[popcorn]

Hi all,
I haven't been around much lately, but wanted to run this by some more clam keepers. We ordered a lovely Gigas from Barry (great shipping, BTW) and it had acclimated just fine. Last night I get home from work, and it is really, really retracted. I picked off several of these little whelks...

Has anyone else run into these guys? (It's a long story how we got them... a reputable MO place accidentally sent them out as Nassarius snails, they got into a friend's tank, and at one point, we took in some of his corals on an emergency basis.) I plucked out all the ones I found shortly therafter, but they've multiplied. (The bad things always do, of course.) I was told that they are "dog whelks." The shell is a pretty typical whelk shape, it is black, and has a blurry horizontal white stripe. I'll get a pic soon.

I pulled 3 off the gigas (one was IN it), one off my ultra maxima, and another one in the area last night. Has anyone else has dealt with them? While I am not positive they are the culprit, I have wracked my brain trying to figure out what went wrong. The maxima is completely fine (knock on wood,) and has been in the tank for 2 months. (It's an ORA). I have been pulling these whelks out as I see them, but have never noticed them going after anything... it shocked me to see how they were swarming after the lights went out. (Note, this was well before the other scavengers showed up!)

Other specs for your perusal: Tank is 135g, 30sump, 20 fuge, 3x 250W MH plus actinic VHOs. Circulation is 3 Maxijet 1200s on a wavemaster, plus the return from the sump. Feed DTs every couple of days. Ammonia 0, nitrate 0, nitrite undetectable, pH 8.1-2, SG 1.025. Everything else in the tank is thriving.

We did have a bout of the killer clam bacteria/virus this summer, and it wiped out the two clams we had at the time. The tank went clam-free for 4 months.

Thoughts, ideas and suggestions gladly accepted. It's too late for my poor gigas, though. I'd really been looking forward to charting it's growth, too.

Danielle

[traveller7]

For short term protection I have suspended eggcrate from mono filament fishing line a few inches off the substrate. Crabs, snails and nudibranches did not get up on it after the polyps, etc I was protecting. In my case, the nudi's eventually starved and I was able to return the clove polyps to the rock.

I would think the "dog whelks" will not be as easy but it, should protect the clam until you come up with a solution.

Good Luck

btw: cleaner shrimp just swam up to the platform

[popcorn]

We have a close friend who is a clam nut who was tapped to hold any incoming clams until they completely recover from any shipping stress.

Since they haven't touched the maxima, I have to think that the stress had a lot to do with it. Perhaps they are just the first wave of opportunistic predators. Either way, I like the platform idea. Might have to try that.

Danielle