Maxima Clam, Badly Injured

Good Evening all!

I have a maxima clam since a long time and it's been doing great, it got bigger and was pretty healthy. (Size is about 3.5 - 4 Inches)

But two weeks ago, I bought a Moon / Lunar wrasse, about 4 to 5 inches, and even though I never saw him picking at the clam, I'm really suspicious that he's the one that nipped my clam.

All around the edges of the blue mantle are bite marks, sometimes deep. My clam is still opening but not completely, the mantle is barely overlaying the shell when fully open, and my maxima got this super "suspicious behavior" now, even a walk in the living room makes it shrink back inside. The intake siphon is really wide.

My question is: Will it recover? What can I do? I really love that clam, it's a gorgeous creature that I don't want to loose. The wrasse seems to have stopped nipping it, as I do not see any new bite marks.

Thanks so much by advance!

 

Do you have a back up tank you could move the wrasse to for the time being? If not, I would consider just setting up a minimal 10g tank with a heater and a few airstones. Your wrasse will easily live for a week in that environment. Enough time for you to get it back to the LFS.

 

The water quality is perfect, and I did a 15 Gal. water change yesterday. I hope that will do good.

My LFS won't take back any fish, so I guess I'll have to stick with it. I tried to trap the wrasse to insulate him, but he's a lightning fast swimmer and that fish is smart. Talking about the other way of removing every rock to catch him, done that before, it's hell and I don't want to stress the clam.

Right now, the clam is sitting on a rock. Should I move it in the sand or keep him where he is?

Thanks for your answer!!


EDIT 1: I'll get a photo tomorrow when lights will be on.

EDIT 2 for Pharmrjohn: I do not have a back up tank, and for catching that fish, see above

 

sorry man. if that was me that wrasse would be gone

 

If it's possible, I would get a couple planks of acrylic, drill alot holes in it and make a safe haven for it until it recovers. That will keep the wrasse out of it, maintain waterflow for the clam and keep from stressing the clam by removing all the rocks to remove the wrasse. That will give you time to figure out what to do with your wrasse, maybe set up a fuge or another tank for it to live in.

 

Time to get rid of the Wrasse as they are not reef safe, atleast not that particular species! If allowed to reduce stress and under ideal water conditions, yes I do believe it could make a full recovery!
To many species of fish, a clams mantle is like an appetizer or chocolate that will be consumed!
Make sure to read up before selecting anything for your tank due to compatability and husbandry requirements.
Good luck!

 

A little update of what's going on: I observed the clam closely and it seems that she's expanding her mantle wider than yesterday, outside of the shell. For the wrasse monitoring, she has lost complete interest in the clam and the rest that looks tasty, as long as I keep her appetite satisfied. Let's hope it will stay that way.

TigerMike: I am in the process of doing so, just have to go get some silicon This will be an opportunity to introduce new comers later on. Thank you for the advice!

Thanks to everyone for the replies!

 

If you use silicon, use a good amount to hold it together since silicon does not bond to acrylics or plastics. Getting glass plates would be a pain since you will have to get diamond tipped bits to drill holes into glass. The other option would be to get Weldon #3, 4 or 16. #4 is probably the best choice for intially bonding acrylics. Best of luck to ya on that. Glad to hear the clam is healing.

 

Update: Oh man, I'm so happy!!

I found a guppy breeder for a couple of bucks and it's doing wonders!

Here is a pic of my guys: http://h4xr.org/z91t

Now, I got the clam bug, and I plan to get this beauty for a clam-only tank. (With the funkeh disco ball HQI light) 8)

I'm gathering some good infos from Barry's site at the moment to set-up the perfect tank.