clam question

[werp]

I have moved all of my rock and corals into a bigger tank. I dipped them in RO/DI water to get rid of a flat worm problem. I still need to move a clam. Can I dip the clam the same way as the rock and coral?

Thanks

[Bigreefer]

I've read many of thread of people doing this on reef central with minimal effects to the clam. They claim you just have to make sure the RO/DI water has the same PH, and Temp as your tank.

Jason

[DeletedAccount]

You can definitely do a freshwater dip on a clam. No problem at all. Yes, you do need to pH and temp match as you do with corals and fish.

[Instar]

How do you propose to match pH of RO/DI that has absoulutely no buffers in it to the pH of salt water that is a highly buffered ionic solution? This is not correct, you can't match pH as the pH of RO/DI is or should be near 7.0. You will need to match temperature only and thats all you can match. If you test RO and get a pH of 8, then you used the wrong test method, wrong reagents.

[Tim Marvin]

I wouldn't. If your worried about the flat worms, all this dipping will probably do more harm than good. All it takes is one worm to survive and your back to square one. More than likely you won't kill every single one by dipping.

[Instar]

I've used 4 succesive dips of 10 to 15 seconds each to get the worms off something. There are worms after each dip that can be seen in the pan for at least the first 3 dips. Not brave enough to go for more than that. Tim's right, one baby worm clinging to a hole or ledge of something and it starts all over again in the new quarters unless you are fortunate enough to grab any stragglers off the glass. Unfortunately there are no really great solutions. Sometimes a solution will work, other times what worked for flatworms somewhere for someone else will fail miserably for you. There are many variables in peoples solutions that are not connected.

[DeletedAccount]

Why don't you go to www.clamsdirect.com and ask them on the forum. They are the clam gurus and where I always get my questions answered. You know that Barry and the mods there will not lead you astray.

[Brett Wilson]

Why kill the flat worms at all? Are they killing something?

[Polkster13]

If you really want them gone (or least to a managable few), why not get a long nose hawkfish or a green manderin (only if you have over 100 lbs live rock - else it will likely starve to death) as these will usually take care of most worms (flat or bristle) as well as pods and anything else they can catch that is moving.

[GaryP]

I've tried just about every "FW eating fish" you can name. Forget it.

Gary

[DeletedAccount]

I just thought if he wanted EXPERT opinion....

FW dips are OK if the clam is healthy, they can add stress and put a clam over the edge if they are not totally healthy.

[Polkster13]

Actually, according to this article and my own experience, manderin fish (among others) have been shown to eat flatworms. However, like any living creature, no two are alike. Some will eat dry prepared food while others will only eat live food while others refuse anything and eventually stare to death; so your fish may or may not eat them. Like all things, YMMV.

http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

[Brett Wilson]

I once had a copper band butterfly that surprisingly enjoyed sucking flatworms off of the front glass of the tank... but by no means was it a solution for flatworm control. I still have flatworms and it's been 3 years since I found my first one. Still no ill affects. I see no nead to get rid of the kind I have....

[Bigreefer]

How do you propose to match pH of RO/DI that has absoulutely no buffers in it to the pH of salt water that is a highly buffered ionic solution? This is not correct, you can't match pH as the pH of RO/DI is or should be near 7.0. You will need to match temperature only and thats all you can match. If you test RO and get a pH of 8, then you used the wrong test method, wrong reagents.


Are you telling me i can't get a bucket of fresh water from a PH of 7.0 to a PH of 8.2? I'd be willing to place a bet on that one.

[Tim Marvin]

I think Instar is refering to straight out of the RO unit without adding anything.

[oceancube]

FLATWORMS. i hate these little buggers, i suggest using a chemical that is reefsafe called flatworm exit, read about it on reefcentral, and everyone is excited about it!!

[Tim Marvin]

Polkster13's article he posted refers to flatworm exit also.

[RobertG]

I once had a copper band butterfly that surprisingly enjoyed sucking flatworms off of the front glass of the tank... but by no means was it a solution for flatworm control. I still have flatworms and it's been 3 years since I found my first one. Still no ill affects. I see no nead to get rid of the kind I have....

WHAT? :o Not on the rocks I got from you were they. :o

[oceancube]

darn that sucks!! :o

[alexwolf]

WHAT? Not on the rocks I got from you were they.

LMAO!!!!!!!

[Tim Marvin]

Of course RobertG....LMAO...Why do you think you got such a good deal on the rock...LOL...JK..........

[alexwolf]

now you know why the saying goes "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!" :)

[Bigreefer]

I think Instar is refering to straight out of the RO unit without adding anything.

Yeah I realize that. I'm just trying to figure out where he got that constraint. I sure didn't imply it.

Here are a few links that recomend adjusting your PH.

A quote from one of them.... "The pH of the freshwater should be as close as possible to the pH of the tank water"

http://www.bestfish.com/tips/052099.html
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/oamasfwdiptest
http://www.seahorse.org/cgi-bin/faq/smartfaq.cgi?answer=1067905386
http://www.worldoffish.com/aquanotes_html/an_sick.html [/url]

[Tim Marvin]

I like to play it safe and stay away from fresh water...LOL... Unless of course I am on my windsurfer, which in that case any water is free game!

[DeletedAccount]

ClamsDirect suggests that you use a toothbrush on the clam instead of doing a FW dip for the flatworms.

[DeletedAccount]

I have always read and been told to add pH buffer to the fresh water that I dip with reduce the shock to the coral / fish.

[RobertG]

Hymm, So funny, Not to me. I did'nt even question it with Brett. What kind are they? I guess I will be dipping all new rock in freshwater. I have enough life to be able to sustain it.

[JimD]

I have always read and been told to add pH buffer to the fresh water that I dip with reduce the shock to the coral / fish.

Thats true for corals and fish, but as long as the clams closed up tight, it couldnt care less about Ph. Temperature may or may not be an issue depending on how long its exposed to temps other than what its used to. A toothbrush under running water works very well to remove unwanted snails, algae, whatever.

[Tim Marvin]

I've used the toothbrush to remove zoo's from the shell and it works great. Didn't taste very good for a couple weeks after though and it made my gums numb. JK.....An old toothbrush is in my collection of reef tools.