Pinched mantle & freshwater dip

Doug · #1 10-03-2007, 06:01 PM

Has anyone given there clam a freshwater bath. Its suggested for 20min. or so. Seems to be the only solution to a pinched mantle but it gives me the willies.

One of my derasa clams, which are usually not inclined towards this disease, seems to have just developed it out of the blue. How the heck does that happen? Sheez? I cant see taking a nicely growing derasa and plunging it into freshwater but would hate to see it spread, if thats what it is, to my other clams. I already noticed a very small amount of mantle, turned at the back of my larger derasa now. My crocea seems fine so far.

I had a maxima, that I got from another aquarist. Not sure if you remember the pics, but I say it had the disease from the start, when he purchased it. Now the others were not in the tank at the time, and were added right after it died, but I wonder if it can carry over in a tank with no clams for a few days?

michika · #2 10-03-2007, 06:04 PM

I'd head over to Clamsdirect.com and check over their forums for the correct procedure and maybe some experiences. The thought of putting my clams in freshwater gives me the willies too!

mark · #3 10-03-2007, 06:54 PM

care to post a picture?

Delphinus · #4 10-03-2007, 07:32 PM

Clams are more resilient to freshwater dips than you might think - as long as the water is temperature matched. There's an old story about how one guy did a FW dip on a clam, did something else for the 20 minutes, forgot about the clam until the next morning - freaked out - but put the clam back in the tank - and the clam lived happily ever after. They just shut themselves up tight as .. well .. clam, and they can ride it out for a bit.

(This person may or may not have been me - I offer no further comment!)

My biggest concern with FW dips is that sometimes they're attached to a big honking rock and then what do you do? I guess this is an argument against my usual rant about how clams belong in the rock and not the sand (well .. they do! Usually, anyhow, if you look at pictures of clams in the real reef, they're never on the sand, they're literally burrowed into the rock). But having them attached to a smaller rock works better if you ever have to do a FW dip.

Before you do a FW dip though, I would try to make certain it is pinched mantle and not just an irritation (ie, something touched it or is touching it, any vermetids nearly, any aiptasia's tiny or not-so-tiny, a burr on a nearby rock, etc.), or just one of those things. Sometimes my clams will pinch in but only for a day or two, I sometimes wonder if they pinch in a little if they're laying down new shell. But .. I'm not sure.

BTW, these two books are awesome:
http://oceanaquatics.com/store/produ...ms-in-the-Sea/
http://oceanaquatics.com/store/product/848/Giant-Clams/
(in case you don't have them already that is

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Delphinus · #5 10-03-2007, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug

I had a maxima, that I got from another aquarist. Not sure if you remember the pics, but I say it had the disease from the start, when he purchased it. Now the others were not in the tank at the time, and were added right after it died, but I wonder if it can carry over in a tank with no clams for a few days?

I missed this part before I posted the other reply.

PM is supposed to be protozoan, so I would guess it could carry over in a tank with no clams for a few days. I'm not sure how long the "fallow period" would have to be, but surely a couple of days would not really be enough?

Doug · #6 10-03-2007, 10:56 PM

I will take some pics Mark.

I checked out Barry,s forum, when dealing with my maxima but not recently. Perhaps I will do so again. The info on freshwater baths, came from some RC threads I read last night. They seem to agree with what Tony said but it still gives me the heebi-jeebies.

However, if I have to watch it go down hill like the maxima, I will be totally peed. Just seems such a shame that healthy growing clams, develop something like that out of the blue, unless its related to the last incident as mentioned. Crap, even that was a couple months ago though. You would figure the disease would show before then, if it remains in the tank.

I,ve looked as close as possible, without removal, for other irritants but none to be seen. Luckily the worst one is attached to rubble, so it can be removed but if the larger has the same problem, its attached to a huge flat rock as seen in the TOTM pics.

Doug · #7 10-03-2007, 11:10 PM

Tried a couple pics. Sorry but almost impossible to get close without blurring with my camera. The 1st. is the clam in question with the mantle pinching on the left side center.

The other is one I tried to get of the extreme back portion of the larger, which now has some small curling on the rear right. I know its a bad pic but perhaps you can see it.

mark · #8 10-04-2007, 01:17 AM

Thanks for the pics and luck with the clam.

Can't say ever seen picture so under impression it was part of the mantle receding back to the edge of shell, but its more of a curling.

Delphinus · #9 10-04-2007, 02:19 AM

That doesn't look like PM to me ... when I've seen PM, it's been pinched back all the way to the shell. This does seem more like it's curling rather than pinching.

However, having said that, it does seem suspicious if you've had PM recently in another clam. Clams do share communicable diseases quite easily - if you lose one clam in a tank it's a sure bet to lose another in short order.

Sooo .. weighing the options, I would do the FW dip. Basically it comes down to this: the FW bath won't hurt the clam long-term; but if it IS PM, that will kill the clam eventually..

Some good info about PM here:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/jf/index.php

Aquattro · #10 10-04-2007, 02:21 AM

Doug, I have done this many times, no issues. I left one in for an hour, but normally 30 min max will do it. Use RO at the same temp as the tank, nothing else needed.