Clam Spawned....Killer event (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

If you all had not heard, last weekend one of my clams spawned and killed all of my fish. I only have two survivors...a bangaii cardinal and a Galveston blenny. Among the dead were:

Purple Tang (from Isis)
2x Yellow Tangs
Red Coris Wrasse
Marine Betta
Pygmy Angel
Golden Dwarf Angel
2x Sunburst Anthias
3x Pink and Yellow Chromis
Green Chromis
2x Lyretail Chromis
2x Abalone
Multiple snails


As you can tell, restocking will be an ordeal.

Oh, well....I have already started. I got the tank cleaned out and back up and running well. All of the coral are happy and healthy, and Monday I bought a Desjardini tang (small) from one of the stores down here for a cool $35. It hid the first day, and then was out and about all day yesterday. He looks like he likes his new tank.

 

[Guest]

Sorry for your loss Jim.

So what became of the offending clam? :-x

 

[Guest]

I don't know which clam did it, nor what triggered the clam to spawn. I have my suspicions though.

That morning, I was doing some tank work before the lights came on. I had taken off my skimmer to do a complete cleaning of it. No solvents or anything....just a nice good hot water bath and scrub. Once I had everything put back together I re-installed it on the tank. I think that the plug may have been damp from a drip down the cord or something, so when I plugged it back in, there was a serious spark. Just a quick attention getter, but nothing other than that out of the normal. The skimmer started right up and everything appeared fine. However, I am thinking that that incident may have introduced a very short electrical current into the system thereby shocking the clams.

Since spawning is a survival instinct and clams will do it when they feel threatened sufficiently, it may have been the trigger that instigated the event. That is the only thing that I can think of. I don't know how the current from the spark at the plug could have been transfered into the tank. I really don't know that it was the clams that did it since I didn't see it happen. However, that is the only thing that I can think of. The corals in the tank are doing great and I have never seen them more full since this happened. It looks like they have been feasting for days, which (if it were clam spawn) they have been doing.

If it were a Kalk bomb, my corals would be dying.
If it were a toxic event my two surviving fish and the new fish would not have survived.
I don't know of anything else in my tank that would cause white cloudy water and fish (only) death.

That being said, the clams are still in the tank....although I am seriously considering selling them.

 

[Guest]

Hey Jim...

I have a Niger trigger and blenny that need a new home too...want them???

 

[Guest]

Why do you think a spawning clam kill fish? It set off a cycling event? Toxic/sperm eggs? I would guess that the white cloud was a bacterial bloom from something.

 

[Guest]

Apparently the sperm and eggs are very acidic and attaches to the fishes gills which ultimately suffocates them.

 

[Guest]

Apparently the sperm and eggs are very acidic and attaches to the fishes gills which ultimately suffocates them.

No kidding. Very strange. That means they have to produce a ton for it to cloud the tank.

 

[Guest]

I call dibbs on any babies you find later. perhaps you can add baby clams to the "Whats in your fuge" thread.

 

[Guest]

no kids

Clam offspring have a planktonic stage that usually is longer than the time it takes them to get eaten, or sucked into the skimmer. I dont know of any literature that says a hobbiest has had a successful spawn in their home aquarium... (I know someone will chop me off at the knees about this)

 

[Guest]

Well the process that involves clam breeding usually involves many stages of unfiltered water due the babies being in the plantonic state for a bit. Jim Norris did a great presentation on it and knows a great deal on what happens with clams....speaking of which, we need to get him back here.

 

[Guest]

Probably so, but in this hobby, never say never.

 

[Guest]

Why do you think a spawning clam kill fish? It set off a cycling event? Toxic/sperm eggs? I would guess that the white cloud was a bacterial bloom from something.

The deaths happened too quickly for it to have been a cycling event, and a white bacterial bloom would also not account for the quick death. If it were a toxic event, all of the fish would be dead along with my corals and other inverts (hermits, snails, fuge fauna,...etc.)

Clam spawning will consume a lot of the dissolved oxygen in the tank, and as Isis said they will also inhibit gills such that (in large quantities in a close system) they will suffocate the fish.

I know that all of my fish died in less than 3 hours (they were active while I was cleaning the skimmer), and the two that survived were breathing very heavily until after I completed a serious water change and ran a diatom filter on the tank. I am sure that if I had not done that, those two fish would also have croaked.

Finally, I saw the results in the corals. All of the corals were in heavy feeding mode during the cloud (and still are to some extent). All feeder tentacle were out and I don't think that I have ever seen my acros extended to the extent that they were during the event. I attribut this to a great deal of available food in the tank that they were gorging themselves on. They are still very happy.

I think that all of these things in concert lead me to the clam conclusion. Any other input or ideas are welcomed though. For those of you that went on the Southside tank tour, you may remember my tank and may have some other good, constructive insights on this.

I appreciate all comments. Thanks.

p.s. Isis, I am not yet ready to put something like a Niger Trigger in. Maybe when I have more fish in the system, and the population is nearly complete, I will consider a Niger. Thanks for the offer. What kind of blenny were you talking about?

 

[Guest]

Jim Norris did a great presentation on it and knows a great deal on what happens with clams....speaking of which, we need to get him back here.

I will contact him and try to schedule him to talk at a meeting sometime in the early summer.

 

[Guest]

It is one of those Galveston ones. I will have to bring him back with me from San Antonio....

 

[Guest]

I did a search on Reef Central and there were many people that had clams spawn. Not one had the same problem, also not once did one the experts chime in and say hurry and do water changes and run carbon. I am going to check out the Clams Direct forum and see if there is any info over there. I would hate to have a stressed clam wipe out my tank so I want to get all the info.

BTW I am not trying to attack you are your conclusion in anyway just trying to have an educated discussion and try to figure out what happened.

 

[Guest]

Could it be possible that all three spawned at the same time?? That would account for the high amounts whiteness in the water...

 

[Guest]

I think that just one would be enough to do what happened, although it is very possible that it could have been up to all four of them. Unfortunately, I doubt that I will never know.

 

[Guest]

Ok got the answer....
When one spawns it cause any of the other clams that are sexually mature to spawn in a clam orgy. With enough clams spawning it fouls the water, lowers oxygen levels ect which creats a chain reaction and can wipe out the tank.

 

[Guest]

Carlson

Carlson, I will take your clams off your hands if they are scaring you.
And I am surprised you could get out of the clown forum long enough to research clams!!!
I think its pretty rare event for in tank spawns, not to say that it doesnt happen, I just think with most folks systems they stay pretty settled and dont spawn. I know the hatcheries that raise Tridac's will lay the clam out in the sun to warm them up and that will force a spawn, and some use a hormone in the water to stimulate a spawning behavior.

 

[Guest]

Don't have any clams just sounded so strange I had to find the truth.

On the subject of the clown forum. After a while you get tired of reading the same thing, How much light?, How much LR?, Is my tank cycled yet? I have my tank on a grow and frag cycle now so the only thing that interests me is breeding clownfish and splitting anenomes.