lost 2 gold maximas

[wanareef]

Got in our first clam - a nice blue/purple maxie and it's doing great. The little bleaching down the middle is coloring up but the incurrent siphon area. We are hopping that soon it will color up as well.

A friend needed to house his maxima - his bi-color blenny was picking at it so it is sitting next to ours. I saw that dr mac & son's had 2 gold maximas, and had to have them. Supposedly they were 2" but if our maxima was 2" then what they sold us was 1"-1.5" gold maximas. (sorry for the long post)

Lost #1 two days ago and lost #2 this morning. The other two are doing great. I feed DT's once a day with a "hat" made of a soda bottle with the bottom cut out I place it over the clam and squirt in the DT's throught the top. When the green is gone I move on to the next one and so on. Would one clam spike the tank?

Following params:
ph 8.0
alk 2.6
NO3 .25
NO2 0
PO4 .25
NH4 .5
salinty 1.024
temp 78'f

[Casey]

yes a clam dieing cant spike a tank trust me especially if it is a small tank,keep and eye on all levels maybe a water change sorry about losing your clams I feel your pain.

[srfmon]

Sorry to hear about your clam loss. I like that "hat" feeding idea.
How long have you had them? Maybe it was the stress of shipping? Did you contact the E-tailer & let them know what happened?

[Sue Truett]

Clams that small IME, would of shown some signs of stress before their being shipped. The size alone is considered baby and a 2" clam is right on the edge of being able to live without supplemental feedings of DT's. The fact that both of them died that close together to me means something was wrong before they went out. The clam problems of last year supposedly with entire clam populations being wiped out are thought to be gone as they found out what was causing them, BUT I would carefully watch the clams you still have.

This the the whole reason I will only buy clams from Barry of clamsdirect. They are healthy and if not he will not send them out. I went through the deal of loosing every clam I had in my 120g and it is not something I ever want to go through again.

[wanareef]

The original two are doing great.
I got these from dr mar&son and this will be the last time they get my business or my $$. I called him and let himknow of the condidtion and all he said was " I have no gaurentee but on arrival" and you are SOL. My last words.

I have seen Barry's clams and his look awsome, so in the future, if I order anymore clams - he will get my business.

thanks for the replys

[Aged Salt]

According to recent threads here & elsewhere, Maximas have been carrying a "disease". I have lost three over the past 2-3mos. Has to do with a certain importer. Have since added 2 croceas[3wks. ago] without any apparent problems. I would suggest waiting on maxi's until after Sept[cooler temps]

[yardboy]

Buddy of mine got in a shipment of maxima's and either they or something else in the shipment had flatworms, got all over his community tank. Can flatworms bother clams?

[wanareef]

aged salt

Do you remember the name of the importer or the area infected?

yardboy

Not sure on the clams but the FW will cover a coral and deprive it of light and die. The FW's would probably iritate the mantel so it won't open. Just off the top of my brain

[ASOYER]

The small maximas were most likely farm- raised from Marshall islands(ORA clams). These are normally very healthy clams if kept under the appropriate conditions(light, feeding etc...) I keep these clams and have been amazed at their 'hardiness'.
The stress of shipping can sometimes be detrimental especially heat these days.
Sue is correct regarding maxima problems last year and 'very' recently. These were wild vietnamese(not really Ponape) and soloman maximas.
Knowing your supplier is key to getting healthy livestock. Clams should be held for 2+ weeks IMO before sale. Wild clams can create problems with hitchikers(parasitic snails, worms etc..)
The wild clams are very desirable due to their great coloration but be careful and be confident in their source.
Croceas have been coming in regularly and are healthy, wild collected clams.
As for dying clams-they can definately pollute a small system if not removed in a timely fashion. At first sign of demise it is best to remove and quarantine if possible. I have saved a clam or 2 this way in the past.
Adam

PS- this is a great site!