Clam with torn mantle

maroun.c · Mar 8, 2019

Got this red sea blue maxima since around 6 weeks, with 2 other ones; one blue from few weeks before and a green at same time i got the affected one.
They both arrived fine spent around 2 weeks in my QT and were doing great. Moved to DT abd few days later the blue one has a hole.in the mantle between the syphons and the syphone opening is very wide. It still opens every day abd is reactive to motion but mantle isnt as open as other clams next to it. Any idea what this might be and what to do?

campaign000 · Mar 8, 2019

Same thing happened to me and imo it's because of the fish bite. It will recover if clam is in good health. But from the pics I suggest you put the clams higher, they need more lighting.

DSC reef · Mar 8, 2019

Those a pretty severe tears, not sure on the exact cause of why that happens. I've seen clams with exaggerated open incurrent siphons but not to a point of tearing. I've seen wide open incurrent siphons from an acclimation response too. Not much you can do at this point, make sure no fish or inverts are picking at the clam and make sure they are getting plenty of light.

maroun.c · Mar 8, 2019

Watched them for some time and didnt see any nipping. Tank is a bit on the overlit side so light on sand bed is not bad. Got 3 250 halides and 4 radions G3 pro over a 400 gallons. Think i should still raide them higher ?

DSC reef · Mar 8, 2019

That's a lot of light, just depends on the par at the bottom. Maximas are hard to over light IMO as long as they are acclimated to the rising intensity. That clam could've had issues prior.

Softhammer · Mar 8, 2019

I highly recommend you don’t move it at all. If it seems ok there, don’t touch it. The odds of recovery in my experience with a few dozen clams is extremely low. However if you touch it, it will stress it and if it has extended byssal filaments they will tear, and I promise it will be dead within a day or two. Prepare for the worst, once clams start heading that direction, they seldom recover. Wish I had better experiences to share but not once has a clam ever bounced back from that type of thing for me.

hart24601 · Mar 8, 2019

I got a sick clam (s) from DD and as part for the illness the center mantle bleached and developed holes. In this case a fish would be better! What all fish do you have in there? It only takes a nip or two to hurt a clam and you tend to never see it unless record the tank.

maroun.c · Mar 8, 2019

Thanks for the replies. As for fish its a loaded 400g but nobreal nippers. 7-8 tangs, clowns, anthias, wrasses, mandarins, dragonets, pyramid butterflies (a concern but tbey havent touched anything yet. The fact that other clams are fine leads me to think that its not a nipping issue.

hart24601 · Mar 8, 2019

I'm worriedd about it passing disease to the others. It's what happened to my clam collection. Not much to do but keep an eye on things.

DSC reef · Mar 8, 2019

maroun.c said:
Thanks for the replies. As for fish its a loaded 400g but nobreal nippers. 7-8 tangs, clowns, anthias, wrasses, mandarins, dragonets, pyramid butterflies (a concern but tbey havent touched anything yet. The fact that other clams are fine leads me to think that its not a nipping issue.

I believe that clam had a prior issue as well. Keep a close on the tangs, they love the mucous a tridacna mantle can produce. Keep us updated, those are some great looking maximas

maroun.c · Mar 9, 2019

Thanks will keep updating. I added 3 new ones in a cube connected to same system with no only couple clowns and one wrass to see if theyll have the same succes as in my tank. For somw reason many clams i got didnt make it long term in the past.

Softhammer · Mar 9, 2019

Watch your pyramid butterflies. They are alleged planktivores however mine almost killed my monster ( pushing 14-16”) derasa clam. It kept biting the same region between the incurrent and excurrent siphons on the mantle to the point it was white and raw. The clam stayed closed for almost 3 months however the mantle was huge. The pyramid would have very easily killed a smaller clam. I trapped the butterfly, sumped it, and 2 months later my clam is back in action, healthy and growing once again. Obviously I know nothing of the chronology of the clam and Hemituarichthys butterfly’s introduction to the tank but watch them. The one I had was fine for a very long time and then got a taste for Tridacna meat!