advice on closed squamosa

[nvert]

i have a 4" squamosa that has been in my tank for a month now. up until today it seemed very happy with great color and mantle extension. however, this morning when the lights came on it remained closed and never opened. i come home from work and it is still closed. the derasa and the crocea, which i've had a lot longer, look good as ever. i have not ever noticed any of the tank inhabitants bothering the clam and for the occaisionaly pyramidellid snail on the turbos i have not seen evidence of infestation on the clams. what's going on here?

ph 8.2
81F
10.9dkh
420ca
no amon, nitrites, and nitrates test less than 20ppm.

 

[holeinone1972]

Is your clam on the sandbed where you can pick it up, or is it attached?

If you can remove it, pick it up and visually inspect it.

Generally if you have seen any pyramid snails, there are usually plenty of them. More often than not, they only venture out at night.

Take a look and let me know.

Rob

 

[nvert]

i look at all my clams frequently and never see them. i only occaisionally see them on the turbos....about 1 every week or so.

good news too, the squamosa is opening up. i think he was just preparing to clean out his gills. last night when the hallide went off the squamosa started reacting strangely. he opened up a bit and appeared to cough out a small mass of white mucus...like he has a cold or something and is clearing his throat. he did this several times over a 10 minute period and then settled down and remained slightly more open than he had during the day.

today, he is back to usual. beautiful as ever as far as i can percieve. so my hypothesis is this...if an apparently healthy clam closes for no obvious reasons like predation, irritation, or water quality it MAY be the result of the clam simply cleaning it's gills. in other words, closing to take the time to congeal all the foreign particulates together in preperation for coughing them out.

just my thoughts and hope that it isn't something serious.

thanks rob.