How bad is it when a cleaner shrimp has picked on a clam?

meagan_myers

meagan_myers

Premium Member
I'm a little worried now. The shrimp was picking at my crocea this morning! The clam is really ticked off. I don't understand this. The clam looks very healthy with extended mantle (before the picking) with great color and he is very responsive. No signs of any decay or sickness. Now, half of the clam is pulled in where the shrimp has picked and the other half is extending outwards. The good news is that I can't see any actual damage to the mantle, it's just pulled in. I've had the shrimp for only 1 1/2 weeks. I hope I can give him back to the LFS today. Will my clam recover? I know some people say that the shrimp will only picking at a sick clam. How true is this. Up to this point I've had a very healthy looking clam!
 
I was able to give the evil cleaner shrimp back. My clam still doesn't look good. Half of him is pulled in and the other half is only partly extended. Any suggestions? Any idea if he can recover and if so how long? I love this clam and I think he loves me too. I know that sounds weird. Does he have a decent chance of surviving this?
 
My cleaner shimp cleans my clams all the time. The clams are to happy about it but a little bit later the clams are back to normal. I think your clam should be fine. IMO
 
If he extends back out soon he will be fine.

I had to remove my pair of cleaners because of thier constant harassment of my clams on the sand. They would constantly harass and jump all over them. One of the larger maximas they frequented actually started to bleach. I removed them and a few weeks later the clams are all MUCH happier, and the poor bleaching maxima has regained all his color, looks as good as ever and growing faster.
 
He is still half extended and the other half is pulled in. He is responsive though. I guess I just have to hold my breath and give it a couple of weeks........
 
Chiming in a little late here, but I think perhaps there was an injury the cleaner shrimp was capitalizing on. I have 10 clams of various sizes, and my 4 cleaner shrimp in that tank pick and clean them all the time. They return to normal in a minute or two. If the clam is pinched in that area, perhaps something else is to blame. I had a stag fall into a crocea a few months back; the clam closed up tightly, cutting into its own flesh b/c of the acropora branch. I moved the coral as soon as the clam would let go (more than a few minutes) and let nature take its course. I thought the clam was a gonner for sure. The shrimp had a hayday with the damaged area. They were really just eating the tissue that had been denuded from the mantle. They actually helped the healing process by pulling the damaged tissue away from the healthy mantle.

The clam is now quite healthy, but still shows a little notch in its mantle, which is shrinking slowly with time.


Maybe your shrimp was evil, but....I doubt they actually did any damage. I agree, and have had experience with foreverlearning that if something harasses a clam, it will be timid to extend completely, and will bleach.

HTH.
 
I have 2 croceas in my 33g with 2 cleaner and a peppermint shrimps and I have no problem so far, no picking or whatsoever, in fact the cleaner shrimps got freaked out when the clam closes up suddenlly.
 
I am so sad. The clam still hasn't recovered and the shrimp was taken away on the 24th. He only extends out on the one end that wasn't picked at. I don't understand why the shrimp decided to pick on the clam. The clam appeared completely healthy and looked awesome. His mantle was fully extended and he responded rapidly. My clam looked just like Navyblue's until the shrimp got a hold of it.
 
Don't worry, just leave it alone for sometime, if the clam is healthy in the beginning it will surely recover, it might take a few days though to fully extend the mantle.
 
This is after the clam attack. It's 90% recovered. I am so relieved.
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