bad snails? Clam not doing well

[IPT]

My T Maxima over the past week has had poor mantel expansion (except one day when I moved the flow and it seemed to get better, next day same thing so I think it was a coincidence). Water parmeters have not changed for longer than the lack of expansion.

I notice oddly it has slightly better expansion at night. Weird right? During the day it has about 1/8 to 1/4 inch expansion (compared to the normal 3/4 of an inch or more (each side so 1 1/2 or more total).

I looked for snails but didn't see any (had the pyramid snails in a previous tank). Tonight I was up late, and lo and behold - snails!! I took about 20 of them off the clam (it's about 3 1/2 long). The thing is these looked like mini astrea snails....like the kind that are all over the glass in the AM. They are tiny though, and were clearly on the upper scouts near the mantel. I am wondering if these are the cause of my problem or if I should look elsewhere.

Any ideas? Heres a pic or two.

 

[IPT]

I should add that these pics were taken about 2 hours after lights out. I turned them on to get the pictures. The mantel expansion is better than it is during the day but nowhere near wat it was days ago. Also the mantel still has a good withdrawl during the day if I cast a shadow over it even though it is barely visable.

 

[sharkmanstudio]

I had the same prob with maximas a tiny clear snail around the base it is not geed or easy to get rid of you need to scrub them off every night and keep the cam in a container with no top that the snails can't get into like a zip lock container and hope after time the snails die in the tank without the clam also try a cristmas wrass to eat the snails. Good luck

 

[IPT]

Turns out I do not think it was these snails. My ALK two part was not being dosed and it was WAY low. Now that I am boosting it back up the clam has full mantel extension.