What in the WORLD happened to my clam????

I wish I could get my camera to take a good pic because to me this is really bizarre.

Literally last night my clam was fine. Then today I'm walking by my tank, and much to my dismay, his shell is there, but he is GONE! Actually I can see his "body" or whatever lying next to the shell, and there are lots of bristleworms around, obviously taking advantage of the free meal. But good lord. How did this happen overnight?

I don't know what other info you may need to diagnose this. I would dose the tank 2x a week with DTs Live Phytoplankton, and also Kent Marine Coral-Vite. :-[

I've had this guy for more then 6 months or so, and yea it was my first clam so maybe I didn't know what to look for, but I didn't see any signs of distress. He was about midway up in the tank, under MHs, with perfect water quality.

This is just....weird. Especially since he looked totally fine last night.....wtf?? :-[

 

wow, that is wierd. I dont have a clam yet, but im gonna follow this to see what people have to say. That is wierd how it just left its shell!!! I hate to hear about you lose, clams are so coool.

 

That is quite normal. Clams do not exhibit a great deal of symptoms when dieing. I would suspect it wasn't doing well from day one. Could have been stressful harvest or even damage to it's foot. sorry for your loss.

J

 

so their like an anemone. They slowly just wilt away, and then just start stinking. Ill keep that in mind when I get one.

 

What size Crocea was it? They won't eat phytopalnkton(atleast not the kind sold in liquid form). The plankton is too big and they will basically spit it out like a cough or sneeze.
They feed on nano plankton, yeast, DOM and nitrates and as they get bigger and their zooxanthellae build up they will use light foor food as they will feed on the waste from the zooxanthellae during photosynthesis.

Crocea and Maxima's are the hardest of the clams to take care of and are the most light demanding Tridacna's!
Sorry to hear about your clam!! I have had a couple clams die as well, and as you you are like wow, what the heck happened...it was fine?

Water parameters are very important as are eliminating changes in salinity etc. to quickly.
I have had three tridacna's now for atleast 8 months now with no problems(knock on wood) Squamosa, Gold Teardrop Maxima, and a blue Crocea.
I would try again, if not a Crocea again, maybe a Squamosa or Derasa!

 

They will eat phyto but like you mentioned, not the larger strains that usually come in commercially prepared mixes. Luckily, we have the know how to make our own so that's never a problem. Do you make your own or have you found something commerically that is small enough for your clams to consume?

 

Correct. Clams that are dying will usually only show signs of distress from a few days to a few hours before they finally kick it. It could be sick for months and you won't even know it until you wake up to an empty shell

 

Annik, I have been told that they will eat yeast, yup that's right Yeast from the supermarket used to make breads etc.
i believe that if you take the phyto and put it in a blender you may be able to make it smaller. Nitrates and DOM are also good to have in your tank that is why my nitrates are usually around 10ppm with no ill effects to corals etc in my tank.
I dont get clams smaller than 3" in size however so I don't have to worry about feeding them as my lighting intensiy feeds the Zooxanthellae in their tissue to feed them.
The best way to determine if the food is too big is they will close and open as if they are coughing or sneezing to rid it from their body. they cant handle bigger phyto unfortunately as you know!!!!

 

http://www.3reef.com/aquarium-page-Content-viewarticle-28.html
this may help you in the future!!!

 

Clams die from the inside out. While it looked fine to you it was probably already well on it's way. It really could have been anything. Parasitic snails, not enough light, harrassment, anything. If it was disease, it probably would have shown symptoms before croaking like the mantle shriveling, crinkling, bleaching in spots, etc.

Sorry to hear.