Aptasia in clam

ctyler85 · Apr 9, 2018

Somehow an aptasia has managed to grow on the inner lip of the Maxima clam near the mantle. I am trying to figure out What in the heck to do. Normally I'd hit the aptasia with some kalkwasser to kill it but I'm not sure if that would be safe for the clam? Any input would be amazing

DSC reef · Apr 9, 2018

Remove the clam our of your tank and place it in a separate bucket of tank water. With the mantle retracted it should be easy to remove/scrape the aptasia from the clam shell.

jd371 · Apr 10, 2018

DSC reef said:
Remove the clam our of your tank and place it in a separate bucket of tank water. With the mantle retracted it should be easy to remove/scrape the aptasia from the clam shell.

I have the same problem and there is no way that my clam is coming out of the tank, it's not budging and I would probably kill it trying to remove it. My aptasia problem started because of the Aptasia-X caused them to spread. I found that unless the aptasia is out in the open where it's easier to smother the whole thing with Aptasia-X they will come back in numbers. I tried Peppermint but they didn't last a day with my Melenarus, the Copper Band did eat them at first but has since stopped. I'll be placing an order for Berghia Nudibranch this week.

jpluttme · Apr 10, 2018

"I'll be placing an order for Berghia Nudibranch this week." So what happens when it eats all the Aiptasia?

jda · Apr 10, 2018

If you make the clam close, you can drop kalk so that the aip thinks that it is eating it. It will slowly dissolve and not spread as much. Turn off all of the flow for precision "dropping" of the kalk. Leave the pumps off for a while.

Good luck.