wow, I have been using GFO since day one with my crocea. So far no pinched mantle that I can see but I am not sure how it looks anyway.

I use lots of GFO in my tanks too, and I have two clams. It has never bothered my clams, but in some cases if you remove GFO from a clam with pinched mantle it will resolve itself. I don't like doing dips on clams either, but pinched mantle is serious and needs to be caught early. Most people who lose clams in a dip don't dip early enough and the clam is beyond the hope of any return.

Well, the clam has been looking less irritated ever since I removed those few snails. The last couple days it has looked as healthy as ever. I have been looking it over with a flashlight after the lights go out and I have not been able to find any more snails. If there are any left hopefully my six-line wrasses will snack on them. For right now I think I'm going to hold off on the dip, as long as it doesn't take a turn for the worse.

It is hard to tell by the picture but when I had it on one clam the edges of the mantles looked almost rolled up or folded. Clams don't take well to anything touching there foot. Try building a base for your clams and burry it a bit under the sand they should grab on to that. As for the snails you will probably have to manually pick the clam up and inspect it every few days especially if it does not look happy and scrub them off. Its a good practice to scrub a clam with a tooth brush not yours but someone else's, while its being acclimated.

:biggrin::mrgreen::lol:

I had pyramid snails on one of my clams once and I thought the clam was a goner. I picked the snails off and scrubs with someone else's toothbrush and then went on vacation for 12 days, man when I got back, I though the clam would be empty, but it was thriving. I couldn't believe it.