can this clam be saved ? anything i can do to help ?

[yahutch]

i bought a 3.5" crocea clam on saturday and drip acclimated before adding it to my tank . i looked it over at the lfs , it appeared to be in good shape and reacted very quickly when they moved around it . all my tank perams are right on . i have two other clams in there for a year and they are doing quite well (1 larger crocea and 1 dersa growing fast) . i placed it on the sand bed and was planning to slowly bring it up the rockwork . the lfs used pc lighting and i run dual 250w mh's over a 75 . the first day in there the clowns would kick up sand and i noticed it would not close and cause the sand to fly off the way the other two clams do so i gently waved my hand over it to get the sand off . i did notice it was gaping a little and i could see sand right thru the bottom of it .the next morning it was not extending it's mantle very far so i tested to see if it was reactive and it is was . third day before lights on i notice my nasarrius snails picking at it , i know that it not a good sign . i chased the snails away and the clam was still reactive to my movement so i moved it up the rockwork away from the snails in the hopes in may be able to heal ( it closed up as i was moving it ). on day 4 (this morning ) it is still reactive but not extending past the shell . no snails or shrimp are having at it and it still smells good .i did look it over for pyramid snails at the first sign of decline and could not see anything .are they easily visible ? the clams coloration is still good . i think it was probably in decline when i purchased it. is there anything i can do to try to save it ? might a fw dip help ? any ideas what might be the problem ? my other clams have done so well that i am at a loss here , but sitting back and doing nothing is not an option . i think it is dying . is it too late ? i will be getting a camera this afternoon so i can post pics . was hoping for some advice before then though . thanks

 

[yahutch]

i could not figure out how to size the picture to post it . the clam seems to be doing better today . it's mantle is extended past it's shell today , but it has shrunk in size over the last three days . has anyone had a clam shrink in it's shell and still make it ? does anyone have any advise or ideas? i have been keeping clams for a year now , but never had one that is sick . my others are doing extremely well .

 

[yahutch]

well the clam is showing improvment every day . the end of day 5 and the clam no longer apprears to be shrinking . the mantle was exteded a good .5" outside the shell and appears to react quicker to light changes and when the fish swim close by . i have no idea what has been up with this clam , but i do suspect that it may have been starving before i rec'd it . it had not been at the lfs for very long so maybe from the distributer . i have not taken it out to direct feed it as i did not want to stress it , but i do feed the tank dt's and i dose kalk , i have pretty high lighting , and the clam has been placed in direct light . i will move it up closer to the top/lights as soon as it has had some time to recover and adapt to my lighting . i was not sure if a clam could survive after being in that shrinking stage , but it appears to be the little clam that could . just so others who may find themselves in this position know i left the clam to it's own resources ( no dips ,ect. ) and tried not to disturb it . as hard as it was to not interfer it seems to have been what worked in my case .

 

[Zebo]

Well im glad things are looking up for that clam, strange how things can actually take care of themselves =O

 

[yahutch]

thanks zebo . it is looking even better today. if it keeps up at this pace i would say in a week it will be fitting it's shell again . it was closing itself trying to move this morning so it must be feeling stronger .