freshwater dip for clam pinched mantle?

[otterpop510]

read from the reefkeeping magazine last month that dipping clams in freshwater for 2-5 minutes is useful as both intro dip as well as if they look like they have pinched mantle. wondering if people have tried this, and if so what are your experiences and/or other ways do deal with.

seems like the maxima clam i won over at the BAR meeting this past saturday has kinda a pinched mantle (not opening up totally, mantle doesn't really go over edge). i acclimated and brushed off shell with toothbrush (in case of pyrimidal snails) clam, its currently about half way up with MH/PC. have a crocea that has been doing fine and coloring up well for about 6 months in the tank so maxima should be fine in tank. put in phyto and rotifers each nite and run for about 30 minutes with sump/skimmer off. just checked both clams, no parasitic snails underneath, on shell or mantle.

i'm thinking of dipping if there's no real danger to the clam and it could potentially help keep the clam healthy. thoughts?

 

[Apon]

I don't think the clam has pinched mantle. I picked out the clams myself and have seen them the week before. they were fully expanded, but the maxima clams did come from a darker tank under pc's so slowly acclimate them to brighter light. They have to extend farther to get more light in a darker tank.

 

[Unarce]

I agree that it doesn't sound like PM, too, but it's hard to say since the mantle's fully retracted.

Potentially, you're dealing with 1 or a combination of the following scenarios.

1. shock from going from PC to MH
2. fish nipping
3. flow/placement
4. water quality

I dip all my clams in FW for at least 15 minutes before introduction. The guy in my avatar needed four, 30 minute FW dips (over a 20 day period) just to get rid of PM.

Many claim that their clams bounced back from poor mantle extension from a dip, but you'll need to determine if none of the above is the issue.

Good luck! That was a pretty clam

 

[Unarce]

It could also be none of the above. Baby clams have an extremely high mortality rate. Especially, maximas. A clam can look fine for months, where an ailment could already have been set in motion.

 

[otterpop510]

thanks for the replies arnold and karl,

yeah, no fish nipping, water quality is solid and stable, but i was thinking about lighting as well as flow/placement.

i have the lighting on wires and had it way up and have been gradually dropping a couple inches back to normal placement (around 7-8" above tank) this week. still could potentially be too much light. also, its getting a decent amount of flow, but i will most likely try to move to a lower flow area and see if that helps.

on the up side, it seems like the clam is opening up a bit more on one half today, so maybe it will pull through. nice electric blue pattern on mantle.

in reading the article it seemed like there were so many variant symptoms for pinched mantle, from closed up to gaping.. how do folks tell?