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Aquacultured Clam from Neptunes, and way too much flow

kinetic

kinetic

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So I got a great aquacultured maxima from neptune last weekend, Robert had some awesome ones. Anyway, I put it in my tank and immediately opened up big (I turned the vortechs to a minimum). Quick reaction time and everything.

Then I turned the flow back on, and nowhere I put the clam allowed his mantel to not flap around like crazy. I'm pushing about 7500gph through the display (48x20x20), and lots of open space.

The clam yesterday moved below some rocks in the shade, lower flow, but no light. The mantel won't extend past the shell edge now.

So then I gently pulled it (byssal threads were hanging onto the glass) and put it up behind some rocks to see if that would help, but even retracted so that the mantel doesn't go over the edge, I could still see some flapping.

I'm thinking there is just too much flow going on for the clam. I like it because the corals are fat, and there's nothing left on my barebottom. I also really like watching hermit crabs tumble around when they lose grasp on the rock.

So either:

1. The clam is just sick and dying for some reason
2. The flow is too high?

I have a continuous water change that keeps nitrates really low (4.5 gallons a day is changed out with a total of like 110 gallons of water in the system). So the water params are spot on.

Anyway, never owned a clam before, I thought given enough Ca, light, and good enough params for touchy SPS, it would do... but maybe the flow is destroying it?
 
Art,

I am no expert in clam, but is it possible you get the pinch mantle syndrome?
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_4/clams.html
I do not think the flow can bother them so much per your explanation above, but I can be wrong, though.
Maybe someone else can chime in.

Roy
 
Hey Roy,
Thanks for the reply!

I checked that out a couple of days ago, but the mantel doesn't look pinched at all like the pictures. At least not yet? It's just retracted kind of far in there but uniformly. I'll try turning the flow off for a few hours and see if the mantel comes back out tomorrow.

I'll take update pictures tomorrow when the lights come back on.
 
I think you are right. I would guess too much flow too. Clams like light, so it must be responding to the high flow, for it to be trying to hide. Could you find a lower flow spot or divert the power heads away from it?
 
It's very unlikely that it's PM. These clams that I just got are 100% US raised and have never been expose to the same water as wild clams from VN that are known to be PM prone. For this same reason, we never mix aqua cultured clams with wild clams in the same water column.

What we noticed in the shop though is that for some strange reason, these little guys are a bit sensitive to initial intense lighting. That's why we placed them on the bottom of the tank. We used to lose a few on the first batch that way, before we realized what was going on.
 
I put him up in a different piece of rock. He seems happier now and the mantel is coming out a lot more! Byssal threads have also attached to the rock. I think this might be a good sign?

4177624597_21397973df.jpg
 
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