Worm or parasite growth on clam shell

lbrackman · Mar 17, 2022

I've had this clam for a couple of weeks now. I started noticing a upwards spiral growth on the shell a couple of days ago. Most of the time the clam is fully extended and the spiral is unnoticable. It seems to be getting slowly bigger. Not sure if I need to remove it. Anyone seen this before? I see something very small that pops in and out of the end of it. It's too small for me to characterize it.

bradleym · Mar 18, 2022

That is a vermitid snail. You can put a small dot of superglue over the end of it and that should kill it.

scubasteve80 · Mar 19, 2022

Yes, super glue this sob. Keep a close eye out for more, I've had these go wild because I didn't act on them quickly enough.

lbrackman · Mar 21, 2022

Thanks for the quick responses! Haven't had to deal with vermitids yet. Hopefully this one came on as a rider and we don't see anymore. We ended up pulling out the clam and cutting him off completely. He had grown on the shell so close to the clams mantel we didn't want the super glue on it to agitate the clam any more than it was already. We cut at the base, found and torn up the snail, and scraped the clams shell to make sure nothing was left. We were careful to put the clam in a bowl of water from the tank while we surgically remove it. We were sure to "burp" the clam as we placed it back in the tank to make sure it didn't pickup any air pockets. Hopefully it doesn't get too stressed over the ordeal. Letting him rest through the night. Will check it in the morning and provide updates.

lbrackman · Mar 21, 2022

Thanks for the quick responses! Haven't had to deal with vermitids yet. Hopefully this one came on as a rider and we don't see anymore. We ended up pulling out the clam and cutting him off completely. He had grown on the shell so close to the clams mantel we didn't want the super glue on it to agitate the clam any more than it was already. We cut at the base, found and torn up the snail, and scraped the clams shell to make sure nothing was left. We were careful to put the clam in a bowl of water from the tank while we surgically remove it. We were sure to "burp" the clam as we placed it back in the tank to make sure it didn't pickup any air pockets. Hopefully it doesn't get too stressover the ordeal. Letting him rest through the night. Will check it in the morning and provide updates.