Pinched mantle on new clam, should I be worried about my established ones?

Yuki Rihwa · Nov 26, 2017

It's coincidence for me, I'm running heavy activated carbon pellets in my filter just because I love the crystal look of the water clarity LOL
I was not aware that carbon would help or lessen its stress and prevent/cure PM and I got loaded with these Kent carbon pellets that I can use for few years before I run out of carbon.

DSC reef · Nov 26, 2017

Same here yuki, I run carbon 24/7. I'm a fan of chemipure blue. 2 bags in the 75 and every couple months I replace one at a time.

needbiggertanks · Nov 26, 2017

I think back then i read that the gfo releases bioavailablr iron into the water column which is utilized by the supposed parasite that causes PMD. Thats when i removed GFO forever. I like carbon tho, for clarity and removal of any chemical warfare between corals

Shigshwa · Nov 26, 2017

I'll be darned. I decided that if it were actually on its way out, I may as well dip it twice and either save it, or end its misery more quickly. Today, after dip number two, that rolled portion is unrolling, and it's still reactive!

DSC reef · Nov 26, 2017

It's actually looking better. I hope it recovers, it's beautiful. Love comeback reef stories

Shigshwa · Nov 26, 2017

I've lost many clams before my streak of success in the last half year, and knowing clams, once they go downhill, there is no amount of waiting it out that will tip them the other way around, it seems. I always had death if I let it be. I'll grab some carbon for use later.

Yuki Rihwa · Nov 26, 2017

Lets hope it will regain it strength, good luck! Nice looking today though.

Lovemyreef2015 · Nov 26, 2017

Shigshwa said:
I'll be darned. I decided that if it were actually on its way out, I may as well dip it twice and either save it, or end its misery more quickly. Today, after dip number two, that rolled portion is unrolling, and it's still reactive!

That's a beautiful clam! I'm glad it is starting to look better

needbiggertanks · Nov 26, 2017

It really is. Fingers crossed

Tahoe61 · Nov 26, 2017

You can see some ruffling of the margins in that image, the clam does look significantly better though.

I am a FW baths advocate, but that is obviously controversial. First hand experience that caught early PMD responds better to FW baths and heavy charcoal treatment best done in a QT tank but in a tank that typically runs charcoal no significant change that I noticed to other corals as a result of using higher doses of charcoal. There is a correlation to charcoal use and Lateral Line Disease with regard to Tangs and Angel Fish.

Shigshwa · Nov 27, 2017

From what I'm reading, I believe that the carbon binds iron from the water, which helps to reduce the activity of the parasites? If it's iron, then I've actually been dosing iron for my chaeto. I'll stop for a while to help the clam heal.

Shigshwa · Dec 2, 2017

I think its recovered enough to where I should be out of the danger zone, for now at least. It seems to be moving its foot a lot to relocate, a sign that it doesn't really like sitting on my frag rack. I've moved it to its final location. This is the first clam that I've saved from this state! It doesn't seem to extend its mantle much, but I think this may be characteristic of it, it seems to be the type of Maxima with a very wide shell, so it appears like it doesn't extend much.

Tahoe61 · Dec 2, 2017

The 1st clam is a Hippopus, I have found mine to extremely hardy.

Glad to hear the Maxima is doing notably better.

needbiggertanks · Dec 2, 2017

Tahoe61 said:
The 1st clam is a Hippopus, I have found mine to extremely hardy.

Glad to hear the Maxima is doing notably better.

Huge fan of the hippopus. I agree, mine seems to have done well no matter the situation

Shigshwa · Dec 2, 2017

Even though people say that they need tons of light, the one I have has been neglected in the corner of the tank at the LFS for years before I decided to take it home. It was spread open as wide as it could go to collect light. It's no wonder why it's still this size after so long, but nonetheless, it still did fine.

saltyfilmfolks · Dec 2, 2017

Don't try to judge light with your eyes

Yuki Rihwa · Dec 2, 2017

Shigshwa said:
Even though people say that they need tons of light, the one I have has been neglected in the corner of the tank at the LFS for years before I decided to take it home. It was spread open as wide as it could go to collect light. It's no wonder why it's still this size after so long, but nonetheless, it still did fine.

saltyfilmfolks said:
Don't try to judge light with your eyes

Agreed!
Don't judge light with our eyes lol.
If I using my eyes to judge how strong of a light then I'm 1000% sure of the US Marine Orbit system "LOOK" it has same brightness to Kessil 360we, if its just easy like that we would not spend money on high end light system since every light are able to light up our tank no problem.

Shigshwa · Dec 6, 2017

After the clam was looking better, I believe I slipped up. I started dosing a bit of iron again, thinking that it'd be okay, only to find that now all of the clams are starting to look bad. Just lost a small derasa and small squamosa, both of them appearing to have tears in their mantles between the siphons. I have not been able to catch any one of my fish nipping the clams! Did a thorough search for pyramid snails, but I'm not finding any.

I've tossed in a fresh bag of carbon and will stop iron altogether. This is a nightmare situation for me. My two derasas were not gaping, but were retracted (as if it were night time for them) for a week now.

Shigshwa · Dec 6, 2017

Shigshwa said:
I think its recovered enough to where I should be out of the danger zone, for now at least. It seems to be moving its foot a lot to relocate, a sign that it doesn't really like sitting on my frag rack. I've moved it to its final location. This is the first clam that I've saved from this state! It doesn't seem to extend its mantle much, but I think this may be characteristic of it, it seems to be the type of Maxima with a very wide shell, so it appears like it doesn't extend much.

That derasa is the one that died. Looking at it now, the mantle did look quite bad then, but I thought it wouldn't be as subtle!

Donovan Joannes · Dec 13, 2017

I always blast my clam with higher intensity light whenever one is showing curling or receding mantle. You can do the same for PMD. I learned this trick from a friend whom is working at a giant clam hatchling facility.

Freshwater dip is extremely stressful, a clam on its way out will surely perished.