Diagnosis and Treatment of Pinched Mantle Disease in Giant Clams.

Suesea · Sep 9, 2020

xjiang7 said:
LOl sure, nice!

Acclamating now. I'm a little nervous about the release lol

xjiang7 · Sep 9, 2020

Suesea said:
Acclamating now. I'm a little nervous about the release lol

It looks smaller than I expected lol

Suesea · Sep 9, 2020

xjiang7 said:
It looks smaller than I expected lol

It's a dwarf morey and only gets 12" max

Jsimon · Oct 1, 2020

Your FWD, saved my elegance coral!

Scorpius · Jun 4, 2021

PSA: A Crocea clam can handle a 40 min freshwater dip.

Ellery · Nov 30, 2021

@OrionN

Thanks again for a great article to share your knowledge on PMD and even the Cipro treatment for large Anemones.

If Perkinsus sp. is a virus, would running a UV sterilizer help keep a system clean?
This is my current setup dedicated for Clams. The 3 derasas, Gigas, and Hippoppus are doing great but have since lost every Maxima that I've tried (7 small and 1 large), 1 crocea and squamosa. Just can't seem to keep any maximas for years no matter what vendor I get them from. Just to be safe I won't be adding any more clams to avoid contamination.

As far as QT clams what is your process? Just observation with no treatments?

Rubymoon286 · Nov 2, 2023

I know the pictures aren't the best, but they are the best I can get right now - this guy's been closed up the last two days, prior it looked fine, and I was wanting a second opinion on if this looks like PMD or if I should be looking in a different direction for treatment. I don't want to do a freshwater dip unless necessary. The clam was bought a few weeks ago at Reef-a-palooza, and is the only clam in my system, and was sold to me as a teardrop maxima, and I added a few photos of what it normally looks like at full extension. It was happy and extended like normal on Tuesday.

OrionN · Nov 2, 2023

That is a T. crocea. It does not have PMD. The tank seems to be very new, seem brand new. It is likely water condition may be the problem. Initially, PMD result in a healthy-looking clam with only small part of the mantle retracted. Your clams as a whole, does not look well.

Rubymoon286 · Nov 2, 2023

OrionN said:
That is a T. crocea. It does not have PMD. The tank seems to be very new, seem brand new. It is likely water condition may be the problem. Initially, PMD result in a healthy-looking clam with only small part of the mantle retracted. Your clams as a whole, does not look well.

Thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate it, and the id, so I will go read about Crocea as I've only kept Maxima before. This tank isn't brand new, but it is under a year. I added a brand new clam rock to hold the clam when I bought it because I couldn't find a great spot to place it on my existing rockwork, so the rocks directly around the clam haven't aged to match the rest of the rock yet. I started it early 2023, but I maintain stable parameters. I tested yesterday: Alk: 7.7 (which is on the low side, I try to run it at 8-8.5 but I have a plan to slowly dose it back up over the next week) Cal 425, NO3 20.1, Po4 0.06 which is slightly elevated from the 0.05 max I try to keep, MG 1500, SG 1.026, pH 8.2, temp 77.5. The alk and po4 were the only two that are off from where I keep it typically. The clam gets around 350-400 par where it's at, and isn't being blasted with flow, but does get some indirect flow.

minus9 · Nov 8, 2023

I don't see a lot of new growth on the shell. How long is your peak photo period?

Rubymoon286 · Nov 8, 2023

minus9 said:
I don't see a lot of new growth on the shell. How long is your peak photo period?

7 hours peak. It's doing a lot better after bringing alk up, and discovering that there were colonial hydroids on the shell which I believe were irritating the mantel. I cleaned the shell really well with a stiff brush, and brought the alkalinity back up to 8.5 and it's recovered really really well - it's been fully extended the last three days, and I've been watching it closely.

It has turned itself, but is firmly attached to the rock. Sorry about image quality, I'm horrible at taking photos of this clam - I can't quite find the right settings that it doesn't come out a little off.

Saturday the 4th after scrubbing the shell: