6 inch tear drop T. maxima is dying

[peterlin98]

Gene and all -

I lost my 3 inch tear drop last week. Today I found my 6 inch tear drop on its last leg. (see picture in thread - best clam) Its mantle shrunk deep in the shell - I thought it was dead but it is still holding on the shell. I bet when I come home from work this morning that it will be dead.

This is so sad - because I look high and low for a tear drop. My guess is that both clams were not shipped right - box arrived with water leaking and box was cold. Since it wasn't DOA - I thought I would get them to recover.

So far I lost 4 T. maxima. Here is my observation/opinion - I lost 2 from fresh water dip - and 2 from shipping stress. The two that died - well - they did show slight mantle pinching. After fresh water dip - they slowly go down the hill and never recover. I dipped 25 out of 30 clams at that time. There was one T. maxima that took more than 7 days to slowly regrow its mantle. I was caught by surprise that I lost a large 6 inch - very round and heavy - wild clam to fresh water dip. It was doing beautiful prior to fresh water dip. I thought I see a slight pinch on mantle - and since I'm dipping all - might as well include it. Well - it did not make it. So size did not matter. I would think that larger clam has more reserve to hopefully help them survive the fresh water dip stress...or maybe not.

There is still alot of unknown in clam keeping. They are just so pretty - make me want to keep them all. I thought they are easier to keep than coral...sigh. ...

[zhenya]

Oh man
So sorry for your loss Peter.I lost a 5" squamosa the other day as well.Can't even begin to understand why,it was looking beautifull all day and next morning it was in its shell and slimed all over.I just cursed and chucked it in a trash can.The derasa next to it looking just fine and gigas in same tank doing good also.So my point is,cometime clams just die for no apperent reason it seems
Again,sorry to hear about the tear drop.
My teardrop died in a first few days after arrival as well.I swore I'll never buy one again but I'm sure now that I probably will.

[EastCoastClams]

peterlin98, that is tuly terrible. I hope you have better luck next time.

It is awefull when a thing of such great beauty dies.

[nvert]

sorry as well peter. i lost a teardop a few days ago. seemed to be too far gone with the pinching and the dip just pushed it over the edge. i'm holding off on more clams for several months and give attention to some sps frags for the time being. early spring i'll be shopping again though for these beauties.

good luck peter.

brad

[peterlin98]

Thanks all for your kind words. Big tear drop passed away this morning. I had a slight hope that it may recover - for whatever miracle. In most cases - once a clam is going down hill - it is gone.

I am not going to say that I won't buy another tear drop again - but I'm curious to know from those who own one - how long they keep theirs alive. I would like to get a healthy one to begin with - maybe I'll have better luck next time. I know Darren had just purchased a gorgeous tear drop - and it is large too. I'm wondering if they are just more sensitive when being moved around (changing hands from original location to our tank).

Well - I'm in the market for a tear drop.. but I probably will wait until Barry has one and when the weather is good to ship. I did find this one for sale at ECORALS. It is very pretty. Very tempting. but not right now.

http://www.ecorals.tv/product.cfm?si...73711&pid=1115

"Yes, a teal spotted maxima clam that measures in at 7.5", and just in time for for the holidays!! I've held this clam for over a month before posting it - to make sure its' well aclimated and healthy. As always, you'll get our 5 day guarantee - even on this awsome clam! Imagine... if I could only photograph this clam form the top view - intead of side view through the glass!"

[Captain Clam]

Sorry to hear that news from you Peter. I'm also sorry to hear about your squamosa Gene. That is such a bummer. I lost a squamosa awhile back and couldn't figure out why. It went from looking normal to dead in one day. I have since developed a suspicion that my ocellaris clowns may be to blame. I have seen them on occasion stir up a ton of sand making a place to sleep. When they do this, I have seen them get a considerable amount of the sand on my clams. I am wondering if they managed to inadvertantly blow too much sand into the incurrent siphon and the clam just choked. Oh well, we may never know, either way I'm sorry about both of your losses.

[Palmetto]

Geez, Peter, that BITES!!

Mine is still doing better everyday, knock on wood. It is adjusting to the 250-watt MHs (from VHO) fine from what I can tell.

You can see some places where the zoox was breaking up a little around the center from the lower light levels, but it opens more each day and adjusting to the halides.

(I switched my BRIGHT USHIOs out for some old, dim Coralifes for about a month to make sure I don't cook it!)

Here is a pic from 2 days ago:




Man, that one at e-corals looks like a very healthy one at a good price (considering!) It's as big as mine or bigger if they measured it like normal people. (I am not going to comment on some of the clam-measuring practices I have seen recently. I am sure someone reading this knows what I mean!)

Peter, again... my condolences.