derasa clam on its side

Eddie7144 · Jan 3, 2018

My derasa clam had taken to laying on its side. I put it up right and in a few days it' back on its side. This has been going on since summer. It looks healthy, extended mantle and all. What do i do ?

DSC reef · Jan 3, 2018

Might not be happy in the spot he's in. Flow might not be to his liking. Try keeping him in the sand bed in a different area. From the pic it looks like the green paly or possible pest nem is irritating the mantle.

Eddie7144 · Jan 3, 2018

Its been doing this before my manjano out break. As far as flow I run a gyre 250 on pulse mode . Flow at mid tank is medium. It' a 150 gal tank. What would you recommnd to remove that pest nem that' close to the mantle ?

DSC reef · Jan 3, 2018

I'd remove the nem for sure. That might help the tipping issue as well. He could be tipping from constantly opening and closing from irritation. Our squamosa did that from an aptasia.

Eddie7144 · Jan 3, 2018

I believe I read that a clam shouldn' be exposed to air, what would you suggest I do to remove it ?

DSC reef · Jan 3, 2018

I always gave the shell a scrub or removed aptasia in a separate bucket of water during a water change. When putting the clam back into the display I rotated it slowly incase of air inside the clam.

Eddie7144 · Jan 3, 2018

I will try that, thanks.

DSC reef · Jan 3, 2018

Your very welcome

Shigshwa · Jan 4, 2018

Eddie7144 said:
I believe I read that a clam shouldn' be exposed to air, what would you suggest I do to remove it ?

I see the LFS people exercise caution with this when transferring them into the bags, but personally, I have not had an issue with trapping air in a clam. I always expose my clams to air before they go into the tank, because I don't want to mix their water with mine. I just make sure to rotate them around to get the bubbles out first, and then one thing I discovered is to hold the clam's shell edge against your pump. The high flow of water will force the air bubbles out of the clam, even if closed. I go one step further and wait until the clam opens back up, then I rotate it one more time while it is still partially open.