Crocea Clam, PMD?? Something else?

[Seanace1]

Hi everyone, im new to this forum but might need some broader advice on this one and this seems like agreat forum! So, my crocea clam has been acting up lately, In another forum I posted issues with my trumpet corals and hammer corals shriveling and concluded it was due to the addition of a biopellet reactor and GFO reactor too quickly, simultaneously... after removing the GFO and reducing the biopellets all came back to normal except the clam. This pic is the most it has opened in the last 3 days, it actually opens up more at night to this level (still not fully) and closes when the daylight bulbs come on. About a month ago I changed one of the 10k bulbs for an aquablue the other daylight and two actinics have not changed. Does this look like PMD? it does release brownish almost spiderweb like mucus every so often, but still reacts to shadows, lights and fish nearby etc. I have seen one hermit crab picking stuff off its outer shell but that is it... Any ideas??


In the pictures, the first two are when I just got the clam, it opened fully. The second picture shows some scuff damage to the mantle that was there when I got it, which did heal and looked fine four days ago. The third picture is what it looks like now, and actually it doesnt even open that much anymore except at night

Also water params are normal, Nitrate and Phosphate close to zero (acclimating the reactors), Nitrite/ammoinia 0, 80 degrees temp, SG 1.025, PH 8.4, 13 deg dkh, 450 ppm ca.
My set up is:
AGA 46 Bow Front Aquarium
Coralife Quad T5HO + 2x Lunar LEDs
14k Aquablue Special,10k Dyalignt, 2x Actinic
29 Gallon Homemade Sump
Skimz SM161 Skimmer
~55 pounds live rock
Frogspawn
Hammer
Var Rhodactus, Disc. Mushrooms
Tons of Zoanthid / Palythoa species
Ocellaris clown fish
Lyretail Anthia
Coral beauty
Mandarin Goby
Scarlett crabs
Blue leg crabs
Nassarius snails
Margarita snails
Bumble bee snails
Strawberry Conch
featherdusters

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

Sean

[Seanace1]

latest picture from this AM :-/

[moliken]

coral beauty! it sleeps at night you say
actually it doesnt even open that much anymore except at night
gfo if it's not rinsed real good can cause probs

[Seanace1]

Originally Posted by moliken

coral beauty! it sleeps at night you say
actually it doesnt even open that much anymore except at night
gfo if it's not rinsed real good can cause probs

Well i pulled the GFO for now, I think the biopellets may contain the job on their own... The coral beauty has nipped at the die of the clam shell before when it was open, but it did not seem to mind... I have observed it for a while and other than the occasional hermit on the side it is not bothered, and the hermits did not bother it much prior. The odd thing is it seems attentive to light and shadows still...

[moliken]

they can respond even when dying. that's not a great indicator

[ange062]

Adding reactors without an "acclimation" period can definitely wreak havoc on a tank! I've personally gone through this and watched many others do the same. It's definitely best to do only one type of media at a time and slowly ramp up dosage.

It may have shocked the clam beyond the point of recovery, the sequence of pictures is not looking good. Not sure what you can do besides a FW dip and hope for the best.

[Seanace1]

So today I got home and realized I left the circulation pump off all day, not that the rreturn pump circulation is insufficient...but anyways, the clam was out, partially, and still reacting quickly to light and shadows, see the pictures all taken in the last hour or so, does it look odd to you, does it look like pinched mantle or just stress? If just shock/stress im afraid a FW dip will just finish it off...if it looks like PMD then I would want to dip it asap...

I feel like I must solely rely on your expert opinions/experience! It is really hard to tell from pictures, it is not one secluded area that is "pinched". The right side of the clam looks a bit more retracted than the left sometimes, but it could just be my view of the shell/shape....

(No one has even responded to my post on thereeftank.com btw, where my reef tank keeping began, I believe you may have converted me!)

[Reeferjunky]

First of all you shouldn't add gfo with biopellets. The pellets alone should be enough
I don't think it's PMD not what I can tell from pictures it mite just be stressed from the rapid change in the water. You say it opens more at night try to shade it while the lights are on.
The brown stringy stuff is excess zooxanthellae it's getting rid of its not a bad thing
I attached a picture of my clam tank hope it recovers keep us posted

[Seanace1]

Awesome tank!

It opened up a bit more after I turned the circ fans back on, it doesnt appear to be open as much towards the top, does that mean anything? Perhaps the water is balancing back out to how it used to be, with higher phosphate/nitrate/nutrient levels....

I added some more DT phyto as well

[ange062]

Wow, its really turned around! Looks 100% normal to me in the latest pictures. Clams always look more open on one side than the other, nothing to worry about.