Hi,
I came accorss this treatment on the new group.(see blow), i am wondering has anyone seem it before? or try it? Please let me know.
FromÃ"šÃ‚¡GGreg P (spamcop@cox.net)
SubjectÃ"šÃ‚¡GRe: Dead maxima?!
View this article only
Ã"šÃ‚ºÃƒÂ´Ã"šÃ‚¤WÃ"šÃ‚½Ãƒâ€"Ã"šÃ‚¾Ãƒâ€šÃ"šÃ‚¡Grec.aquaria.marine.reefs
Ã"šÃ‚¤ÃƒÂ©Ã"šÃ‚´ÃƒÂÂÃ"šÃ‚¡G2002-03-28 16:13:14 PST
Refering back to the original post - that clam isn't dead, by a long
shot, but it is fading fast. You need to get it in healthy water
(sorry to say but that tank water needs some work), crank up the
lighting and...
Tie the clam shut. This will sound strange but I've been keeping LOTS
of clams for years and years - even had a couple get to 9" so I had to
sell them because they got too big. When they get this gaping open
look you need to close them. Clam shells are like a spring - the
major muscle of the clam CLOSES the shell. The health of a clam can
be judged by how quickly and strongly they close their shell. When
the clam is injured or horribly stressed, it will start to lose the
strength to close its shell, which will cause more injury, stress,
etc. When a clam gets like this (in your picture) it will NOT live
unless you close it and let it rest for a bit. Do not tie it
completely shut, but leave the shell halves open about 1/4". I used
to place clams between two rocks, but sometimes a clam would manage to
wiggle lose and reopen. It is best to use cotton string (like butcher
string). You only have to keep them closed for a couple of weeks and
then you can cut the string and remove it. You will know that your
clam is getting healthier and is feeling better when it starts to
extend its mantle outside of the 1/4" crack you left between the shell
halfs. You'll be surprised how far it can extend its mantle. Leave
the clam alone until a couple of weeks have passed and the mantle is
fully extended and looks very healthy. In extreme cases where the
clam looked very bad, you might loosen the string so that you don't
allow the shell to reopen 100% in one shot. I have had a couple of
clams that I tied shut for a while, and when I reopened them their
inner mantles had lost much of their symbiotic algae. No worries -
within a couple of weeks they had colored in fully and were healthier
than ever. This really works! (As strange as it sounds) I found
clams to be extremely hardy and much more forgiving of bad tank
conditions than many other tank denizons as long as you kept the light
intensity up. Don't let them open up like this, however, or they'll
be dead within 48 hours (if that long). Sometimes clams would get
injured or sick for no reason that I could figure out - even when they
were in a perfect tank with several other clams that continued to look
super healthy. I would tie them closed, let them rest, and I had
close to 100% success rate - with clams that looked worse even than
yours.
I came accorss this treatment on the new group.(see blow), i am wondering has anyone seem it before? or try it? Please let me know.
FromÃ"šÃ‚¡GGreg P (spamcop@cox.net)
SubjectÃ"šÃ‚¡GRe: Dead maxima?!
View this article only
Ã"šÃ‚ºÃƒÂ´Ã"šÃ‚¤WÃ"šÃ‚½Ãƒâ€"Ã"šÃ‚¾Ãƒâ€šÃ"šÃ‚¡Grec.aquaria.marine.reefs
Ã"šÃ‚¤ÃƒÂ©Ã"šÃ‚´ÃƒÂÂÃ"šÃ‚¡G2002-03-28 16:13:14 PST
Refering back to the original post - that clam isn't dead, by a long
shot, but it is fading fast. You need to get it in healthy water
(sorry to say but that tank water needs some work), crank up the
lighting and...
Tie the clam shut. This will sound strange but I've been keeping LOTS
of clams for years and years - even had a couple get to 9" so I had to
sell them because they got too big. When they get this gaping open
look you need to close them. Clam shells are like a spring - the
major muscle of the clam CLOSES the shell. The health of a clam can
be judged by how quickly and strongly they close their shell. When
the clam is injured or horribly stressed, it will start to lose the
strength to close its shell, which will cause more injury, stress,
etc. When a clam gets like this (in your picture) it will NOT live
unless you close it and let it rest for a bit. Do not tie it
completely shut, but leave the shell halves open about 1/4". I used
to place clams between two rocks, but sometimes a clam would manage to
wiggle lose and reopen. It is best to use cotton string (like butcher
string). You only have to keep them closed for a couple of weeks and
then you can cut the string and remove it. You will know that your
clam is getting healthier and is feeling better when it starts to
extend its mantle outside of the 1/4" crack you left between the shell
halfs. You'll be surprised how far it can extend its mantle. Leave
the clam alone until a couple of weeks have passed and the mantle is
fully extended and looks very healthy. In extreme cases where the
clam looked very bad, you might loosen the string so that you don't
allow the shell to reopen 100% in one shot. I have had a couple of
clams that I tied shut for a while, and when I reopened them their
inner mantles had lost much of their symbiotic algae. No worries -
within a couple of weeks they had colored in fully and were healthier
than ever. This really works! (As strange as it sounds) I found
clams to be extremely hardy and much more forgiving of bad tank
conditions than many other tank denizons as long as you kept the light
intensity up. Don't let them open up like this, however, or they'll
be dead within 48 hours (if that long). Sometimes clams would get
injured or sick for no reason that I could figure out - even when they
were in a perfect tank with several other clams that continued to look
super healthy. I would tie them closed, let them rest, and I had
close to 100% success rate - with clams that looked worse even than
yours.