Algae on shell, what to do?

[running scott]

I have a 4 inch Derasa clam. It's on the sand bed and it's very happy. I was looking at it at night after the lights went out, and I noticed that there was hair algae, and some bubble algae on the clams shell. You can't normally see it when the mantle is expanded. I guess the algae gets the light that's reflected off the white sand bed. My question is what should i do about it?

 

[JRR1285]

You can manually remove it from the shell. I have done it with a tooth brush. Just don't scrub the top growth edge near the mantle, wouldn't want to risk irritating the clam.

 

[running scott]

So do I pickup the clam off the sand? My tank is 30" deep. I'm worried I will disturb the clam.

 

[JRR1285]

I have picked my clam up to scrub it/inspect it. It should be fine with that. Some people even take them out of the water for cleaning. If you did that I would make sure to "burp" the clam after placing it back in the tank to remove any trapped air.

Just don't scrub around the byssal opening or right at the top where the mantle covers. Usually those areas are algae free anyway.

Also make sure that the clam is not attached to the bottom of the tank before picking it up. At that size it may still be attaching byssal threads.

 

[running scott]

Thank you so much for your help. This is the kind of information you just don't find in a book. Love this forum!

 

[broke1]

I have picked my clam up to scrub it/inspect it. It should be fine with that. Some people even take them out of the water for cleaning. If you did that I would make sure to "burp" the clam after placing it back in the tank to remove any trapped air.

Just don't scrub around the byssal opening or right at the top where the mantle covers. Usually those areas are algae free anyway.

Also make sure that the clam is not attached to the bottom of the tank before picking it up. At that size it may still be attaching byssal threads.

How exactly do you "burp" a clam? I only ask because I bought a new one that has some bubble algae on it and know not to disturb that stuff in a tank.

 

[MondoBongo]

it can be hard to burp a derasa, since they can close completely and tightly. the general technique though, if you can get them to open up a little bit, is to gently orient them with the inlet siphon pointing up, and then just kind of move them around under water, to attempt to chase any bubbles out.

however, again, with derasas a lot of the time you can't or don't need to, as they are able to close their shells completely when agitated.