What killed and ate my Maxima Clam?

[luv951]

Something in my tank killed and ate my Maxima Clam. It was a small specimen, about 2 - 2.5 inches long. Had been sitting happily in its spot on the rock for maybe 2 or 3 months now. Tonight, it was gone. I found its empty shell on the bottom of the tank. Last night something killed it and ate it.

90 gal cube, yellow tang, kole tang, bangaii cardinal, carpenters flasher wrasse and an ocellaris are the fish.

It could not be a hitchhiker as the rock was all base rock when I started.

There are snails, a brittle star, 3 cleaner shrimp and maybe 40 hermits in the tank. The hermits, snails, starfish were all from reefcleaners.org.

I suspect the hermits, but has anyone heard of this before? A lot of them are generic, white looking with some darker markings. The others are normal blue legs.

[drparker]

You sure it didn't die and then got cleaned up? How big are your stars?

[Reef264]

After sitting here and thinking for second or two about this, The Hermit Crabs are my #1 suspect.40 Hermits could easily demolish a clam overnight, I have read a few posts where some hermits ganged up on a clam and ate it.

[Danny_B]

My Lfs told me that his serpent stars eat clams like crazy. He.said stars and clams don't mix...anyone comment on that?

[Fryman]

I suspect the hermits cleaned up after the clam died...or the clam was sick & couldn't close.

I'm doubtful the hermits would attack a healthy live clam, but 40 hermits would make short work of a small sick/dead clam.

Sorry about your loss

[luv951]

I have one brittle star. He rarely comes out from under his rock, but of course, its a different game at night.

I am pretty sure it didn't die, but then again, how would I know. The last time I saw it (sunday) it was partially open and fully blue - not faded or bad looking at all. What would it look like if it died?

I have read that you should not buy them as small as I did, but of course I only read that after I bought him and only by accident as part of another thread, so who knows if thats true.

The hermits are like bulldozers sometimes too, so I am leaning towards getting them out and into the sump. If I do, what can take their place....obviously to clean up a whole clam in one night, they are doing a good job...are there shrimp or other critters that can take the hermits place?

[luv951]

ohh, and the one brittle star I have is about an inch across at the body...maybe 4 inches from leg tip to leg tip...maybe 5

[Reef264]

I had a Clam go south once, it was pretty closed up, color faded from blue to purple.Followed by cloudy water, and loss of half my corals...darn Pygmy Angel.

[Fryman]

I do think 40 hermits is overkill

I recommend removing most of the hermits. If you put them all in the sump they will likely starve & kill each other.

Nessarius snails do a good job with cleanup off the sand, shrimp will pick off the rocks.

[doctorgori]

I personally never saw the need for armies of hermits...all you end up with is lots of dead snails

[NYCBOB]

i suspect the clam was dying already.

[jdstank]

A brittle that's 5" across could and probably did take out the clam. Brittles and clams do not mix, I've watched my brittle take on just about anything he could get his legs on. I'd recommend not adding any clams in the future unless.the brittle is moved to another tank or traded off.

As for crabs, the best I've personally experienced are the scarlets. White and blue leg crabs love munching on escargo. My scarlets are docile guys that bother no one but do a great job cleaning. They're more costly but losing other livestock can be just as much as the cost savings of white and blue legged crabs vs scarlets. It's possible the crabs are the culprit but my money is on the star if the clam was healthy.

[BigCountry74]

X2 hermits.

always easiest to blame the poor brittle. but the crabs have the numbers in this case (and the baseball bats!)

that sucks though. i know those maxis are not cheap!

[Reef Bass]

Brittle star got the clam. Hermits cleaned up.

[HHIreefer843]

+1 on the star. Same thing happened to me. Went to sleep on a Sunday with a gorgeous clam in my tank. Woke up at 6:30 am Monday looked at the tank and the darn star was still in the clams shell!!!!

[luv951]

so what do I do with the brittle? I have a 75 gallon sump with maybe 100 lbs of live rock and a 15 gallon fuge with several types of macro and maybe 20 lbs of rock....there is an emerald crab in the 75 gal. sump..would the brittle be OK in there?

Or is his value as a detrivore high enough that I should consider keeping him and not getting any more clams?

[Elorian]

One other possibility- do you have nassarius snails in there? When I first introduced my maxima I watched as _every single nassarius_ in the tank dogpiled it, sticking their proboses deep into the clam's shell. Clam tried to close up, but was unable to get a tight enough seal to keep them out. I watched for a minute or two to see if they would back off. They didn't, so I yanked the all out. The clam did recover, but it took over a month.

Oddly, I've got a red brittle star that seems to have no interest (they've been in the same tank for several years).

Just thought I'd pass my experience along. Best of luck!

[luv951]

Thanks everyone for the input. I think its the star, based on all the feedback.....I also think I will hedge my bet and get the biggest, most bulldozering hermits out of the tank. The hermits are easy, but how do I trap a brittle star?

Also, still wondering what some good non-hermit, non-brittle star detrivores are?

[ryancw01]

Random...I just got on here a bit ago to post the same question. I found my maxima yesterday morning with the mantle up against a rock on the bottom of my tank. I threw on some gloves and got in there asap and pulled it off the rock, but it was like something was pulling back on it. It is now missing half of its mantle and looks pretty bad. I set it back up this morning and tonight I noticed it was pulled back to the same rock. This time I found a HUGE gorilla crab pulling it. WOW! This thing was about 2 inches across(my maxima was only about 3 inches).

So I was able to grab the crab and throw it in my sump, but what are the chances of my maxima pulling through? It is pretty damaged...It has been in there for about a year now with no issues.