Please help with maxima.

[matty0206]

So I have this maxima that i have had for about a year, a few months ago I switched to led's and started having issues with caulerpa that made it into my tank on a frag. The clam seems to be going through these cycles of closing up and then looking good for the last few weeks. A few days ago it looked like this:



Today it looks like this:




It still firmly attached to the rock but seems to be gaping and no longer responding when I wave my hand over it. My concern is if it is for sure dying should I try to get it out or let it be? To be honest I think it has something to do with either the caulerpa or the led's. The tang and starry blenny pick around the mantle eating the caulerpa and may have pestered it to the point of no return. I try to keep the caulerpa at bay but it's kinda a losing battle. It could be the led's as it sits up high in the tank, would moving it down to the sand be worth a try at this point?
My params are all normal although I don't know calcium or alk as I never test for them.
Any help would be great, thanks.

 

[matty0206]

Nevermind. I went to move the rock and it fell over. It's foot kinda slipped out of the shell. I removed him from the tank.

 

[Mike J.]

Well, bummer.

 

[skinz78]

I don't think it was dead.

What fish and inverts do you have?

 

[skinz78]

It looks to me like it was getting stung from the BTA.

 

[matty0206]

I actually found that the maxi mini next to it had it's foot wrapped around the foot of the clam. It moved from one side to the other of the clam and wrapped itself around and through the foot. If it wasn't dead it would not have made it through the night. The foot literally fell out of the clam with little to no effort and the clam never moved, closed, or opened.

 

[skinz78]

Sometimes they release their foot so they can move.

 

[matty0206]

Well maybe I killed it then? All I know is a lot of what was inside of the clam came out the bottom with no effort at all. Does the foot comprise most of what is found inside the clam? The bysal threads (spelling?) were still attached to the rock. Inside the clam the mantle was shriveled and it never retracted or moved or flinched or twitched or did anything, it just stayed slightly open.

 

[skinz78]

From the sounds of it it was a mass of old byssal glands, they build up over time and sooner or later the clam drops them so it can start all over again.