Does it look the same with white lights on?
For some reason i notice my 2 maximas are less open with the blues only. When they whites are on they are super huge and open. As the lights gradually change and dim the whites and leave blues they stay open but if i walk by or look in they close but then come out a little. they never are really out in the blues as they are in the whites...
Also check where the flow of your current is hitting it. maybe move your power head upwards and not pointing at the clam if it is.
If its been 2 weeks and you havent touched it the something in the water is bothering it. I dont think its sick.
My non expert opinion.
It's been a little shy of two weeks now and today it's less open than yesterday. It may be all in my head at this point.
When I get some time I'll change out my GFO and carbon for carbon and carbon. Currently I have stopped my GFO/carbon reactor since I noticed the problem. I'll also do another water change tomorrow. I did 10g on Sunday.
Yesterday I changed out my GFO and carbon for carbon and carbon. I put twice as much carbon in each chamber of the reactor as usual giving me 4x as much carbon as usual.
My baby orange Maxima had a pinchy area on the mantle a few months ago. It turns out that it was because the Blenny nipped at it. If you've ruled out irritants such as a fish nibble, small aiptasia or filter feeder worm touching the mantle, then I would say it does look like pinched mantle IMO. A freshwater dip that is matched in temperature and PH should help.
It looks kind of ok to me. The mantle doesn't look to bad. I know this sounds crazy but maybe its getting to much light. Have you tried moving it away from the light a little, or check if there's any pyramidal snails on it.
I pulled it out of the tank and looked it over. There was a little barnacle on the front right (where it looks pinched) and an aptasia under it on its foot. Both have been removed and a quick freshwater dip (because I already had it setup and would rather do everything at once).
So I have a good feeling that it was the barnacle.
It has been 20 minutes since the dip and it is already opening back up.
it feels good to be doing this again.
