New ORA Maxima

OrionN · Oct 8, 2019

That clam looks good post shipment. The efferent siphon is a little large, but should recover quickly.

Huskymaniac · Oct 11, 2019

Is mantle curling normal on a new clam? I swear my luck with these things are pitiful.

DSC reef · Oct 11, 2019

That honestly doesn't look bad at all.

OrionN · Oct 11, 2019

That clam looks well in the last picture. Mantle expanding well and no gaping.

Huskymaniac · Oct 12, 2019

Here it is today.

OrionN · Oct 12, 2019

Not good. Something is bothering his mantle

Huskymaniac · Oct 12, 2019

OrionN said:
Not good. Something is bothering his mantle

Not good at all. Probablly just going to chuck it. Not sure why I can never get one that last more than a few days.

OrionN · Oct 12, 2019

Is there anything in your tank bothering him?

Huskymaniac · Oct 12, 2019

OrionN said:
Is there anything in your tank bothering him?

Nothing. Even all of my fish are in QT at the moment.

TexasReefer82 · Oct 12, 2019

My 2" ORA blue maxima went through some weeks where the mantle was retracted in a certain area...then those would recover and it would be retracted in another area... etc. But it eventually recovered from it all and has grown a good amount of new shell. I never gave it a freshwater dip because he attached right away after I added him and I thought that disrupting the byssal attachment would be more bad than good.

Make sure the clam is getting plenty of light. Maxima clams (and croceas) especially really do need extremely bright lighting to be happy. I suspect that poor lighting is the reason many of these small maximas don't make it. People treat them like acropora and are conservative with light exposure. But clams aren't coral - they need and can easily take extremely bright light. Back in the day I had a blue crocea about 12" directly under a 400watt 6500K Iwasaki - and he was happy as a clam for years!

TexasReefer82 · Oct 12, 2019

An additional thought - my ORA maxima is only open fully during the mid day when all lights are on and at their brightest (4xT5 and 2x AI Hydra 26 HD's). Once the first set of T5 turns off at 5pm he half closes up.

The blue and green clams want more light than the browns and golds.

Huskymaniac · Oct 18, 2019

So what do you think? PMD? Should I just chuck it?

DSC reef · Oct 18, 2019

I'd give it a freshwater dip.

Huskymaniac · Oct 18, 2019

You think this is co

DSC reef said:
I'd give it a freshwater dip.

Do you think this is contagious to my derasa clam?

DSC reef · Oct 18, 2019

If it is pinched mantle then yes, it can spread. While the clam.is healthy enough I would move forward with trying a dip.

Huskymaniac · Oct 18, 2019

DSC reef said:
If it is pinched mantle then yes, it can spread. While the clam.is healthy enough I would move forward with trying a dip.

The derasa looks ok right?

DSC reef · Oct 18, 2019

The derasa looks great. That's a nice looking clam.

OrionN · Oct 18, 2019

The Maxima look fine to me, other than maybe something seem to took a chunk out of the mantle on the L front part. The picture Saturday show retraction mid R side, which resolved by today without treatment. This does not look like PMD to me.
Please read my description of PMD. I will copy it here:

".....
I struggled with this disease for several years. These were my observation of Pinched Mantle Disease:

The previously healthy clam, newly infected will appears healthy but will have retraction of one area of the mantle. This was not true with clam that was send to me sick, but always true with clams that were healthy then infected in my tank.
The irritated, diseased mantle always retracted at the same place and mantle retraction spread from there.
This disease affected all five species of Tridacna in my tank.
The disease was slow in onset and healthy clams can live for months with this disease. My large Gigas live for over 1 year with the disease until I cure him with FWD
Clam mantle retraction spread slowly from one area to adjacent area, rarely skipped area of mantles.
Disease spread from adjacent clams most easy but there are infections of clams at distance location. This is much more common when the numbers of clams that were infected in a tank increased.
Clams look better in AM, but mantles become much more irritated, more contracted by the end of the photoperiod.
As the days go on clams secrete strands of mucus that can be seen extended from the disease mantles
As the disease progress, the mantle retractions worsens and more, the diseased clam dies of starvation.

............."
Your clam retraction varies from place to place. It looks like something is bothering it but not PMD. I would not FWD him.

Huskymaniac · Oct 18, 2019

OrionN said:
The Maxima look fine to me, other than maybe something seem to took a chunk out of the mantle on the L front part. The picture Saturday show retraction mid R side, which resolved by today without treatment. This does not look like PMD to me.
Please read my description of PMD. I will copy it here:

".....
I struggled with this disease for several years. These were my observation of Pinched Mantle Disease:

The previously healthy clam, newly infected will appears healthy but will have retraction of one area of the mantle. This was not true with clam that was send to me sick, but always true with clams that were healthy then infected in my tank.

The irritated, diseased mantle always retracted at the same place and mantle retraction spread from there.

This disease affected all five species of Tridacna in my tank.

The disease was slow in onset and healthy clams can live for months with this disease. My large Gigas live for over 1 year with the disease until I cure him with FWD

Clam mantle retraction spread slowly from one area to adjacent area, rarely skipped area of mantles.

Disease spread from adjacent clams most easy but there are infections of clams at distance location. This is much more common when the numbers of clams that were infected in a tank increased.

Clams look better in AM, but mantles become much more irritated, more contracted by the end of the photoperiod.

As the days go on clams secrete strands of mucus that can be seen extended from the disease mantles

As the disease progress, the mantle retractions worsens and more, the diseased clam dies of starvation.

............."
Your clam retraction varies from place to place. It looks like something is bothering it but not PMD. I would not FWD him.

I am not sure what it could be. There is really nothing in the tank. Lights are dimming down and this is what it looks like.

DSC reef · Oct 19, 2019

Pinched mantle can cause rapid decline in tridacna. The pic of your maxima definitely did not look fine. That's why I recommend dipping at the first signs as the clam will grow weaker by the day.