# Freshwater mussel?



## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

Well at least I think it's a mussel...
Well in the Vietnamese board I'm member to, they're discussing about such inverterbrates that can 'filter' your tank water...
Is that true? Can a mussel (or something like that) filter your water?


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## Guest (Jul 28, 2005)

yes, actually they help out a lot. i used to have a couple and they seemed to do a good job.


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

I see...
They also say they release some transparent stuff... what's that? will that a problem?
Thanks Kat, you're fast.


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## Guest (Jul 28, 2005)

are you refering to the larvae of the mussels? ive heard that this attaches to the fish and becomes a parasite. but most of the freshwater mussels in home aquariums will not release larvae because they will not live very long.


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

They use cilia and a siphon to filter water through the tube, then organic debris or little organisms and stuff get stuck on a mucous that digests it... or something like that. its been a while since we'e gone through bivalves in biology. The transparent stuff could be sperm, the mussels are probably hermaphrodites and have both sex organs.


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

The transparent stuff looks like some kinda muscus,,, I don't know al so like something sticky you find in your throat (Eww...) do you figure?


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## batray girl (Jul 27, 2005)

That sounds really cool, but I'm not sure if I'd risk parasites for a little help in filtering department. What about oysters and clams? Do they also have parasitic offspring?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

They sure do. Oysters are the worst, then mussels, and finally clams. In the wild they're not a problem, but in an aquarium they can wipe out your fish. They usually don't, of course, but they can.


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## batray girl (Jul 27, 2005)

is there anything you can do to "sterilize" them or just prevent them from spawning? do you keep any? and what makes oysters the worst? 
sorry so many questions


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Sheer numbers make oysters the worst, coupled with the extra damage that each glochidia inflicts. Clam larvae are relatively large, and they don't stay attached to fish for very long, and there aren't as many of them. Mussels do a lot more damage, but not very often. Mussels do have an annoying habit of spraying their larvae right onto fish which get too close, though, and some even have little lures designed to bring the fish into range. Oysters, though...hooboy. One oyster can produce hundreds of thousands of trochophores, and in a tank, there's nowhere for the fish to hide. Once they develop into their parasitic stage things get ugly.
Trochophores are commercially sold as food for corals and larval marine fish, by the way, on account of their miniscule size, but they're either dead when served, or eaten before they become a problem.

Luckily, it's not common for any of them to spawn in aquaria. I don't know of any good deliberate sterilization technique, but it seems that it's a lot harder to get them TO spawn than to keep them from it. Lots of people like to keep them, and they don't have any problems.

I wouldn't put a mussel in a freshwater tank unless I was trying to spawn Bitterlings. I've kept clams plenty of times, but found them more boring than anything else.


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## batray girl (Jul 27, 2005)

So the clams you kept were freshwater, right? What fish did you keep with them and did they help filter the substrate?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Yes, freshwater clams. 
Many kinds of fish.
No, they don't filter the substrate in any way worth noting. They are column filter feeders, which makes them great for water polishing, but not for gravel cleaning.
They not only filter out fine particulate matter, they also absorb chemicals and minerals. The downside to that is that they release them all again when they die, but if they live your water will indeed be a lot cleaner.
In fact, I and some others have been working on designs to use those blasted Zebra Mussels to filter aquaria. A separate chamber, containing a few hundred mussels, which blocks them from getting into the main tank by employing filterpads and strong UV light works amazingly well. However, it'll never be anything that we'd want to see in hobby use, since zebras devastate any area they get loose in, and hobbyists have an annoying habit of setting things loose on occasion.
Lake Tahoe has had a long legendary reputation for having crystal clear water, but lately it's been getting cloudy, thanks to all those yahoos who decided to move to that area. The idea of employing mussels to clear it back up again has been proposed, and while it would certainly work, the mussels would destroy the lake while making it sparkle. Oh, well. The Zebra Mussel has been having a few good side effects on the Great Lakes, but the damage they're doing far, far outweighs any benefit.

Anyway, long story short, yes, mussels are very effective filters, but the cost is too high in environmental/ecological damage.
Some saltwater reeftanks use batteries of giant clams as filters, and they work pretty well, although not efficiently when the cost is considered. Regular filters give a lot more bang for the buck.


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## batray girl (Jul 27, 2005)

cool thank you. do you know where I could get some freshwater clams? have you ever kept them free with other freshwater fish? if so, what kind?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I used to keep them in several tanks with several kinds of fish, but that was in a fishstore setting which doesn't count for much.
My local streams and lakes are chock full of clams, and in some places I can scoop them up in my hands like gravel. 
There are usually clams aplenty available for auction on Aquabid, but this one guy who sells "golden" clams, I think he's called pearl aquatics or somesuch, watch out for him; he's got a very bad reputation for ripping people off on occasion.

Hmm... I wonder if anyone would buy any if I went and gathered some?

Your local fish shops should be able to order clams from their wholesalers. I have seen them offered many times on pricesheets from all the big companies.


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## batray girl (Jul 27, 2005)

Do you personally think it'd be worth throwing some into a big tank? V.S. a small tank? 
big being around 60 and samll being between 10 and 20...


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

No.
I don't think they're worth it at all, but in a big tank they'd be even harder to feed.


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## batray girl (Jul 27, 2005)

alright, i'm going to go with you on this one and ditch that idea. thanks for your help.


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

> I don't think they're worth it at all, but in a big tank they'd be even harder to feed.


I reallywonder how canyou feed those guys.
We have a common food made from a mussel and Jesus, I've just known that they had been freshwater! Been thinking that they're fw!


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## Mr Fish (Sep 9, 2005)

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1642


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