Derasa clam.. help please!

[duijver]

Hey guys,

I've had my Derasa Clam in my tank now for 4-5 months now and he has been doing really well so far. About 3 days ago he started to lying down and was closed up most of the time. This started after doing a 20% WC.

Two days ago he started moving around the tank a little and disappeared behind the rockwork and always appeared closed. Last night I moved him to a lower portion of the tank and it opened up about 1/8th of an inch instantly, but I noticed that his foot looks frayed.

Does it look like something pulled him off his rock to make a snack of him?

ALK is on the lower side 2.29, PO4 is 0.03-0.10, Nits are 0, am 0, Mg is 1290.

[jonnosteams]

I dont have a Derasa, but my Squamosa detaches frequently to turn and move and his foot will look like that.

What lights are you using?

[duijver]

That's positive (about the foot), but in all my time having him he has never moved. Other than turning to his side to catch some food and he would snap back up. So, maybe the extra PO4 reading and the lower ALK is making him unhappy.

He is in a 47G Tall (12"24"36") with a TEK 36" 4x39w T5 (2-12K, 2-atinics). 11h daylight and 12h atinic time schedule. I've also been running carbon and phoslock on the tank for 2 days in a media bag, but to be honest it's in an area that is too high of flow.

Tank is pretty high flow. I have 2-K2's, a mag3 running to a small wetdry converted to a sump/ref, and a cheap-o ventri based skimmer that is based on a 120-160gph rio 800.


Thanks!!

[jonnosteams]

test you calcium. you may be low.

maybe some of the other clam guys will chime in.

[potterjon]

I was under the impression that derassa clams lost their feet sometime when they grew up. I have a derassa and sometimes I have seen a foot, but really couldn't tell. Your alkalinity seems really low.

[aquawolf]

Did the flow change recently near where the clam was at? I moved some powerheads around in my 75 gallon and my Crocea let go of the rock it had been on for over a year. I found a new cozy place for it out of heavy flow and it has been there ever since. You may need to use a rock to prop it up until it can secure its foot again.

Best of luck with it.

[kyrie_eleison]

interesting.

[Loverotties]

Originally Posted by kyrie_eleison

Clams are gorgeous additions to a tank. However, they are absolute hogs when it comes to calcium. They grow well under proper conditions. Just a good rule of thumb, I would recommend you keep your calcium level around 400+ and your kH around 9+. If you're able to maintain those parameters, you should be alright. Even your Nitrates and Ammonia should never spike since clams absorb those as well.

I agree with this ,but being so deep I'd go with T5HO or better yet mh not just T5s.

[kyrie_eleison]

interesting.

[duijver]

Thanks guys for the responses. I do have a TEK lighting T5 lightning system so I don't think light is the issue. Calc and dKH is usually on the higher side (360-450 Ca) and 10-12 dKH.

Before I picked up the clam I did some research and I saw that under good conditions it was not uncommon for them to double in size a year! That is crazy.

He was attached to some LR eariler, but now he's sitting on the crushed coral bottom. I really need to buy a media reactor and run some carbon and phosoban in it. Maybe even a UV. The non-green algae is getting out of control, and although I have a feeling that some of it may be miscolored (black(?)) and brown coraline, there is a major piece of tonga that's filled with some type of algae and the algae/nitrate/whatever scrubber is just not doing it. Even the macro is going out of hand! So, the clam may be unhappy about that.

I would be interested in seeing the yellow clam though. I don't think that i've ever seen a yellow derasa.

[kyrie_eleison]

interesting.

[duijver]

Hey guys, I just wanted to update you on this guy.

He might be dead at this point, but I'm not 100% sure. Only about 99%.

He refused to ever attach to anything again. I tried placing him on the bottom, in-between rocks, etc etc. He would constantly tip over and end up in a bad position (upside down, sideways, etc). About a week / week ½ ago I saw that it was gasping / gulping. Basically, it opened a little and closed quickly. It never opened up completely once it was torn/fell from its original resting place. In hopes of minimizing any damage to it, I placed it on the frag rack and there it has sat since: Closed.

I did another level check tonight and nitrites are showing as <0.25. Ammonia=0, Mg=1120, Alk/Kh=2.70/7.6, Calc=360, Phosphates=0,PH(high)=8.0 or 8.2.
I’ve been doing 30-50% water changes every 2 weeks over the past 3 months. I know it’s pretty extreme, but I’m trying to break my algae issue through exportation.

[aquawolf]

Sorry to hear about the possible death of the clam.

Hopefully your continued diligence with water changes and maintenance will pay off soon in your algae battle.

[jonnosteams]

it's almost like he doesn't like it in there for some reason. I wonder if his mantel is getting picked at or maybe the flow is too great.

[duijver]

At this point.. I can't see how water changes are going to fix my problem.. to be honest.

It's been over 4 months of extremely aggressive water changes and only 1x a week feeding of my fish. Heck the hermits are eating each other and the sepent star is eating my snails he was so hungry.

I'm running phosoban and i've tried SantaMonica's scrubber design. Even though it did indeed collect algae it didn't make a "true" impact on the tank issue. At this point I'm using filter socks (changed every 3-4 days) as the "new" method. I'm also going to pick up a BRF reactor to run both carbon and GFO.


... back to the clam.

Is there any method of seeing if he's dead/alive? I would have expected that the shell would have opened easily once he passed. I've also considered throwing him in my 15g nano to see if he was better off there.

At this point I broke one of my K2 Necks so i'm down to the Mag3 for the sump-->tank and 1 K2 for in-tank circulation. So, he does not have directed flow on him.