Clear, jelly-like masses in Clam Tank

[Reefcherie]

I have 20-gallon clam tank that was stocked with clams from my 180-gallon tank and a couple of new ones purchased specifically for that tank. The tank has no fish in it and has no other invertebrates except a few small SPS coral colonies, a few SPS frags, a small clump of pulsing Xenia and a small piece of Fuchea sp. macro algae.

Shortly after setting the tank up and introducing the clams, one clam developed a clear, jelly-like clump of mucus that seems to originate along the bottom of the clam. The clam showed no signs of distress, so I suspected some small critter was making it and I brushed it off with a toothbrush, siphoned it out and didn't think too much more about it. Subsequently, every clam in the tank (including this first one) has now developed the same clear, jelly-like clump. They are unsightly, but thus far, none of the clams seems to be in distress (no gaping, no curling/pinched mantles and mantle extension is pretty good).

Does anyone know what is making these masses and how I can permanently get rid of them? I have not seen signs of parasitic snails in this clam tank, but I could have sworn that I read somewhere that it was a parasitic snail that makes these masses. I haven't found that reference in my searches though.

Cheri

 

[AgentSPS]

I have the same thing with a teardrop I purchased a few weeks ago. It is perfectly healthy and happy (knock on wood). I suspect it is just part of the clams process for laying down new threads. I am not too worried about it.

 

[DoomWeasel]

I was just coming here to post the exact same thing. thanks for saving me the typing. It is only on my crocea. I scoured it for sponges, snails, other irritants but nothing. There is some hair algae on the side of the clam though.

 

[Travis]

I have had the same thing going on with my crocea for several months now. FWIW, this clam has also had the pinching disease the whole time and I'm waiting to get a QT tank as FW dips won't work alone. It appears as jelly-like strands that originate from the base and reach several inches above the clam(very ugly). I did notice something interesting about a month ago when I dipped the clam. I knew I had hitchiker tulip snails with my live rock and thought I had gotten rid of them all. When I took the crocea out there were actually 2 tulip snails competely surrounded by the gelatinous mass coming from the byssal orifice. My best guess is the clam is producing excess slime to ward off predators but who knows.

 

[James Yeung]

I have one 2.5" Crocea producing slime for two months now. It came with the tank (the previous owner had it for more than 1 1/2 years). It looks better than ever, especially killing off the aptasias growing near the mantle causing the poor clam to not open fully. This is slime but doesn't look like jelly. I recently moved the clam (had to tickle its foot since it was glued to the glass bottom) from substrate to rock. It hasn't slimed yet.

I have another one that I bought a month ago that just started to slime, probably because it's stuck on a small piece of rock and I shifted it's original resting place.

Added a ton of clams 4 or so days ago.. All doing fine! This picture was taken 24 hrs after the new addition Currently, I moved four away since my version of clam island was beginning to look a little bit too cluttered in a 72G tank. Hehehe...

James

 

[DoomWeasel]

hmmmmm...... no pinching in any of mine.