Clam question.. And Valenciennea nutrition  -- 11/12/09
Salutations to those who worship at the Marine Altar,
<Heeeee! All bow down>
First I would like to give you an earnest thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you do in educating the masses.
<Am frequently wondering what/where the reward is otherwise... Keep looking for that paycheck!>
I only wish the
LFS's in my area followed your advice as gospel like I do.
<Mmm, collectively we have MUCH more experience than "they". Even just I myself have been involved more than full time actively involved in the trade for more than 40 years>
They currently have a 14" nurse shark in a 55 gallon tank-
<Ugh!>
enough to lose my business forever I am afraid. My question is simple enough, but I will give you some background on my setup.
75 gallon marine running for 2.5 months
7" DSB
120 lbs. live rock
79 degrees
PH 8.3, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate all 0.0
calcium 450. I dose the tank with Iodine and chelated Iron for my bumper crop of Gracilaria. (Side question- when I add these supplements after a water change do I dose based on total tank volume, or based on the new water added to system?
<The calculated, best guess as to total actual water volume; i.e., deduct for displacement by the DSB et al.>
I have been dosing based on new water only....)
<Likely this is fine as well>
Eheim magnum
<Mmm, Eheim and Magnum (MarineLand) are too different companies>
canister filter with carbon and filter floss (Changed and cleaned weekly for water polishing purposes only)
Remora C protein skimmer cleaned daily removing 3/4 of a cup of tea colored skimmate each day that I attribute to light bio-load
3 Maxi-Jet 1200 powerheads
Cora-Life Power compact hood with (2) 96watt 10,000K bulbs on a 12/12 light cycle
Livestock is as follows- (2) 1" Tomato clowns, (1) 1 1/2" Coral Beauty and 1 4" *Valenciennea strigata** *(I will explain later)
Colony of fast spreading Star polyps,
<Do keep these steadily trimmed back>
various sponges and feather dusters growing and spreading like wildflower,
<Neat literary device, metaphor>
number of clams and scallops that came encrusted on liverock, 5 snails, 5 hermits, and a few different types of yet unidentified macro-algae growing on rock.
<Great diversity!>
My question concerns one of the larger clams that came on the liverock.
This clam was extremely active as far as opening and closing went, but differed in the respect that it was attached to the rock seemingly from the front inside of the clam, instead of the side of the shell being attached to the rock like the other clams. I feed the clams and feather dusters every few days with Phyto-Feast, which is 1- 15 micron concentrated live micro algae food. A few days ago I adjusted a power head from the back of the tank to the front, so the visible parts of the rock would get better flow, and it was in a position where the clam could barely feel it, as opposed to not feeling it all before moving. The next day i noticed the clam was missing, and all that remained was a grey colored "foot" where the opening to the clam was previously attached. I looked high and low for the shell, and then noticed the clam had moved directly into the blast zone of the power head! I was unaware it could move like that,
<Some bivalves are very mobile indeed>
and wondered if that foot was integral to the clams heath in any way, and should I be concerned that the clam is directly in the flow of the power head?
<Mmm, no>
Or does the clam know what is best for itself and I should leave well enough alone?
<If it can move...>
I also want to explain that your site is my home page, and I often spend time reading about various species and have done so for years.
Unfortunately before finding your site and Mr. Fenner's CMS and Mr. Calfo's RI I was victim to poor advice coupled with lack of research- much to the dismay and demise of previous livestock.... Enter my desire to own some sort of Gobioid creature for my underwater utopia. I swear I researched each and every specie only to purchase a *Valenciennea strigata*, and upon quarantining the fish and logging on to Wet Web Media I realized my serious error in research. I felt like someone with a Black Tipped reef shark in a 20 gallon tank with a dozen Cleaner Wrasses for food.
<Heeee! Not that bad!>
Fast forward to me feeding him all sorts of standard aquarium fare- Mysis, pellets, and after reading that they fed on pods I bought Arcti pods- only even after watching him feed on all the above with enthusiasm he was still wasting away. I thought he was done for and went on fishbase.org and saw they also fed on nano plankton as well. My last ditch effort was mixing Mysis, Phyto-Plex, Arcti- pods, spectrum pellets, Oyster Feast, and Spirulina together and freezing it. I then chopped it into cubes and lightly covered it with sand in his favorite forage zone. He is now filling out at an incredible rate, and is a completely different fish- color wise, not hiding all the time and returns to the spot with ferociousness every time i stick the frozen goods there.
<Ah good>
I think adding the micro organisms was essential to his health and wanted to share that information- freezing was an important part as there was no other way to get oyster eggs and micro algae to settle in one place in the substrate to ensure he ingested them.
<I will share/post your statements. You have saved many animals through your investigation, efforts and sharing>
Sorry for such a long winded email, but it is the first time I wrote after years of admiring.... I also wanted to ask if a 30% water change a week is too much?
<Not too much; particularly if the water is pre-made, assured of consistency ahead of use>
Thank you very much for all you do in tolerating the ignorant masses like myself who think they know everything only to find the error of their ways at the expense of a fish's life- and here's to not making those mistakes ever again! 'ciao!
<Thank you Leon, mi bello. Bob Fenner>