Bristle Worms

pi

Premium Member
I noticed this week that my prize maxima has a couple of bristle worms living in the folds/crease of the shell. Is this normal? The clam looks great and see no signs of illness.
 
Paul,
Hello. IMO NO! I do not trust them! Clams can look great and the next day be a empty shell. Can you take the clam out of water? A clam that is well smells like the ocean (fresh) a clam that is ill smells terrible.
Jim
www.tanku.net
 
Thanks Jim! I will pull him out when I get home for the sniff test. If he is sick, he sure does not show it. Plus, I would suspect if the bristle worms were starting to munch, the clam would be very stressed and not open...?

The bristles are really out of control in my tank. For some reason I have had a 'pod die off and I believe the lack of competition has caused a polulation boom with bristle worms. They are all very small, but can be seen in every nook, cranny and hole.

Thanks again!

Paul
 
Paul,

I have to agree with Jim on that. I know that a lot of people say that bristle will not attacked a clam unless it is going down hill. I am not convinced of that.

Example, I shipped 3 clams to a customer and those clams had been in my tank for 13 days and no signs of failing health. The person didn't have any clams in her tank, when she received the clams she said they opened up nicely when the lights come on but then the next morning the clams were dead and when she took them out of the tank they were full of worms. All 3 of them. Some have told me that they were mostly stressed from shipping but IME if a clam is stressed due to shipping it will appear that way when received, not expanding or retracting to shadows. The customer told me later that she has lots of worms in here tank.

Like Daniel Knop's book states, there is no evidences stating they do not attack a clam

Just my thoughts.
 
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Thanks Guys!

I did the "sniff" test over the weekend and it does not smell badly at all. Barely a smell at all. It still opens beautifully, larger then ever and looks great. I also watched it intently, and it appears the worms have moved on.

I am SOL if it turns out bristle's do attack offensively. There is no way I can remove them. Like I said, they are everywhere.

Thanks again!
 
I have a tank full of bristleworms too. I'd say literally thousands, some big ones and lots of small ones. I'm pretty new to clams but I have four of them now and I'd sure hate to lose them to bristleworms.

The research I did before I got my clams led me to believe:
<blockquote>
Clams have a tendency to look great right up until they die and that people often find a clam that looked great yesterday dead today and full of worms.

Bristleworms will only eat a dead or dieing clam and don't have the jaw structure needed to bite off pieces of live flesh but can kind of "gum" rotting flesh.
</blockquote>

So far I haven't had any problems but I've only had clams in my tank for a couple months.
 
Hey Jim

Hey Jim

The link to your website doesn't seem to be working. Has it changed since you last updated your profile? I'd like to see your clams if possible.
 
That works fine Jim. Must've had a server down earlier.

Nothing wrong with yours Barry, and I would know. I'm on it about 24/7 looking at all the clams that should be MINE! How I wish I had more tanks! :D
 
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