My clam died

[Rodgec1]

A couple of days ago, I decided to move my clam. Since it was too close to a mushroom bed, and had a couple of mushrooms growing on its shell. So all I did, was lift it off the sandbed, and scrape off the mushrooms from it's shell.

Now when I picked it up, I noticed a small rectangular white cube fall off the bottom. It was a softlike thing with small brush like hairs on one side. It kind of floated away between the rocks. So I did not think too much about it and simply placed the clam back down about 4 inches away from it's original spot.

Now I have done this before with no ill effects. But this time around, the clam did not open back up and yesterday when I got home, it was DEAD..... The meaty center was coming out the top and my saddlebacks were feasting on it. I pulled it out of the tank immediately to avoid polluting the tank.

Any idea what I might have done wrong. I should have captured that little rectangular cube on my camera but did not think of it. Still puzzled.

[shrimpchips]

Sounds like you might of torn off it's byssal organ, an caused it to die.

[J_T]

Sounds like you might of torn off it's byssal organ, an caused it to die.

Have to agree with this. Sounds like your clam attached itself (which is a good sign, meant the clam was comfortable)

If you get another, and need to move it. I have seen people keep the dead clam you have, clean its shell. Then you sit your new clam into the half shell. Now, when the clam attaches, it will be to a shell that you can move around without damaging it's "foot"

[conix67]

This is a good tip, but first time clam keepers wouldn't know this. I found out this only because the person who sold me a clam already had his on a dead clam shell.

[Rodgec1]

Dead clam shell is all cleaned and ready for the next resident. Thanks for the tip.

[Justin_Toronto]

Good tip, I did keep my dead clam shell for the next resident. I'm always worried about relocating them.... (some zoa's fell into it and it didn't close in time, died from stress I presume...)

[a4twenty]

i wont bother going into the "research before you buy" spiel but........... with all the resources for info out there, this shouldn't be happening.

yes, you damaged the clams foot / byssal organ, which is more often than not fatal.

if you need to move an attached clam, and moving the rock is out of the question, you can cut the byssal thread with a sharp razor. this needs to be done as far from the clam as possible to avoid damaging the foot.

HTH