Dee Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 I'm full of questions tonight. My purple/bluish clam...heck if I know what it's called, is losing it's color. I've attached a photo of it before the color loss in case you need to know what kind of clam it is to answer. We have good lighting and it's a little more than halfway down in the tank. It still looks and acts healthy, but it's purple is fading to almost a neutral color...I think I've heard it being called "bleaching" or something like that. Can anyone tell me why it might be doing this? My light is on a timer...on at 8a.m. and off at 8p.m. which moon lights in the evening. Thanks for putting up with me tonight! Dena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Headless_donkey Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Clam direct forums-a great source for clam info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elbeau Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 I a FAR from being a clam expert, but I do have a tank with two successful (so-far) clams in it. I had a similar problem on my first tank many years ago. There was a clam that I thought was getting enough light, but slowly over time, the purple in his mantle was replaced with this brownish-whitish stuff that was not nearly as beautiful as the mantle was to start with. It lived for several months like that, but eventually died. I asked around the LFS's in my area at the time and got a bunch of mixed responses. Some said it was natural and not related to the death, others said it was bleaching, but the response that made the most sense with what I observed was that when clams don't get enough light, a bacteria or algae blooms in the cells of their mantle causing the discoloration. Because of the bloom, the clam slowly starves to death. Now, that may just be the reef equivelent of an urban legend. I really don't know. I think that bleaching starts at the edge of the mantle and works its way in, which is different than what my clam went through. Anyways, now I keep my clams at the very top of the water column right under the lights and they are doing well. I wish you the best with yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcreonx Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Dee, Can you tell us more about your tank? What is "good" lighting? What are your parameters? ph? alk / ca? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dee Posted October 16, 2007 Author Share Posted October 16, 2007 Dee,Can you tell us more about your tank? What is "good" lighting? What are your parameters? ph? alk / ca? I'll need to test this other stuff again tonight to get exacts. I do know I'm due for a water change, but we are moving in about a month and I want to hold off and do an almost full water change then...will be upgrading my tank hopefully also. It's a 100 gallon tank and I've got a Coralife light...the $700-$800 dollar one with the metal halides (not 250w...I think 175w) and 90w actinics. I was told that I could even put him at the bottom and he'd do okay with that lighting. He's more blotchy...hasn't gotten worse over the past week or so. I'll get the other info. this evening. My nitrates are probably high, but I haven't tested that since I put in the fuge... Dena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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