death of a clam

[fsunolesprc]

hello to all,

frist time posting. new to the hobby and doing pretty well thanks to all of you who posted some get info. just wanted to say thanks for the website could not have gotten this far without it. on to my question, got up sunday morning and noticed my clam was all shut up in its shell, so i lifted him up and it was hanging out the bottom of his shell. just a big hunk of meat. upon futher inspection it also had a hole under its mouth. i went to the local aquarium shop and they told me it one of two things. either the blue legged crab or some kind of a worm thats red with hair like legs that run down each side of the worm. mentened something about a worm trap? anyway can someone tell me what kind of worm that is? or if it might be something else? or if you have had this problem how to take car of it?

thank you very much,
fsunoles

 

[LeslieH]

Oenone fulgida is the polychaete that specifically preys on molluscs. It covers smaller clams with mucus before eating them while with larger clams like Tridacna it will eat its way into the clam. They're nocturnal - you'll need to check your tank at night to see if you have one. You could try using the meat from your clam to trap the predator. Do a search for worm traps or crab traps - a lot of people have posted information on different designs and how they work.