Dying Maxima !?!

[deanp]

Hi I have a 3-4” Maxima whose mantle has been completely contracted for over a day. Its in a med to low flow area about 9-12” under a 175W 10k halide. The parameters are:

pH 8.3-8.4
Alk 10.1 dKH
Cal 270
NI, NA Amm ~ 0 ppm
Salinity 1.0245
Temp 81 deg

I tried to move it but it appears the foot is still attached so I left it in its spot. I haven’t seen anything go near it so I don’t think anything is bothering it.
I am working on getting the calcium up.
I did a 6g water chg last night. I have a RDIII and I'm curenlty running carbon through a magnum canister filter.

Help!!!

[Ninong]

Hi deanp, welcome to Reefland! [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

How long has your tank been set up? How long have you had the T. maxima?

Yes, you do need to get your calcium up above 400 mg/L. I would suggest increasing your specific gravity from your present 1.0245 to 1.025. At your temperature of 81F, 1.025 = 36ppt salinity, which should be a little better.

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

[Ninong]

Well, you could buy a 6-line wrasse for your tank. They are supposed to be pretty good at eating them. A few of the other wrasses will also eat them. But if you have only one clam and you don't have hundreds of the little pests, you might be able to get rid of them yourself.

According to Daniel Knop your pH is a little high for clams; of course according to Julian Sprung et al. it is perfect for corals. I think your biggest problem right now is in getting your calcium levels up to around 425-450.

Are you feeding DT's, or something similar, to your corals? And do you have a nice biologically active deep sand bed? At 3-4" your Maxima is getting most of its nutrition from its symbiotic zooxanthellae, but it still takes in a certain amount by filtering nanoplankton from the water column. It can only utilize extremely small stuff and will reject anything that is too large so don't try spot feeding it.

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

[deanp]

Hey there Ninong how are you? Thanks for the welcome.

Upon further inspection I noticed about 8 very small snails on him. Some on his shell some where his mantle should be. There are about 1/2" to 3/4 in long, white and conical in shape. I removed all those that I could.

Could this be the problem?

Also tank's been set up for just over a year. I have had the clam for about 1 1/2 months.

PS Thanks again for all your help re my future tank!

[Ninong]

Oh, you're THAT Dean. [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

OK, you have just identified your problem. Yes, those snails are very bad news. They are nocturnal, so if you check your tank about an hour or two before the lights come on in the morning, you should spot even more of them. Check the clam on a daily basis and remove every snail you can find manually. You do not want to let these guys get the upper hand.

Check out this link for pics and more info from Daniel Knop on Pyramidellid snails: http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a...ll/default.asp

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

[deanp]

Yup I'm that dean [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img] and yup those are the snails [img]/ubb/frown.gif[/img]

Thanks again buddy! Hope he makes it any advice other than trying to remove them?

[deanp]

Hi Ninong,

Yes I'm feeding both DTs and brineshrimp direct's tahitian blend. I removed about a dozen of the snails last night. Clam doesn't look good. Mantle is fully retracted. How do I know if its dead?

[Ninong]

Dean ~

It takes a lot of these snails to actually kill a clam. Is it possible to remove the clam and the rock that it has attached itself to in order to do a more thorough inspection? Sometimes it is hard to tell if a clam is dying because certain parts can die first while the rest of the clam appears healthy.

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

[deanp]

Unfortunatley not [img]/ubb/frown.gif[/img] I would literally havre to breakdown the entire reef. It sits on a ledge which several other rocks are ontop off. Any thoughts? I'll keep searching for those little buggers. Its almost inpossible though to get to the clams underside I have been picking them off the top....

[Ninong]

Dean ~

Go back and read the last three paragraphs of Daniel Knop's article (just before the Reefer's Question): http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a...ll/default.asp

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

[FishTechie]

you might be able to use a toothbrush to brush off any snails from the sides of the clam. I have a blue Maxima which has a few of these snails and i can see one side of the clam since it too is perched up on a rock, i brush off the opposite side them pick the snails off the rock...hth