It's me again, Oyster question..

[Buster]

Hello everyone...

I had something interesting happen to me this past week.
I was at the LFS looking to purchase some new mushrooms. I'm still in my trial period. 2 3/4 th's months into this reef stuff . Here's how it goes... I find a mushroom rock I'm interested in and purchase it. It cost about 27 bucks and had about 9 mushrooms (Red & green). The rock looking very much like an OLD, DEAD clam or Oyster. Or rather, two old dead clams fused together by time and over lapped with years of calcification and barnacles since moved on. Finding this specimen to my liking I rescue the mushrooms and bring them home.
Well to make a long store short ... What I thought was a rock turned out to be two oysters completely disguised as a chunk of live rock. They open up just a little and breathe the water slowly. It's a cool thing to watch...

Only problem is I don't know how to take care of it ! AT ALL!!!

Please help?????
Buster

[Homer]

I wish I could help you but I am new to this and haven't a clue. I will be following the posts to learn myself on how to keep them alive.

Best of luck to you. I am sure someone will help you. This is the best board!!

HOmer

[Buster]

Originally posted by Homer
I wish I could help you but I am new to this and haven't a clue. I will be following the posts to learn myself on how to keep them alive.

Best of luck to you. I am sure someone will help you. This is the best board!!

HOmer

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Nobody has reply'd about the care of them yet. Hopefully soon.

Thanks again
Buster

[Alice]

That's really cool!

Mollusks like that filter-feed from the water and should do fine with the addition of phyto-plankton. I use DT's live culture but you can also get the freeze-dried stuff.

I'm not sure about water temp but if they've had mushrooms growing on them for some time, I wouldn't worry about them.

Alice

[vulkum]

i use the freeze dried phyto from ESV. marine depot carries it or reefanatic its about the best deal out there at 9.99 for 2oz and my corals and clams seem to do fine with it. i remember my first set-up i had a little tiny mollusk of somesort on the live rock and i thought it was the kewlest thing . just feed the tank at least once a week (depending on your bioload) and they should do good.
aaron

[beach bum]

Nice surprise! Actually the exact same thing happened to me, I got some green mushrooms on an old clam shell, only the clam opened up! They are non-photosynthetic so all their energy has to come from filter feeding. I have chosen not to alter my feeding regimen just to keep this clam alive. I don't think it's possible to provide enough planktonic foods for it to survive long-term, without compromising water quality that is.

Cool find, though! - here is a picture of the one I found:

[Buster]

Originally posted by beach bum
Nice surprise! Actually the exact same thing happened to me, I got some green mushrooms on an old clam shell, only the clam opened up! They are non-photosynthetic so all their energy has to come from filter feeding. I have chosen not to alter my feeding regimen just to keep this clam alive. I don't think it's possible to provide enough planktonic foods for it to survive long-term, without compromising water quality that is.

Cool find, though! - here is a picture of the one I found:

I just want to know if there is a perl in there....hahahah
Is that possible? I'll try to get a pic of it asap. I only feed invert food. Is that the same stuff to feed clams or Oysters? It looks very old.

Thanks
Buster

[FishDaddy]

Buster,
How big are these oysters? If small, they should do fine with the food particles from your regular tank feeding.
I have found small mollusks living in live rock; just spotted one the other day I'd never noticed; about 1/2" long. It's just about buried in the rock and covered with coralline.
Can you get a picture?
May you be blessed with a string of pearls!
Dick

[Buster]

Originally posted by FishDaddy
Buster,
How big are these oysters? If small, they should do fine with the food particles from your regular tank feeding.
I have found small mollusks living in live rock; just spotted one the other day I'd never noticed; about 1/2" long. It's just about buried in the rock and covered with coralline.
Can you get a picture?
May you be blessed with a string of pearls!
Dick

I'll try to get one soon. To answer your question It's about 6in. in diameter with a smaller one about 4inches in diameterfused on top of it. I'm dien' to show it to someone. It's really cool. It's so big I didn't even think it could be alive. Pretty neat. I'll keep my fingers crossed and do my best to keep it a live. But it's killing me to think there could be a little treasure. It makes it that more fun.
Thanks
Buster

[Buster]

Originally posted by vulkum
i use the freeze dried phyto from ESV. marine depot carries it or reefanatic its about the best deal out there at 9.99 for 2oz and my corals and clams seem to do fine with it. i remember my first set-up i had a little tiny mollusk of somesort on the live rock and i thought it was the kewlest thing . just feed the tank at least once a week (depending on your bioload) and they should do good.
aaron

I'll do my best at keeping this thing alive. I'll try to post a pic soon.

See ya
Buster