grabbed hold of it's mantle and was pulling at it. I moved the clam to another area on the rocks infrequested by crabs. It was on the sand bed. During the move is when I noticed it did not respond. The clam is fully retracted from it's shell and the shell is partially open.
My wife was so excited to show me her surprise and equally disappointed when the clam seemed distressed or dead. Any ideas? It now has been in my tank about 7 hours.
BTW I do have MH lighting augmented with actinic for a total of 9 watts/gallon.
 
Not sure but it sounds like it might not have been acclimated right. How did she acclimate it? The crab could be a problem. If you catch it there you`ll need to put in the fuge or take to the LFS.
 
She acclimated him for two hours. She floated the bag in the tank for 30 minutes and then proceeded to add water to the bag with a turkey baster (dedicated to feedings and acclimation). She said she had increased the volume of water in the bag to twice the original volume.
Do you think that this clam will recover? I have since removed the three emerald crabs from the tank and relocated them to another tank. What a pain. Although I realize movement of the clam is not recomended I did palce him back on the sand bed. He looks like he may have opened up a bit more. Again he did not respond by closing at all.
 
Ack! Sorry to hear about that. I have found liveaquaria to be a great resourch, as well as this site. She can check it out to or even register here and learn with the rest of us.
 
Did you wife remove the clam from the water when she placed him in the tank. Any clam species with the exception of T. Gigas is doomed if they are subjected to air, they must remain submerged at all times.
 
I have never heard that Macman. I take mine out w/ no problems. Do you have any links that state this, I'm a little concerned now heh. Thanks
 
Hard to say what was the cause of its demise. Possibilities include damaged byssal followed by bacterial infection, shipping/handling stress, and I'm sure having its mantle constantly grabbed at wasn't helpful either. On a side note, most Tridacnids tolerate being lifted out of the water ;)
 
I am sure some searching on the internet would turn up some documentation on it. I first became aware of it from my LFS who, when I bought my first clam roughly 9+ years ago, told me not to lift them out of the water since air would become trapped internally in the animal and it could develop a fatal infection.

James Fatheree who writes an article for TFH actually spoke about this in one of his articles, I think perhaps the one about T. Gigas. He said that many T. Clams have such intricate piping within their bodies that being exposed to air, and allowing the air to become trapped can kill them. He went on to say that T. Gigas lives in areas that when the tide drops they becomes exposed to air possible for hours and have adapated to this, meaning they can safelty be lifted out of the aquarium

I will say IME clams are hit or miss. It seems like you either get a healthy specimin that does well or one that just wont come around. One things to check for are any clam predators such as bristleworms or other inverts. One animal that I recommend keeping if you plan on working with T. Clams is the Six Line Wrasse. Those little guys prey on bristle worms and some other clam predators.
 
Is it possible your lfs misquoted or misunderstood the article in question? "Gas Bubble Disease" and/or supersaturation has been known to be fatal, but not induced by air exposure. Fatherree has mentioned in articles of lengthy, non-compromising air exposure and that Tridacnids can even be fw dipped for specific maladies such as "pinching" of the mantle...
 
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