Maxima clam help?

[mr123]

I might be jumping the gun here but I just got a maxima clam from pacific east.com . The clam seemed to be open more day 1 as seen here

http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/...B-347A-421A-9B3C-77A0A68A6A13_zpsifdwbfeo.jpg

Day 2 he's not opened up as much as seen here is there a problem my water parameters a fine

http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/...1-4654-416B-B8C7-C03FC0358F2D_zpslnpzuguy.jpg

Any insight would be appreciated thank you.

 

[this is me]

Ooooh. That's definitely not looking good. To be honest, I think the clam is FUBAR at this point. When I see the mantle and flesh receding into the shell, it's too late.
The hermits are not helping either. I would put a half cut plastic bottle to protect the clam but there's little you can do at this point.

 

[sonreef]

That does not look good, just my take!!!! You can see it splitting from the shell, test by moving your hand or an object on top to see if it response.

 

[reefstarter]

is it sitting on sand or a rock ? they like to attach to a rock for one . and 2 yeah fubar , big time

 

[mr123]

is it sitting on sand or a rock ? they like to attach to a rock for one . and 2 yeah fubar , big time

I put a shell there so he could attach

 

[mr123]

I just got the clam yesterday what the hell coulda happened ? And what do I do now ?

 

[CoralJunkie]

I'd remove it from your tank asap before you have some serious problems from it.

 

[CoralJunkie]

Imo it didn't look very good in the first pic either. You can see how the clam is open but barely has any mantle extension. Then in the second pic it's much worse

 

[reefstarter]

yeah , sorry bud , hope my comment wasn't too harsh , but I don't think its going to make it .

 

[JohnK]

Clams are delicate. It's not too uncommon for them to croak right off the bat like you are seeing here even when tank conditions seem OK.

That said, "OK" tank conditions can be a bit of a relative term. With newer tanks and tank keepers things tend to be much less stable than is realized. Does the tank have a reliable ATO system? Are Ca and alk in target range AND corrected/supplemented daily? Temp changes? You can seem to be doing everything right and by the book, but the tank isn't really stable for over a year and sometimes much longer. Clams tend to be easily stressed and killed in newer tanks that haven't gotten to this longer term stability. I'd say if you haven't had SPS doing well for over a year, then it's a good idea to wait on clams.

 

[mr123]

I have sps and Lps and there doing great. Tanks been up for a little over a year I have an ro system religious on water changes and my calcium is sitting at 430 when I put the clam in all my levels are fine..sucks its frustrating I appreciate the help I'm sure you all have been there clams cost a lot of money. Obviously never had one before but your saying it looked bad in the 1st pic. I don't know if it was something w/ the shipping. It got overnighted .. I'm just trying to figure out what I did wrong now. Again thanks for all your fast responses and help.

 

[JohnK]

Sounds like your tank is on the good end of newish, and nothing sounds off. Unfortunately clams are like that, they can be like adding a new canary in the coal mine.

I agree that it didn't look %100 in the first pic, but it also didn't loot terrible. Sadly clams often crash fast when moved or introduced into a new tank. IME they usually look great fast, or iffy then dead fast. I don't recall seeing many clams that looked kind of stressed on arrival and then looked great with time. Hard to say if it's stress, high sensitivity to things that don't bother other sensitive livestock, or other factors.