Achilles Tang

No wonder, he was looking at my dog so strangely at our SRC X'mas party! LOL!

You need a Scuba licence to maintain that tank... that leaves a lot of you guys out!

Ahh... an interested buyer!!!

I did consider having a chat applet integrated but evaluating how fast replies come in.. it's almost like real time chat! Also, I prefer if that the info shared here gets archived for prosterity and would be good for referencing (rather than be lost once everyone logs out of chat). A chat room would be great if we have lots and lots of members but I find chat rooms irritating when people are present but silent (away from PC), talk alot of nonsense, ignores you etc. Also timing may be bad for some people to stay in chat constantly as opposed to logging in to check mail, posts something and leave quickly. So... sorry guys...

beep!

For those interested, you can check this thread about clam disease in RC

My tank only has reef safe inhabitants. No wrasses, triggers or butterfly fishes that may attack clams, not even a dwarf angel. Pet... do you have documented proof that cleaner shrimps eat clams?? Tanzy, I intend to treat in a hospital tank. At least with medicine or to give a FW dip. Apparently, this clam disease seems to strike clams one by one or maybe two at a time. I dun really know how it works, even gurus like Mark Knop are stumped. I wonder if it is parasitic snails. Anyway.... one of my affected croceas is now an empty shell. My bristleworms must be very well-fed.

Nice clams. You must be clam freak like I am! You better not buy any more clams in the mean time though. Check out the disease forum. You'll be rather alarmed by the reports.

I have two croceas now in my tank with cleaner shrimps on them eating their shrunken flesh. I am rather depressed now Anyone knows where I can get tetracycline to control this gram-negative bacteria that may be responsible? AT

OMG! IT'S A PLAGUE!!!! How many people are experiencing this?????!

I think about a month and a half or two months ago.

Actually, Wedgee... your quote should come around and slap you right in the face! YOU SHOULD BE TESTING YOUR CALCIUM, PH, ALK LEVELS!!!

Surprisingly this strange malady affects clams one by one... i did a search on 'clam disease' on RC and found that it's a common thing. One by one! ????! I am putting my last green crocea on the rocks up near the water surface. Let's see if it affects it as quickly. Tango... clams process some nitrates but are not wholly dependent on them. It's the younger clams which need phytoplankton to survive (smaller than 2 inches).

I bought my last clam at LCK110! Morgan was there with me!

How about you giving me 300 bucks?

My last clam was from LCK110!!!!

Which LFS is that? That's amazing... a conscientious LFS!!! Oh... you're in Malaysia.. I wish there are such LFS around here! Which one is izzit? I may go up to KL and would like to check things out!

Just a word of caution: dead plankton products need to be kept refrigerated or even in the freezer to retain their nutritional values as exposure will cause decay and lost of nutrition. They also have a short shelf life and are generally very expensive. The bottled 'coral food' you buy should be researched as some of the products have been lab-tested and are found to be mostly water and yeast! They do make some corals exhibit a feeding response but don't supply much nutrition. I recommend Instant Algae as it is close to live phyto in nutritional values but you cannot overfeed! DTs also. If you have the time/effort, culturing live phtyoplankton would be much cheaper in the long run and much much more nutritious and beneficial for your reef tank.

Hi everyone, It is with a sad heart that I am opening up a new category of discussion and I had to be the first one to start a thread here. My crocea clams are dying. One by one. MYSTERIOUSLY! I checked my water parameters and its fine (except for a cyano/hair algae outbreak). Calcium, Alk, PH, lighting is good. I have cut back on feeding live phytoplankton due to the cyano outbreak caused by my undersized PS. I am waiting for my new PS to come in. My sad story began about 2 weeks ago. I came home to notice that one of my clams on my sandbed was being disturbed by a cleaner shrimp which was was on top of it and digging its claws into the clam shell. I chased it away and thought that it was just trying to 'clean' the clam. Odd. The next day, I noticed that the mantle had shrunk into the shell and the cleaner was still there harassing the clam, this time tearing chunks off the mantle and eating it. I quickly removed it. So I lost my first clam. Over the next few days... one by one, my clams began to show the same symptoms. AND the cleaner shrimps were still at it. I moved my clams away from them. I check the base of the clams. Did not see anything. Most were not anchored to rocks and were resting directly on the sandbed. A second crocea died the same way... collapsing inwards. I left it in the sandbed and next day it was EMPTY!!! CLEAN!!! My third clam showed the same shrunken mantle, had the cleaners on it BUT this time round, I spotted a big bristleworm under it! My wife spotted it and told me to remove it but I said no... it's good for the sandbed. I am beginning to kick myself for it. Last night, my 4th clam is showing the same symptoms and I know I will see the same thing tonite when I return home. My oldest clam have been with me for many many months and to lose it last nite was heart-breaking. I have read about this in RC happening before to many aquarists and even heard from X Japan that his clams mysteriously died just like that a couple of months ago. Anyone else noting this trend happening?? I believe it could have started as far back as October last year. I suspect that this 'clam disease' could have come from a common source eg. RW. X Japan... did you happen to get all your clams from RW and when was it? This clam disease is caused by a gram-negative bacteria and can be treated. But the problem is that this medicine needs to be prescribed and I have no idea where to get it. I still have 3 more clams and am feeling helpless. I am checking for clam parasites like tiny snails and also for bristleworms. I even wondered if my cleaner shrimps have learnt to attack my clams? Can anyone share their experiences with me. I have never had this happen to me before.

Interesting. How was the livestock doing then? Stressed? Did your coralline algae explode? I have never heard of someone having 800ppm before.

Personally, the price difference between streams and reeftecs are soooooo far apart... but in terms of performance, they are about the same. THe only thing is that reeftecs don't have the fancy bells and whistles like variable speed/pulsing and the controller. If I have the $$$$, sure.... I would like a Tunze Turbelle Stream set! But $2300 for circulation is ahem... beyond me.

They are releasing excess zooxanthelia... it could be a stress response or it could be too much light... hard to say.

Sponges will do well when they are fed with live phytoplankton. I have noticed a shrinkage when I stopped feeding live phtyo temporarily as I am battling some hair algae and cyano in my tank now.

Nice pix, Morgan... your new G3 I presume!

Joe, a college student, was taking a course in ornithology, the > >study of > > > > birds. The night before the biggest test of the semester, Joe > >spent > >all > > > > night studying. He had the textbook nearly memorized. He knew his > >class > > > > notes backward and forward. Joe was ready. The morning of the > >test, > >Joe > > > > entered the auditorium and took a seat in the front row. > > > > > > > > On the table in the front was a row of ten stuffed birds. Each > >bird > >had > > >a > > > > sack covering its body, and only the legs were showing. When class > > > > started, the professor announced that the students were to > >identify > >each > > > > bird by looking at its legs and give its common name, species, > >habitat, > > > > mating habits, etc. Joe looked at each of the birds' legs. They > >all > > > > looked the same to him. He started to get angry. He had stayed up > >all > > >night > > > > studying for this test and now he had to identify birds by their > >LEGS? > > >The > > > > more he thought about the situation, the angrier he got. Finally > >he > > > > reached his boiling point. He stood up, marched up to the > >professor's > > > > desk, crumpled up his exam paper and threw it on the desk. "What a > > > > ridiculous test!" he told the prof. "How could anyone tell the > > >difference > > > > between these birds by looking at their legs? This exam is the > >biggest > > > > rip-off I've ever seen!" With that, Joe turned and stormed toward > >the > > >exit. > > > > The professor was a bit shocked, and it took him a moment to > >regain > >his > > > > composure. Then, just as Joe was about to walk out the door, the > >prof > > > > shouted out, Wait a minute, young man, what's your name?" Joe > >turned > > > > around, pulled up his pant legs and hollered, "You tell me, prof! > >You > > >tell > > > > me!"