squamosa clam

[shoelevy]

i bought a squamosa clam.

its a healthy specimen not gapping full mantle expansion.

but i notice a behaviour which kinda worries me alittle.

occasionally, the clam will close tight shut fast and squirt water out. i'm not sure how often it does this and not sure why also

this is Different from the normal reaction to a shadow or a fish swimming by. its a much more exaggerated reaction and that's y it worries me alittle.

can i just check with u guys wat causes this? is this a normal reaction?

[wonder]

bro, It sounds stress. I experience this before when i introduce a clam without base. It happen almost 4-5 times a day when it was slightly stress by moving fish or so. just too stress IMO.

After a while, it should be better but do check if any nudi underneath and if the clam is attached to a base. Sometimes, their look can't tell if they are healthy or not

Good luck

[iantoh]

bro shoelevy,

look around the clam's shell for small pyramellid snails that prey on tridacnid clams. theyre usually very small, and might be the cause of concern here.

also, it might be possible that some air got trapped within the clam and its forceful jerking movement might be an attempt to remove these air pockets, so maybe just lift it and tilt it abit to see if air bubbles escape.

if a clam loses its byssal threads (the fine threads that holds it to rock structures), it can reproduce them quite easily, but repeated removal of byssal threads will unduely stress the clam.

well, thats the only things i could think of- hope it helps.

cheers,

ian

[shoelevy]

thanks boys.

i tried shifting the clam to another position, seems to be better.

i noticed its very sensitive to changes...i open my hood, or turn up the tunze etc it will react violently.

perhaps still very stressed la.