First Maxima Clam. Tear in Mantle

[Scubabum]

I purchased a Maxima Clam just over a week ago and over the last couple of days noticed it was not opening as large as it did for the first several days. When it opened this morning I noticed a small tear in the Mantle. I inspected the clam closely and did not find any Pryamid snails and nothing in the tank seems to be nipping or bothering the clam. Not sure what caused this and Not sure what to do. Will it repair itself?? Looking for advice. Thanks in advance.

 

[DSC reef]

Did anything fall on the clam? It's possible it got nipped at night.

 

[Scubabum]

Did anything fall on the clam? It's possible it got nipped at night.

Nothing fell on the clam. If it did get nipped at night do they heal on their own? Appreciate your input.

 

[DSC reef]

I've never had to deal with a tear so for now I'd just try to keep everything stable and see how it heals.

 

[jda]

Are you seeing the incurrent siphon as a tear? If so, then it is supposed to be like that. If not, then my apologies.

 

[Scubabum]

Are you seeing the incurrent siphon as a tear? If so, then it is supposed to be like that. If not, then my apologies.

No need to apologize. The incurrent siphon is on the far left, not shown in the picture. I have to admit the tear looks like the incurrent siphon. Thanks for your response.

 

[Joel B.]

Can't say I've ever seen anything like that before. I would suggest running heavy carbon, it seems to help with various disease/parasite style issues that clams can fall victim to. There was a poster a week or two back that has some kind of flesh-eating problem with his clam that he tracked down to reusing suspicious-death clam meat in his custom food. He stopped feeding it and the clam recovered.

Usually if it's nipping you see evidence on the edge of the mantle and in those cases if you don't catch and remove the nipper (or prevent its access to the clam) then it will nip the clam to death.

 

[Scubabum]

Can't say I've ever seen anything like that before. I would suggest running heavy carbon, it seems to help with various disease/parasite style issues that clams can fall victim to. There was a poster a week or two back that has some kind of flesh-eating problem with his clam that he tracked down to reusing suspicious-death clam meat in his custom food. He stopped feeding it and the clam recovered.

Usually if it's nipping you see evidence on the edge of the mantle and in those cases if you don't catch and remove the nipper (or prevent its access to the clam) then it will nip the clam to death.

Thanks for answering. I'm running Carbon.... I'm starting to suspect my melanurus wrasse. I have not caught him nipping but seems to hover around the clam quite often. No evidence of nipping around the edge of the mantle so still not sure.

 

[Joel B.]

You could try to quarantine the clam a bit, build a cage of egg crate or mesh netting and glue/expoxy it to some small rocks and surround the clam so that it still gets light and water flow but fish have harder access.

 

[Lionsreef]

I have a maxima clam and several months ago I found that my emerald crab was nipping at it. The clam had 3 large tears in the mantel by the time I was able to catch and remove the crab but the mantle healed up nicely within about a month.

 

[Scubabum]

I have a maxima clam and several months ago I found that my emerald crab was nipping at it. The clam had 3 large tears in the mantel by the time I was able to catch and remove the crab but the mantle healed up nicely within about a month.

Thank you very much for responding. This is my first clam and wasn't sure if the clam would heal on its own.

 

[cwalton00]

As far as the carbon goes change it out very frequently. I mean every few days at best.