little blue legs munching my clam

[deputydog95]

some blue leg hermits got a hold of part the mantle on my crocea clam. now that they have had a taste for it, can't get them away from him. he's anchored to a rock so i can't move him. they took a good chunk out the mantle. any ideas? will he survice this. he's not really opening up much now. how do i keep the blue legs off. i keep picking them up and throwing them on the other side of the tank.

 

[crimson156]

for now put a strawberry basket or something like that over it
this will allow light and water through it but keep out the hermits

 

[Travis]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this is a typical occurence when a clam is dying. Scavengers like hermits, shrimp, bristleworms, etc. can sense a clam dying a lot sooner than the human eye. The clam may look perfectly healthy but is already at the point of no return. This is when the scavengers start moving in for the feast. I could very well be wrong though and maybe it's just a bad hermit you've got. For now I would banish him to the sump and see if the clam comes around. Either way, no matter what you do, good luck. I hope it makes it.

 

[MDP]

Have to agree with Travis on this.

One of my cleaner shrimp started picking at one of my apparently healthy clams. Looked like nothing was wrong with it other than some nicks in the mantle. 2 days later and it was dead.

I was getting ****ed at the shrimp, but on reflection, I wonder whether the clam was on it's way out.

Matt

 

[deputydog95]

you guys were right. it's dead. now my reef goby has a $70 hangout. this sucks. not sure what i did wrong.

 

[deputydog95]

at least i think it's dead. it's open and the body is still inside with the intake wide open, but the mantle is completely gone. bummer.

 

[mikrok]

you guys were right. it's dead. now my reef goby has a $70 hangout. this sucks. not sure what i did wrong.

sounds like you have a good setup...could very well have been just the clam. if you haven't check your parameters and don't be completely discouraged

Mike

 

[deputydog95]

my tank was only four months old. probably too new to be messing with clams i guess. my lfs told me that between the 500 pounds of rock, 200 pounds of sand, and using nsw i should have been fine. apparently not. why is it i can't kill a $5 peppermint shrimp but anything over $50 dies when you look at it funny?

 

[mikrok]

your lfs was right in that you're on the right track...but i would have waited a couple more months longer. the equipment you list sounds like a killer setup...just give it a little more time to mature