Yellow spong on Maxima ?

[gary faulkner]

Can see the sponges when the clam closes.

The sponge is at the very edge of the shell closest to the mantle.

Should I just leave it alone?

Can it hurt the clam?

TIA

 

[WayneY]

I don't beleive it will hurt the clam,I have sponges on some of my pomphei maximas and doesn't seem to affect them. You could try to gently scrape it off if you are worried about it.

 

[DrDNA]

Hi Gary,

I don't have any firsthand experience with sponge problems on clams. However, I have come across references that the Cliona spp sponges, or boring sponges, can actually penetrate the clam's shell over time which can allow for secondary infections. I was looking online for pics of Cliona sponges, and the only ones I found showed small bright yellow sponges. Hopefully someone with some experience in this department will chime in!

-Jeff

 

[DrDNA]

PS - your thread title did say they are yellow in color... the desc's I found online for boring sponges do say they are like small yellow dots / colonies. If so, you might want to remove them. I dunno, just my two cents worth....

 

[proboscis]

i scrub my clams with a old tooth brush after acclimation when i first buy them....

 

[Stoney Mahony]

It's very easy to destroy the sponges. First take the clam out of the water, any air that gets into the sponge will kill it. Then you can either scrub it off with a tooth brush or hit it with some FW. If you put FW on it, the difference in osmotic pressure will cause the sponge to die.