Clam Death
 

I woke up this morning to find my blue squamosa clam's shell open and cleaned out. Water quality doesn't indicate any issues. It was nice and open all day yesterday and wasn't showing any signs of distress. The coral in the tank are also open and not showing issues.

I think my cleaner shrimp might have attacked it. It was persistently trying to open the shell after lights out.

Are cleaners known to predate on clams? It never went after it until last night. The tank is fed 3x per day and I do a water change often enough to keep things stable. There's no reason for the shrimp to have decided it was hungry.

It was probably already dead if the cleaner shrimp took to it.

So strange though... it wasn't gaping. It was open and beautiful yesterday. Nothing bothered it until last night as far as I'm aware...

What else is in there? Could a cleaner shrimp eat a whole clam overnight?

Typical cleanup crew (nassarius, astrea, and trochus snails, peppermint shrimp, 2 cleaners, marble starfish), 2 clowns, a royal gramma, a mandarin, and the usual hitchhikers. When I found the shell, it was covered in mostly bristle worms.

I'm sure my cleanup crew only went after it after it had died, but I can't for the life of me figure out why it died.

I lost mine today too, most likely to shortening my lighting schedule to combat algae. $100 down the drain [emoji30]

Clams can be really twitchy and often on the way out long before they show symptoms. Personally I think starvation is the most likely cause of death, though getting picked at by fish has resulted in the demise of clams in my system. My approach these days with clams is to work out how much light I think they need and then double it. Your cleaners and CUC is just doing what it's supposed to.

This link might help.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/3/aafeature1

I was feeding it ultra grade clam food once/week. Not sure it was starvation.

Anyways, it's gone and it's done. Nothing to do about it now.

I was just curious to know if cleaners are known to kill clams or not.

bristleworms love to kill clams. they get in through the foot if its not properly closed off yet. then kill them from the inside out. once clam opens up its a feast for all.
Sucks had it happen to mine before too. If not the worms, then u have a monster strong crab in the tank.

at least a lesson was learned. I always tried to get a flat rock under them in the sand for them to grab ahold of. then the tendons or whatever they are latch on to the rock and close off the base.

Though all clams are different, this has been my experience.

My clam attached itself to a rock that I placed under the sand. It was a squamosa so I figured it would be happier on the sandbed than on the rocks.

Anyways, now it's just a matter of me deciding whether it's worth the risk of getting another clam or if I should just continue adding coral. My reef is still not complete (not that it ever will be :P).

well, reading that article i am most likely wrong anyways. Get another. just make sure it has enough light etc. I found the durasa clams to be real hardy and beautiful. Vivid has nice ones or im sure you can find one u like.

Tridacna clams need light, not food to survive. feeding them won't overcome a light deficit.

no they don't. this is just patently untrue. bristle worms are scavengers, not predators. they don't eat things that aren't already dead/dying.

there are a few types of brisstle worms that kill clams but unlikely according to the article posted. some can even bore through the shell

Don't sweat the cleaners. They were just getting a free meal. Bristleworms too, but same thing... free meal, not assassins.

With a squammy, lots of good light and good water quality are all that they need. Clams are the ultimate in false positive - they will spend all of their energy trying to survive and then just end updated months later when they were dying the whole time. The only way that you can tell a real positive is if the clam is putting on new shell growth - not just the white area that the mantle keeps clean, but actual growth. A blue squammy should be able to grow at least an inch a year, if not considerably more.

Also, clams usually don't do well in new tanks.

Tank isn't new and the clam was getting plenty of light. Water is changed very regularly, hence the ultra grade clam food. Gotta add something to the water for it to filter if I'm keeping the water that clean. ;)

What kind of lights do you have?

My was is SPS clean with near zero N and P and the clams do fine without any food.

i think you're confusing bristle worms for eunice worm, aka bobbit worms.

two very different critters. eunice worms are the stuff of nightmares. easiest way to tell them apart is that eunice worms sport some easily identifiable head gear in the form of tentacles.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog...rms-were-scary

Maxspect razor 320w LED. Lights were on a 12 hour cycle, maxing out at 60% blue and 50% white midway through that cycle.

Did you ever do periodic checks for pyramid snails on its underside?

Yup. I checked for them pretty much daily. It was a new clam so I was excited to keep it. I also gave it a good scrubbing before putting it into the display tank.

You are probably not going to want to hear this, and it is hardly scientific, but I am starting to think that most LED lights are not good long-term for clams - I have always thought this about Crocea and Maxima, but this is no huge negative since they require even very power MH or T5 to survive too. Ca1ore had a large long-term squammy die suddenly a little while after switching to Radions - I never would have guessed lights, but I am starting to change my mind. This is another case.

I know that squammys are not super high light clams, but there have been too many deaths under LED to ignore when they even do quite well under lower wattage T5 and MH still.

...again, not scientific, but something to keep in mind perhaps. I don't expect anybody else to agree, but just be on the look out.

Pyramid snails irritate clams to death if they are not treated and removed - this can take many months. I have never heard of them just killing a clam out of nowhere.