is this clam alive or dead? Please help!

RhondaJ

New member
I have a Derasa clam that I have had for months with it doing very well. I bought another clam about 3 weeks ago that only lived a few days. When it died I found several of the predator snails on it and in it. I searched the other one and found none. Anyway the derasa starting rocking the other day like it was intentially trying to move. It kept rocking back and forth like it was trying to pull its muscle lose. This afternoon it finally pulled the musle lose but now he is just staying open with his mantle slightly retracted. I thought he was dead and went to take him out before he contamanated the tank. But he closed up slightly so I left him. It looks like his mouth opens really wide but when I get close you can see it close up and reopen. I have also seen his output siphon move slightly. His muscle is still intact. He didn't pull any of it off. But he has retracted it inside his mantle now. I don't know if he is alive or just doing these things out of reflex. And if he is alive is he slowly dieing, which is what I fear. I don't know what could have killed him. He was doing so well. I did find one of the bad snails on him today, but only one. I can see in his mouth when he opens it wide and everything looks in tact there. So far there are no snails going after it which I assume they will do when he dies. also he is still stuck in an open position. He doesn't even try to close when I get near it. The only time it tried to close was when I was looking at it to make sure there were no snails and I turned him a little on his side. Do you think he just needs time to heal after pulling his muscle lose? The tank parameters are as follows.
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
ph 8.2
alk 2.5
calcium 465
SG 1.024

Everything else looks really good. I also wanted to say I feed DT plancton and golden pearls to the tank on a regular basis. I also spot feed corals coral heaven from IPSF. Of course I know to never spot feed a clam.



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One sure way to tell if it's dead is to pull it out and smell it. You'll know immediately what's going on at that point. With clams, once you can visibly see there is a problem, it's usually too late for the clam. Wish I could offer more advise, but without seeing it, it would be difficult to say what exactly is happening.

Good luck.
 
I am so excited. I just went in to check on the clam again. And his mantle is extended just a little more than it was. There is a baha snail on the clams new growth cleaning it and the clam actually closed a little when the snail touched the mantle and I seen his mouth open a little. So do you think he is alive? I think so especially since there is no smell. When I lifted him up earlier to see if there was a smell I didn't want to take him out of the water anymore than I had to just in case he was still alive. When I turned him on his side there was several air bubbles that came out of his hole in the bottom. Is that normal or maybe that was hurting him. I don't know. But after the air excaped he is acting better. What do you think? Oh I am hoping he makes it
 
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