Question for reeftanklfs

[ridetheducati]

Reeftanklfs,

 

I have been monitoring the rash of "Clam Infection Deaths" occuring across the country and would like to know your thoughts on the matter.

 

Do you get your clams from a West Coast distributor?

[Gatortailale]

First,

 

Reeftankls is not a "paid" member so they can't see your post here.  They only have access to the "BB member" section.  I have also activated them to "vendor" status so they can post in vendor forum if they so desire.  NOTE: Marine scene paid for member so they are a "vendor member" status.

 

Second: clams

 

They get most from ORA - ocean reefs aquarium - can't remember website; but they only sell wholesale to stores.  These are aquacultured

 

They did get some clams from pohnpei -

 

HTH

Craig

[ridetheducati]

Please move my thread to the general discussion forum.

 

Paid members can view but cant post in the vendor forum.  I suppose the general discussion forum is the appropriate location for such requests.  

 

ORA ... mmm.

 

ORA is having problems with the clam infections.

[michaelg]

There you go- moved to general discussion.  Learned something new today

[Gatortailale]

ORA problem - where you read that.

 

I have not read up on problem lately, but in past most suspected it was the pohnpei ones that caused the problem, not the farm raised ORA ones.

 

Will be interesting to see more info. on this.

 

Craig

[geofloors]

Here's the ORA website http://www.orafarm.com/

 

 

George

[Guest reeftanklfs]

Hi Guys:

Jeez, I've been trying for the past couple of hours to respond to this question, but we've had a flood of people here at the store and the phone is ringing also.  What are our thoughts on the "epidemic"?  We think it sucks!  We still haven't seen any definitive culprit for this outbreak.  Many theories, but no hard answers.  We've been affected by this pathogen as well, but it mainly has targeted the wild harvested clams out of the Pacific. You guys know our clam system here in the store; we put the wild clams in with the cultured ones, and haven't had a cross infection.  However, some of our customers have had cross infections, and the outbreaks that they suffered, almost always, began after they introduced a wild harvested clam.  We haven't suffered any large losses with the ORA cultured clams.  We do expect losses, for one reason or another, but usually it's no more than 1% of any given shipment of cultured clams.  Actually, 99% of our cultured clam shipments arrive 100% healthy.  After I saw this thread, and before this response, I called Vince Rado (president) at ORA and asked him about his situation.  He said other than the expected 1% doa, they have not had any problems with their cultured clams.  Their cultured clams come out of the South Pacific BTW.  So, we're scratching our heads over ridetheducati's statement of ORA having problems.  Now I've heard thru industry sources that some lfs's have lost both cultured and wild clams, but were those clams mixed, did they share the same water somehow......?  All livestock coming out of the Pacific come thru LAX (customs), even the ORA cultured clams.  The only clams that don't come thru LAX might be some Red Sea species (wild); they would come thru Miami, mainly.  Here's the problem, most of the transhippers, or the guys who control the clam trade (I'm not talking about the wholesalers or otherwise who buy from those guys), will tell you that there is no problem, or you'll get "yeah, but we only lost a few.  It must the holding systems that the wholesalers are using."  Unless someone is doing postmortems on the affected clams, it's impossible to tell what is the cause of this outbreak.  We have cut back our ordering of Pohnpei clams, for sure.  That's why you see a lot of ORA cultured clams on our website and in the store.  Some people have claimed that this outbreak probably began with the Vietnamese clams that recently have been available, but I think this started more with the South Pacific ones.  We're looking at bringing in some of the Vietnamese clams, but haven't found a source for cultured ones.  HTH - Grim

[ridetheducati]

Thanks for replying.  Appreciate your response.

 

I have conversed with many aquarist across the country regarding the "infection".  The Internet is a beautiful thing.  And many clam buffs have ordered clams from ORA and other west coast suppliers resulting in significant deaths.  

 

1% DOA is pretty good.

 

Clam afficionados from the east and west coast are having similar unexpected deaths.  The infected clam deaths seemed to peak in November and December.  And I was wondering if it was safe.  Based on your statements, is it safe to conclude that purchasing clams whether east or west coast yields a 99% chance the clams will be OK?

 

I have seven clams (Derasa, Squamosa, and Maxi) and would love to get a tear drop or tiger Maxi.  

 

What is your (reeftank) policy on clam quarantine?

 

Again,

 

Thanks for your candor.

[Guest reeftanklfs]

Hi Tony:

As far as I know, and I've been out West to see this, no transhipper nor wholesaler has systems that seperate clams. All clams, whether they are wild harvested or cultured, get put together in the same tanks.  One guy had clams seperated into geographic groups (pohnpei, tonga...), but they were all in the same tank.  The clams also share the same water as the corals do, at these establishments.  As far as e-tailers go, up until this year, they too had similar systems (all clams were put together).  How far can you trust the e-tailers?  I'm not trying to bash them, but you're buying something sight unseen.  At least at an lfs, you can see them, ask questions, and yes, have to trust them (shop owners) a little too.  Again, we think that this outbreak probably started with wild harvested clams, and spread from there.  This statement is based upon our personal experiences, and anecdotal evidence that we've seen.  Is it safe to go back in the water?  That's for you to decide, we can't give you a guarantee.  Remember, All clams, no matter where you buy them from, come thru the West Coast.  Our losses from the ORA clams haven't changed, and I dare say that the quality keeps going up from ORA.  The Pohnpei and Fiji clam losses have slackened off considereably.  That teardrop maxima that you're interested in is a Vietnamese variety (wild harvested), we think.  I've seen a couple that were claimed to be Fiji, but haven't seen any since.  Our policy on clam quarantine is that there is none.  We feel that based upon our experiences with the different variety of clams, we don't need to quarantine.  The shipments we have received in the past several months have very good, with very little attrition.  As a matter of fact, we don't know of anyone, internet or otherwise, that quarantines clams.  I've heard of one or two e-tailers claim that they would, but are you going to trust them?  Again, this is not a harsh critique, but a very relevent question.  HTH - Grim

[quazi]

I wonder if there really is an overall problem, or if it is just problem tanks (holding or otherwise.)

 

I just cannot keep tridacna clams or Xenia.  I have many other clams and stuff, but tridacnas die within 2 weeks.  I do not blame TRT (I got it during the social we had there a while back) or the shippers, I blame "something" in my tank.