Injury question (gills visible from bottom)

[rrome]

HI all. Thanks for reading my last post. Tonight, I decided to closely inspect my sick maxima and I found pyramidelline snails on it. I found about 10 near the foot. This clam used to be attached to a rock but lost it's footing about a week ago. Two days ago, it's health started to decline. Tonight I found the snails. I also found something disturbing. As I peered into the byssal opening looking for snails, I noticed in horror that I could see the gills of the animal so the seal is no longer water tight. The byssal organs seems to still be there, but there is erosion around it. The clam stills responds (albeit slowly) to movement/shadow but the mantle is strating to like it's 'falling in'

Assuming that I can bring the snails under control, do you think this injury is fatal?

What can I do to increase it's chances of survival? ie, put it in the sand, etc?

Thanks.

Rom

 

[dominic]

sorry to tell you i just had 2 maxes same thing gone in a day after seeing that

 

[simonh]

Don't worry about been able to see in through the bottom. I have had clams which when sick you could look straight in the bottom and see the gills. However, once the stress was taken away and the clams re-attached to rocks they soon recovered.

Concentrate on getting rid of the snails and continuing to provide the clam with good conditions and it should hopefully make a full recovery.

 

[rrome]

Too late

Too late

Well, thanks for the words of encouragement.

The sickest one did not make it, dead this morning.

But now that I know the cause, I can keep a close on the other two, thanks for the help

R