Pinched Mantle

[chris&barb]

hi all
im using a product called Metro+ from Aquarium solutions. i added 1/3 teaspoons to 20g and i will be doing 50% water changes every day for 5 days and adding 1/6tsp. to that, doess anyone know if the Metro+ is full strength metronidazole? is my doseage right? TIA
Chris

 

[bmtpfgh]

For those that have started treatment-Are you using a sterile hospital tank and daily water changes to remove ammonia,etc?

 

[NaH2O]

My tank was sterile, and I am doing small daily water changes with the appropriate amount of metronidazole.

chris&barb - I'm not sure on your dose...I'll have to sit and figure it out. I also don't know if Metro+ is full strength metonidazole. Does it say on the container what the ingredients are? sorry I couldn't be more informative on this one.

 

[chris&barb]

Nikki.
Metro+ Ing. just say, metronidazole (2-methyl-5-nitroimidazole-1-ethanol) (active ingredient); sodium chloride, synthetic polymers and a chelating agent. im just a little unshure of the dosage?that just looks like a very small amount :doubt: i think my clams look good after one day! i never really realized how much they slimed untill i put them into the QT,thats why im doing a 50% water change every day (20 clams in 20G's)

 

[Barry N.]

A little update. My 23 clams have been in a 60 gal q-tank for 8 days now and all but 2 look great. The 2 are not pinched but show a little curl at the edge of the mantle. I do a small water change daily and dose met. everyday and have good water flow to insure the clams get the medication. Also use a turkey baster to blow of the micro bubbles and mucus a few time a day.

Send 2 more clams plus water sample to the lab yesterday to see how things are looking. Also in the Q-tank I am running LR and a good skimmer for filtration and did some water test and had a trace of amm. no nitrites and 20ppm nitrates.

I know I am saying this again but always best to quarantine everything before placing it in your display tank. Not only clams but fish, corals, everything, just good husbandry. IME & IMO

 

[jb1974]

clams

I have my order of metronidazole coming in the next week. I have 20 clams that I have been FW dipping for years. At times I have felt that i beat the pinching, but as soon as I would add a new clam it would return. I have a feeling it was always there, it was just spred amongst all he clams so not much irritation was noticed on any one clam. The best progress I made was when I kept the main tank free of clams for 2 weeks and then I FW dipped them and returned them. I saw zero pinched mantle for over a month until I added a new baby max (Marshal Is.).

Anyhow, I am willing to try anything at this point because FW dipping as a hassle on this many clams. I have a full blown 200g prop system with a skimmer, reactor and 250w De's that I will be using. I can take pics and post progress.


So, for the most part is there a very recognizable difference in your clams since you guys began treating them? Would you say it is working?

THanx for the research on this Barry

 

[NaH2O]

Barry - when you do your water changes and dose more metronidazole, are you adding metronidazole in the amount that goes with the new water, or an amount of metronidazole for the whole system? (example: metronidazole for 10 gallons of water change, or metronidazole for 60 gallons of the entire system)

jb1974 - Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!! Please keep us up to date on how your clams do with the treatment. I have a significant improvement in my larger clam that I was sure wouldn't make it. It had begun gaping, but now looks better than it has since I first introduced it. My smaller clam is still pinching and curling, but I have only been treating for 5 days. I was starting to think about my plan if the clam is still pinching after 10 days of treatment. I have tossed around dosing 2x a day, as would be with a course of antibiotics, and/or increasing the dose slightly. Anyone have thoughts on this?

chris&barb - I can't even imagine how much slime must be in there. I only have 2 in a 20 gallon and the slime is rediculous.

I went on a tour with my local club over the weekend, and was amazed at seeing clams with pinched mantle. I spotted them right away, and it wasn't even that bad. The edges of the mantle were curling slightly, and there was slime coming off. I really hope this treatment works. It will be nice to know there is something that can be done.

 

[the mad reefer]

well i took my clams out of the hospital tank on sunday they were on the meds for 6 days. Today they started to pinch again. I had them in a 10g and started out with 750mg and 8 hrs later added 250mg more every morning i would change 3-4 gallons and add another 250mg. after the six days they looked great. well back to the drawing board. this time i will do 10 days of dosing and 4 weeks of qt with no effort to dillute the meds. it is my understanding that the meds have a very short life. anyway the moral too this story is " they need to be medicated longer than 6 days". just thought i would pass this on to everybody. hth

 

[Scooterman]

Please excuse me, I might of missed something but how bad is a pinch mantle, from what I'm seeing these were fairly new to the tank environment, makes me wonder if you just let them go for some time, even if they jump off their rocks, just let them ride it out, if they jump off a rock, wouldn't that mean that they wanted to be in a different location for some reason? I know I may be way off base here but I can't believe all the meds, treatments & there still is so much problems. Is this something that is happing more & more suddenly or they always had problems with pinches?

 

[Barry N.]

Barry - when you do your water changes and dose more metronidazole, are you adding metronidazole in the amount that goes with the new water, or an amount of metronidazole for the whole system? (example: metronidazole for 10 gallons of water change, or metronidazole for 60 gallons of the entire system)

Nikki, sorry for being tardy in replying to your question but this is what I was told to do. Water change everyday and replace the same amount or metronidazole as it loses it's streight and breaks down. So far, I have just a few croceas with edges cured up a little but no pinch.

 

[chris&barb]

Barry when u say replace the same amount,are u saying treat the new water added or the full tank volume

 

[NaH2O]

Scooterman - the problem has finally been identified to be caused by a protozoan that is attacking the clams. The freshwater dips seem to work for a week, but the problem returns. If nothing is done, eventually the clam may die (I think Cheeks posted earlier about his clam loss). The jumping off of rocks was my question because once I started the metronidazole treatment the clam seemed fine on the rock and hasn't moved since. The only time it has been satisfied is when the metronidazole treatment was started, and it has been in QT prior, just not with metronidazole.

I think tomorrow I am going to start dosing the metronidazole twice a day. I have dosed 7 times, and though the larger clam is showing marked improvement, I'm still seeing some sliming. The smaller clam is still sliming, pinching and curling, just not as severe. Since the mad reefer did not have success after 6 days, then I will figure I may not see much more of an improvement after 10 days....only 3 more doses from now. So.....I'll keep you posted . I would like to see the clams cleared up for the most part before I stop treatment.....however long that will take .....and like a course of antibiotics I will continue treatment for a few days after I no longer see symptoms. *sigh*

 

[Travis]

Scooterman, check my post a page or 2 back regarding my clams that had pinched mantles that I have attempted to "let nature take its course". I started out with 3 pinching clams. None of them have been FW dipped for almost a year now. 2 of them recovered but the third is still pinching.

 

[Scooterman]

the problem has finally been identified to be caused by a protozoan that is attacking the clams.

Thanks Nikki; in regards to the quote, I did read that part but like Travis said he had two out of three recover naturally, I guess there is a fine line between a really sick clam & one that can recover but how far do we go, what have people been doing in the past? I know what is being done, discovered is great & I do hope success in finding a cure. I'm surely not wanting everyone to just let everything go & loose precious clams, this reminds me long ago just starting out I was told to FW dip a yellow tang, I did, it worked for a short time but later I lost it, several reasons why I lost it, now if I get a sick fish in a larger tank, I wonder just how much stress would I put it into by trying to catch it, put in a hospital tank, treat it, then hope it recovers weeks later, how far do we go. I know one thing, the prices of live stock has soared, I'm sure it will continue to soar, so finding a cure is essential.

 

[Barry N.]

Lastest report. Sent a few more clams to the lab on Monday that we have been treating with metronidazole and there is not signs of protozoan. One of the clams they had to sacrifice and take some tissue samples.

This parasite has been on many clams that have been shipped to many dealers, LFS and even to Europe. Was in Balitmore a month ago and one of the guys took me to a large LFS and all the croceas in their tanks had pinched mantle. I assure you that ClamsDirect is not the only place that has had trouble with pinched mantle. We chose to take a proactive approach to solve the problem even at our expense. We strive to select the best animals and take steps to assure that they will arrive in good shape. Any concerns, please direct them to me at [email protected]

Cheers

 

[Scooterman]

You have my vote Barry, when I'm ready I will be calling.

 

[Barry N.]

Thanks for the support !!!

 

[NaH2O]

Barry - the clams that were just sent to the lab.....did they still have mantle curling? I wondered about damage to the mantle from the protozoans. Could the mantle still show curling even though there aren't any more protozoans present?

 

[Barry N.]

Nikki,

One of the two that I sent did have some small curling at the end of the mantle but no sign of protozoan. So to answer your question, there could be some damage. Like most mantle damge, most heal in time.

 

[chris&barb]

Well then I'm doing 50% water change's every day,with the amount of metro to treat the water change (10g)