My Clam and freshwater dip

[mattseattle]

This is a follow up to a post I made a month or two back regarding my clam. After I bought the clam it was fully extended and all for about 2 - 3 weeks. After that I noticed some pinching of the mantle around the intake. I took it out and cleansed the shell really well and found a few pyramid snails so I removed those. I scrubbed the shell with a toothbrush (brand new) and everything was fine for a few days but the mantle did not extend all the way. I took it out again to make sure I did not miss any snails or sand or any other irritants. I found nothing. I returned it to the tank and still it did not fully extend. I figured maybe with time it would heal itself but matters only got worse. The pinching of the mantle spread.

About 3 days ago I decided the clam was too sick looking to not try the freshwater dip. I was afraid that it was going to die either way.

I took RO/DI water and warmed it and aerated it to the same temperature as the tank water. I then placed the clam in the freshwater for roughly 25 - 30 minutes. It didn't close for about 10 minutes so I thought it was probably dying and then it closed solid. Good sign. Quite a few of small bugs (pods and such i assume) and all were lying dead at the bottom. After 30 minutes I returned the clam to the tank and the next morning when the lights came within minutes the clam was fully extended. There was one small small area that wasn't but within that day it was perfect. It's responding to light alot better and has attached itself to the rockwork since doing the freshwater dip.

It's still looking beautiful and fully extended. I'm glad I finally did the dip even though I was scared.

 

[jazznreef]

That's really interesting. Good Job ! I pretty much figured that once they started gaping it was over. Thanks for the info and hopefully i will never need to use it !

 

[mattseattle]

Yeah, I thought it was a goner. I should've done it sooner as I stated above but it made me nervous. It was wild all the stuff that came out of it like pods and such. I'm sure there were quite a few things in the water that I could not see with the naked eye.

I'm just glad that it pulled through and looks awesome now.

 

[jazznreef]

was that one of the beauties from mojo's clamorama?

 

[mattseattle]

yup - sure was.....one of the last to go as well. i wonder if anyone else that got one from that batch had any issues? or if it was just me.

this is and was the only clam ever in my tank. i don't know alot about pinching mantle and what causes it. i'd assume a parasite or irritation of some sort.

 

[mojoreef]

Glad it worked out for you Matt, FW dips always scare the heck out of me. I didnt here of anyone that had problems with the clams, even the ones I rolled down my driveway are all doing good.

Mike

 

[mattseattle]

Clams are pretty tough or so I've come to realize.

Mike, yeah I definitely agree with you on that FW dips are scarey. I was afraid that it wouldn't pull through but it did and looks a million times better than before the dip.

I guess I just got the 'weird' clam in the batch. but I'm definitely glad it's doing well as I would like to add another clam or two in the future.

 

[RobD]

That's really good news.

 

[jazznreef]

one of the last one's to go, huh??!! maybe the problem was hamby's grow out tank. ha!

 

[mattseattle]

yeah, no telling where the problem came from. just glad that it seems to be taken care of.

 

[SueT]

Matt, I'm with Mojo, to think of doing a FW dip on any of my clams scares the you know what out of me. Barry of clamsdirect has a good FW dip method but sounds like you did exactly what the clam needed. Awesome that it worked too.

 

[Electrobes]

man wat made you do it for that long.. i would ahve figured that 15 minutes would have done it.. 30 minutes seemed so long!

 

[mattseattle]

everything that i read said do it between 20 and 30 minutes to make sure the parasites are killed. a few i read said they tried it for 15 minutes and it didn't solve the problem.

30 minutes seems like an eternity when the clam is popping around in a bowl of fresh water