is that pinched mantle?

daniella3d · #1 05-18-2013, 02:22 PM

My large maxima is showing some receiding but it's only some part of its mantle and only one one side. Is that pinched mantle? The rest is fully extended and looks normal. You can see on the photo that the two parts on the right top right of that picture are not very well extended.

I did not think it was pinched mantle because it's not all of the clam showing this and I do have amphipods that are chewing on the clam at night despite me putting an actinic light ON all night. Dunno what to think??

i have crabs · #2 05-18-2013, 02:56 PM

Doesn't look like it too me but I couldn't say for sure since its a bit hard to tell from a picture, when my clam did it a couple times it looked like the edge of the mantle flesh would kinda scrunch up for the first while my clam would look normal except the edge looked weird and after a while it would start receding, freshwater dip worked both times I tried it

Proteus · #3 05-18-2013, 04:47 PM

Watching as I have same on a maxima

daniella3d · #4 05-18-2013, 10:01 PM

I seams to be getting a bit worse today

It's a little bit more receided but only those 2 spots...

how do we call sections of mantle? Like there are 4 sections on each side and only 2 sections on only one side are showing this. The rest of the clam seams top health. The clam react well to light and is not gaping. This is very wierd.

I am debating to do a fresh water dip or not. I don't know what's a fresh water dip could do if the problem is not pinched mantle...

Also something wierd that I have noticed, is that underneat the affected sections, the new growth of shell has some sort of filaments. I checked and it is not something alive, rather it looks like it's the tissue of the shell that is getting soft on the edge.

i have crabs · #5 05-19-2013, 01:27 AM

Maybe something is bothering it, is it touching any other clams or corals?
Maybe check this out also
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/jf/

daniella3d · #6 05-19-2013, 07:38 PM

nothing touch it that I can see. I checked for pyramid snails and other anoyance but nothing that I could see. The only thing that I cannot control are those amphipods that are anoying it at night.

When ever I go to the bathroom at night I go check on the clams and I chase the amphipods away by blowing them off the clams. I don't know if this has anything to do with the clam condition.

Once I had a cleaner wrasse that took many bites out of the clams and it regrew everything missing piece of its mantle. Now I cannot even see any bite marks. It's like the mantle is just shriveling on that part.

gobytron · #7 05-28-2013, 10:34 PM

pods are either eating decay or something on the clam...
The something they are eating COULD be the cause of the irritation.

Delphinus · #8 05-28-2013, 10:48 PM

It could be pinched mantle.

My advice is give it a freshwater bath for a few minutes (match temperature). If it is pinched mantle, it should help. If it isn't pinched mantle, at least it won't hurt the clam.

Afraid you will have to google or search for the recommended time for the FW bath as I don't remember that part offhand, sorry!

asylumdown · #9 05-28-2013, 11:07 PM

I know you've been having trouble with the amphipods for a while, Have you ever considered putting something out at night in your tank that they'd rather eat than the clam? Sort of like planting marigolds amongst vegetables, but rather than repelling the pods, you'd be giving them something else to munch on? Like maybe a frozen clam from the fish market?

Myka · #10 05-29-2013, 03:26 AM

Could you put a fish in the tank to help eat the pods? Dottybacks and Wrasses do a fantastic job or maybe a Mandarin if the tank is suitable. I like to have a Halichoeres wrasse in with clams (and SPS) to help keep irritating pods and worms in check. Yellow Coris are a good choice for smaller tanks and tend to be invert safe too (which most Halichoeres aren't).

Pinched mantle usually shows up just in one or two lobes at first, you may indeed have a case of pinched mantle. It's hard to say at this point from the pic. With pinched mantle it is best to act sooner rather than later. A FW dip will not hurt the clam whether or not it has pinched mantle provided you take the appropriate steps to match pH and temperature. Use a digital pH meter for this, drop style test kits are not accurate enough.

"I have crabs" link is good information.