Anemone sitting on clam

sprungson · Jul 30, 2019

My anemone is on my clam and the clam keeps snapping, but not all the way. I see my anemone releasing some stringy stuff. I tried to pull him off but he is completely stuck to the clam.

What should I do? @OrionN

OrionN · Jul 30, 2019

Slowly carefully pry the anemone loose from the clam remove him.

sprungson · Jul 30, 2019

OrionN said:
Slowly carefully pry the anemone loose from the clam remove him.

I'm trying but he's really stuck. Is he dying? I don't want to crash my tank if the anemone is dying. The clam keeps clapping on him

OrionN · Jul 30, 2019

that anemone looks fine. Just take both out of the water and slowly tease him off. Both will be fine.

sprungson · Jul 30, 2019

OrionN said:
that anemone looks fine. Just take both out of the water and slowly tease him off. Both will be fine.

Thanks @OrionN . I was able to finally remove him from clam. Btw I thought clams should never leave water due to fear of air bubbles

rkpetersen · Jul 30, 2019

sprungson said:
Btw I thought clams should never leave water due to fear of air bubbles

It's not ideal, but if you suspect air trapped within a clam, just rotate it around underwater a few times to 'burp' it.

OrionN · Jul 30, 2019

I take new clam, mostly wild collected clams, to the sink all the time to clean the shell. I break all the scuttles off of it and make sure there are no parasitic snails and snail eggs on the shell. I run tap water over the shell and wash it be careful not to get tap water into the clam. They will be fine.
I often use the back side of a knife or a heavy spoon to knock the scuttles off.

sprungson · Jul 30, 2019

OrionN said:
I take new clam, mostly wild collected clams, to the sink all the time to clean the shell. I break all the scuttles off of it and make sure there are no parasitic snails and snail eggs on the shell. I run tap water over the shell and wash it be careful not to get tap water into the clam. They will be fine.
I often use the back side of a knife or a heavy spoon to knock the scuttles off.

Dang I wish I knew this. The LFS told me to dump everything in the tank without exposing to air. Had to deal with some pest that came alone with it

Sparky88 · Jul 31, 2019

Some lfs swear they kill things on purpose some times

Breadman03 · Jul 31, 2019

OrionN said:
I take new clam, mostly wild collected clams, to the sink all the time to clean the shell. I break all the scuttles off of it and make sure there are no parasitic snails and snail eggs on the shell. I run tap water over the shell and wash it be careful not to get tap water into the clam. They will be fine.
I often use the back side of a knife or a heavy spoon to knock the scuttles off.

Thanks for that info. I was probably going to ask that question in the next few weeks when I'm planning to move my new gigas from my 5 gallon holding tank to my freshly rebooted/sterilized 150.