clam mucous?

[ahullsb]

My crocea looks happy and healthy, but it has some mucous looking stuff coming up from it's base a little bit. Is this normal?

 

[ahullsb]

bump

 

[ezcompany]

i'm suspecting vermetid snails, check and look for a calcerous tube. they are harmless but annoying

 

[ahullsb]

They would be around the base of the clam? I'll take a look now

 

[ahullsb]

I think that may be it. I know I have vermetid snails in the tank, now I'll have to see if they are around my clam. Will they bother it?

 

[ezcompany]

they are harmless, but i prefer to have nothing on my clams that stick to them calcerously. what i did was cut the tubes with a cutter. you have to be very careful that you don't cut into the shell of the clam though. use a needle to pry out the inside of the snail, you will see some blood. if you want to avoid this, you can just plug the opening with epoxy putty.

 

[Aquarist007]

consider getting a copper banded butterfly fish:

"Fortunately, some fishes such as Copperband butterfly fishes, seem to eat them, and some hermit crabs will eat them as well. Eating these worm snails may well be the only truly beneficial effect of hermit crabs in aquaria."

full article: by Ronald Shimek
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rs/index.php

 

[ezcompany]

a copperband is also risking the clam itself.