Mario

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Hey all, Hope you can help

Tank, 6 years old with 5 inches 'live sand' base. All was well until 6 months ago when my 12 clams started to die (26 gallon tank) one after another. Also lost a fungia, then my banded shrimp.

Left with four clams: two large and two medium.

What gives? I do a 5 gallon change every other week. pH 8.2, temp: 78 degrees, nitrate 5mg/ml (recently), phospate 2mg/ml (sea-test kit-probably higher), 3 fish (very small).

Now there is an infestation of hair algae

Should I:

1. Dump the live sand and replace it?
2. Add more ;live rock?

Any ideas? I am sure I have left out info

Mario
 

jrobbins

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The phosphates and nitrates might well be from the clams dying in your tank.

anyway, what kind of clams are we talking about? And how long did you have them in your tank before they started dying? 12 in a 26 gallon sounds like a lot, they might have just been slowly starving. once one keeled over and started decomposing in the tank, it could have pushed the rest over the edge...
 

Dre

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I never owned clams but i don't think you should remove the sand.How often do you feed then?I read that bristle worms can go inside them and kill them.
 

Mario

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Thanks for all your help.
This past weekend, I removed all the old sand, complete water change (RO water), scubbed down the rocks and removed any hair algae from the sides of the tank.

Low and behold, the pH keeps dropping from 8.3 after I add B-IONIC to 7.9 a few hours LATER...unbelievable. The clams of course respond accordingly and close up. So far I am down to 4 from 12!!! Not good.

Went to the Clifton Aquarium Store and they sold be Kents SuperBuffer -dKH.One teaspoon per 20 gallons.

Still the same problem. Here is a picture of the tank.
 

Mario

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Sorry forgot to upload pic
 

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Mario

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The phosphates and nitrates might well be from the clams dying in your tank.

anyway, what kind of clams are we talking about? And how long did you have them in your tank before they started dying? 12 in a 26 gallon sounds like a lot, they might have just been slowly starving. once one keeled over and started decomposing in the tank, it could have pushed the rest over the edge...

Thanks. The first few that died were in the tank for about 2 years and grew. However, one thing I did notice is when I started adding more to the tank (ebay.com is addicting), the more sensitive ones started dying off. Did you say starving? I thought clear MH lighted water was what they needed with DT's Phyto which is what I use.

Yes I had to go out of town for a week and a derassa died while the pet sitter looked after the tank. (they disintegrate fast). The next weeek saw the start of hair algae and phosphates of 10ug/ml on the test kit....
 

duke62

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i wouldnt of changed the sand bed.there is beneficial bacteria in the sand.or took the rocks out and scrubbed them down.you will now have die off from anything that was on the rocks.you are now most likely going to have a ammonia spike which might do more damage.i would have just done a 30% water change and a couple of small water changes in a few days.check and monitor your ammonia levels closely as well as your phosphate level.are you running a phosban reactor in you setup.the hair algae is probably due to high phoshates in your tank.slow down on feeding the tank .i dont know if clams can handle no light for a couple of days check that out and if they can i would turn them off for 2 to 4 days.that will kill the algae off but it will come back unless you find the root of the problem...hope this helped
 

Mario

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i wouldnt of changed the sand bed.there is beneficial bacteria in the sand.or took the rocks out and scrubbed them down.you will now have die off from anything that was on the rocks.you are now most likely going to have a ammonia spike which might do more damage.i would have just done a 30% water change and a couple of small water changes in a few days.check and monitor your ammonia levels closely as well as your phosphate level.are you running a phosban reactor in you setup.the hair algae is probably due to high phoshates in your tank.slow down on feeding the tank .i dont know if clams can handle no light for a couple of days check that out and if they can i would turn them off for 2 to 4 days.that will kill the algae off but it will come back unless you find the root of the problem...hope this helped

Thanks for the advice

1 I used live sand-aragonite.
2.The hair algae was probably from the ammonoia spike from the two clams that died in the tank. I did 50% RO water change two weeks ago, and they seemed to be dying off.
3. I have three itty bitty fish and feet once every three days..Prime Reef flakes, so little or no feeding...;)
 

Mario

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Here is a reply from Kent Marine....very interesting:

If this is the super dKH buffer that you were using, it is solely Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda), Sodium Carbonate, and Sodium Tetraborate. Depending on the water chemistry in the aquarium, the amount of this product used can either stabilize pH, slow its decline, or increase pH. The deciding factor is how much of it you use. If you have a high ORP rate (redox potential) in the aquarium and from the photos I would assume that you do. Then the aquarium water pH will have a natural tendency to decline. In order for the Super dKH product to bring up the carbonate hardness and in turn the pH then it may take more of it to do the job. The instructions on the container are only a base line starting point which is why it says to add daily until target range is achieved then to only use it to maintain levels but doesn?t say exactly how much specifically for a given size tank or setup. How much after that depends on the individual aquarium. If the pH is still going down then there is a source of carbonic acid in the tank that is driving down the carbonates and pH. With the amount of live rock in your tank, that area of carbonate reduction/pH reduction is most likely behind and under the live rock. What is the carbonate level, calcium level, and magnesium level in your tank?
As far as the other clams, if too much of a chemistry shift occurs, clams and some more sensitive corals may be affected, but once the water stabilizes then the remaining animals will adapt and be quite happy. Out on the reef face you can get pH readings of anywhere from 7.8 to 8.3, and this is all within a given reef patch. Areas with heavier water current and wave action will be closer to the 8.2 and 8.3 area as the current transports out residual CO2 from algae respiration at night and carbonic acid buildup.
Try to get your carbonates up around 9 or 10 and your pH should stabilize at around 8.0 to 8.2. Also, your pH will be lower in the morning before lights come on than in the evening. Take your pH readings during late afternoon and never in the morning. You may even need to place a small power head to push water back behind all the rock. Your pH will most likely come up a bit from just that.

Regards,

Rob Moneyhan
Central Aquatics Tech Lead
Phone# 888-255-4527 or 414-423-8544
Fax# 800-398-0396 or 414-421-4195
Email: [email protected]
 

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