Clam Pest

Z06-Hec · Nov 24, 2014

Whoaâ€¦ so i noticed 1 of my clams has been retracted for a few days and i couldn't figure out what was bothering it. I moved it thinking it wasn't liking my lighting (too much) and still mantle pinched for a few daysâ€¦ I was super confused, my 3 other clams are perfectly fine and come out fullyâ€¦
Anyway i moved it again today and inspected the bottom of shell and all around and couldn't see anything on it.

So night time comes, lights are off and I shine a light in the tankâ€¦ I saw something sticking out of the clam, inside the shell, looked like aiptasiaâ€¦
Can that be?

So i grabbed the nearest thing i could get, my baster, and tried to suck it out from the spot i could seeâ€¦ Took a few tries but i think i finally got itâ€¦ Only thing is once i sucked it off the clam i let it go right into the sand in between my other 2 clamsâ€¦

Can Aiptasia grow or attach on the inner shell or the mantle of a clam? I've never seen any in my tank and looking on google images it definitely looked like oneâ€¦. If not what could fit the description ?
Looked like thisâ€¦

saltyphish · Nov 25, 2014

That looks like aptaisia to me. Can't say if it would attach to the inside of the clam. Maybe it was just moving through and chose that path. Maybe someone else can chime in with experience on this.

Z06-Hec · Nov 25, 2014

that isn't from my tank, thats from google search. It looked like that though….
Keep in mind it was late night and brief but it sure looked like that…. is there anything else similar that could attach to mantle or inside of clam shell?

jamesm · Nov 25, 2014

I have a couple of those things in my tank. Should I remove them? They don't seem to bother anything?

bsagea · Nov 25, 2014

They are aiptasia and will sting the mantle of a clam as well as corals. Remove it from the clam and the mantle
should heal. Be careful when getting rid of them as they shoot spores and make a bad situation a lot worse.

scardall · Nov 25, 2014

I have one on the side of my clams shell. How do you remove it saftely. For now it's not bothering the clam just me. help??
Please advise? steps??

bsagea · Nov 25, 2014

Make sure the clam closes tightly before you remove it from the water. If it's attached to rock or something be certain to lift it entirely. Don't pull on the clam. You don't want to damage the threads or the bysal the clam is using to attach with. You can scrape the aiptasia off with a razor blade and then put a dab of pickling lime directly on the spot where the aiptasia was. Put the clam back in the water and gently rock it back and forth a bit to make sure no air pocket is inside. Should reopen fully in a few minutes.

Z06-Hec · Nov 25, 2014

ok so this entire day the mantle is still mostly in, although on the other end some of the mantle was out for some light. I am not sure i got the entire thing out if it was aiptasia. It was a struggle to get it out and it was dark in there.
Lights just went off so i will try to stick around and see if i get another appearance.
So now my question isâ€¦
i have never had aiptasia in my tank, i pulled this one off and dropped it into the sand. Will i have a problem now? i don't see it anywhere yetâ€¦

By the way my aiptasia was on the inside of the clam shell or even on her mantleâ€¦ so i don't think scraping would work for me if there is any leftâ€¦