Pohnpei Clams

[OscarBeast]

I was just wondering if anyone has dared to keep these clams since the recent problems? Has anyone bought any recent Pohnpei clams with other clams and not had any problems? I like some of the different colors, but I am still worried about that disease.

[ADS]

My understanding is that the 'clam disease' was from wild caught clams. There were some farms that got contaminated from wild broodstock used for breeding in ocean holding systems. The disease was self-limited and no longer a problem.
Small clams have a high mortality for a number of reasons, disease being one of them, predation primarily. Larger clams over 3 inches are years old and more resistent. Bacterial infections continue to pose problems especially for smaller clams and has driven most to consider
measures to prevent this such as UV.
I'm interested in hearing what others have heard and any negative occurrences. Adam

[peterlin98]

The 'wild' clams that I bought from last year. 3 are still around, some died after I fresh water dipped them. I really miss some of the clams I bought. I added another 'wild' clam last month. I added two more today, green and black - I'll try to take photos once they settled in.

These are mixed with my 30 other clams - most are from Clamsdirect. I probably have 40 clams - I haven't recounted lately. I lost couple clams last week.

Since last September, some died and some survived. I cannot blame my problem on disease. Because if it is really disease, I should loose the entire clam. At this moment, maxima, gigas, hippo, deresa are doing wonderful. Most of my crocea are upset for some reason.

One wild maxima is particularly gorgeous - photo does not do this clam justice. I like the pink/orage edge - and the pattern/texture inside of this clam. Very striking and different from most farm clam.

[Barry N.]

I have to agree with Peter, if the clams were diseased then he would have lost them all.

A friend of mine bought a few of those clams from FFExpress a few weeks before they sold out and he has them in his tank with 3 others farmed clams and has not had a problem.

Was told by a friend in the business that some of the ones that they were having problems with was due to the collectors and shipping methods. Some were be shipped with the clam not being fully submerged in water to save on shipping cost from the Islands. That has been resolved so I have been told.

No doubt that those clams are very pretty IMO. I don't have one yet but may try one and quarantine it for a month or so then see what happens in the main tank (Personal Tank)

Barry

[nvert]

so what's up with drsforestsmith buying out ffexpress? just went to the ffexpress site to check out the pohnpei clams you fellas are talking about and woah.....not there.

[OscarBeast]

Thanks for your replies so far guys, especially you peter. That is exactly the type of information I am looking for.

[peterlin98]

nvert -
ffexpress was a good source for wysiwyg coral and clams. drsforestsmith absorbed ffexpress mail order business, and did not intend to run it as a separate business. drsforestsmith continues the diver's den through its Liveaquaria.com store. From what I see - selection of clams is not impressive. And you're right, clams are gone - probably people bought them all. There were only 6 last week. ffexpress used to get 20-40 at a time - lot of selection if you get to the page early. I have no idea what liveaquaria.com shipment schedule is.

Yes - I was concerned about clam disease - but ffexpress said that they kept their clams for 2 weeks before selling. I expected that because it's in any vendor's best interest to quarantine their stock - only sell the healthy ones to public. There are many other causes that lead to clam death and I don't think anyone has all the answers.

I think that I've gone through a combination of irritation from water, snail, outbreak of refugium crash, overfeeding of DT's, etc, fresh water dipping, shipping stress, mysterious teardrop clam death, etc. who knows.

Nonetheless, I buy clams to add color to my tank. I'm hoping that someone else will continue to offer clams - wysiwyg - style and from different regions, so us internet shopper can see what we are buying.

Clamsdirect sells good, healthy farm raised clams. I haven't bought any lately because I'm looking for larger maxima with unique patterns - and I find these in clams from chuuk or pohnpei.

[ADS]

I agree with most of the above and realize that there will be bad experiences despite the excellent measures we take to keep livestock alive. Quite often mysterious demise of clams is attributed to some unknown source. Knop and others however note that every clam death has an explainable cause...infection is low on the list. Poor harvest techniques may be one reason. As some experienced clam keepers have mentioned before that ruptured byssus resulting in loss of adductor control can lead to problems with natural clam functions including digestion, respiration and even defense. Noncommensal organisms now have access to the internal organs of these clams.
Early gapping may be an indicator or retention of substrate beyond the orifice may also clue one in to the health status of a clam. Adam

[Barry N.]

Have to agree with most of what ADS says. Poor collected speciments can results in death over weeks and evens months.

Just got back from LA and met with several people regarding this so called clam disease, will not go into it now until we get more facts. If you wish to know a little bit more, feel free to give me a call or drop me a e-mail.

Barry

[ADS]

My wholesaler just gave me the 'skinny' on the clam disease. I'll spill the details PM/ email/or call 914-399-7057. Adam

[Barry N.]

Guess I am a person that I have to see something for myself.

Stopped by Jeff's Exotic Fish weeks ago and saw that he was selling some of these clams in question. Asked if he has had a problem with them, " Not since last September". Surely he would know if there was as his customers would have contacted him. Same story from others.

Bought some Pohnpei clams 4 weeks ago and put them in a system by them selves, not housed with other clams. None of my tanks share the same water or equipment, not even cleaning supplies.

I have my own personal clam tank and I mixed Pohnpei and farmed raised clams in that tank and have not had a problem. Pictures attached. But then again, I have NOTHING in my tanks except clams and 2 fish.

Sorry, I am not convinced that there is a mystery clam disease. Like Peter has said, with as many clams as he keeps, if there was a disease it would most likely wipe out his whole colony.

Again, this is MO and ME.

Regards,

Barry

[Minh Nguyen]

I got 20 clams in my tank right now and have not bought a clam for several months. It got to be a nice clam before I put it into my tank.
I think there are clam diseases out there but I don't think that only getting farm raised clams will prevent one from getting a disease into the tank. I think any clam may cause disease to start in a tank. There got to be several diseases out there. Some are bad new while others are mild. We tank chances when we add new animal in out tank. That's all there is to it.
BTW, the disease that almost wipes my clams out came to my friend and I from a farm-raised clam, via an extremely reputable dealer. I don't think it was the dealer's fault so I will not put the company's name here.

[Barry N.]

BTW, the disease that almost wipes my clams out came to my friend and I from a farm-raised clam, via an extremely reputable dealer. I don't think it was the dealer's fault so I will not put the company's name here.

You are saying this clam was a farmed raised clam??

Clams are no different than SPS, fish, etc.

If you start a run of RTN it can spread, or fish disease. This is the change we take everytime we introduce something into the tank.



Alway best to quarantine EVERYTHING before placing in display tank, Even clams

[Minh Nguyen]

My friend ordered the farm-raised clam. It was sick and spread the disease to all the clams in his tank. I was naive (or cocky) thinking that it was his tank condition, rather than a disease that is causing his problem. We tried to see if puting a particularly beautiful Maxima from his tank to mine will save the clam. It did not and in the process, it almost wipe my clams out.
That was how I came to know about the"pinched clam disease"
Minh Nguyen

[Barry N.]

Minh,

Certainly not debating with you at all but this clams could have picked up something in your friends tank as well.

The thing I have found out over the years that when I clam dies, you must get it out of your tank ASAP and do several water changes as it can and will foul you tank water and other can die. Good practice is if a clam does not look up to par, take it out and place in a q-tank. Don't wait for it to die in the display tank.!!

I have a 15 gal tank that I can set up in 20-30 minutes for this purpose. Even a 10 ga will work. ( 9.99 at petco)

Barry

[Minh Nguyen]

Originally posted by Barry N.
Minh,

Certainly not debating with you at all but this clams could have picked up something in your friends tank as well.

.......
Barry

Barry,
My friend and I got our clams together (Scott L) as you know. At the time (2001) most of his clams were originally from my tank. The clams were healthy with no problem. The growth were good, and there were no death for well over 1 year. I never actually have any problem with my clams before and after the my tank got the disease. I can tell you that I know for sure how he got the disease into his tank, and how I got the disease into my tank.
Just live and learn. I learn that adding clams into a healthy tank have potential of adding disease into a tank. I don't have quarantine tank and will not set up one at this time because I don't have the room for it. Sup-optimal quarantine condition can be very detrimental to a weaken clam. I know that at least two of the clam diseases are so infectious that one sick clam will likely infect all the clams in the tank, even befor he show much symptom. (white spotted clam disease and pinched mantel clam disease)
Minh Nguyen

[Minh Nguyen]

BTW, I do not think clam disease is a big problem. The vast majority of clam death are because parasitic snails and because of sub-optimal tank condition at the LFS or at the reefers level.
If I think that clam disease is significant problem, I would quarantine all my clams before I put them in with my prize clams.
Minh Nguyen

[OscarBeast]

peterlin98,
Barry,
ads,

How are your clams doing today guys? Any new developments?

Barry N., I have to ask, is that image a shot of that new clam tank you are selling? Was that taken through the viewing area? If so, that is fantastic! So many pretty clams...
*sigh* Peter is probably going to buy all of those too.

Well guys, I also posted this thread on RC, and got many replies. From what I have read both hear and there it seems that the solution is simple. IF there is or was a disease, getting healthy clams still seems to only be a matter of buying from a reliable source.

Like with fish, I would imagine they can and do get sick and diseased. This isn't a matter of where they originated, but from how and where they were housed. If they were poorly collected and put into nasty conditions with mixed livestock, there is not doubt that this is going to result in something bad. You don't buy fish or corals from somewhere that has sick animals and nasty tanks. I think buying clams needs to be the exact same way.

[peterlin98]

OscarBeast -
My clams are still doing well. I added 3 new clams from Barry - and they are doing fine since Saturday.
Yes - I'm getting 2 more - can't resisit.

I'm thinking about replacing my fish tank - and get a new clam tank form Barry. It's a big decision. I like clams - but I'm not sure what I'll do with all these clams. It would be nice to breed them - get new color and patterns. But that requires resources that I don't have.

oh..I'm finding that my clams do better when I don't make big fuss over them. Maybe it's because my tank is stablizing. I haven't feed them DT for a while now...got too busy with orchids and work. They are doing better...even the crocea.

[Minh Nguyen]

Originally posted by peterlin98
.....
I'm thinking about replacing my fish tank - and get a new clam tank form Barry. It's a big decision. I like clams - but I'm not sure what I'll do with all these clams. .....

That is very easy. Send them to me, or I can go up there and get them from you. :-)

oh..I'm finding that my clams do better when I don't make big fuss over them. Maybe it's because my tank is stablizing. I haven't feed them DT for a while now...got too busy with orchids and work. They are doing better...even the crocea.

Same here. I have never feed my clams DT. I do feed my tank well and feed the whole tank multiple size Golden Pearls.
I hate to disturb the clams by tanking them out of the tank all the time.
Minh Nguyen