Hi all,
Yesterday I received my first small tridacna maxima. A beautiful shy thing at first. The first few hours it was doing fine. It was acclimated for just over an hour using the traditional drip. I inspected it looking for things that resembled grains of sand like organisms. I admit, sadly, that I don't recall whether I noticed the foot. Things looked fine and so I placed it.
I spent most of the day just watching it as I seem to do with my tank when work is a little slow.
Later in the day, a few hours afternoon I decided to take a squat and get some more observation time in. I startled Blenny the Lawnmower which was sitting next to the clam (itself still looking fine). Blenny just whipped out of there in a jiffy. His tail knocked over the tiny maxima so that it was laying flat. I donned my gloves so that I could reach in and set it on a rocky perch just above where it was and so that it could be more or less upright. That seemed fine. He seemed to take to the new location and opened up and looked as he did earlier in the day. But I noticed something resting on the bottom of the tank where he was resting originally. I picked it out of the tank and it looks like it might be a part of the clam.
Naturally, I am concerned.
By the late evening (~11 pm) I noticed the clam had taken a tumble ~.25" and laying on its side again. Shell closed. 8 am this morning and it was still closed though I did see occasional micro-flinches.
I initially thought the mass I found was byssal threads (though not apparently attached to rock or sand; it was just there drifting).
I am concerned it may have been the byssal gland itself; though the reading I've done leaves me confused. On the one hand, I've read that moving attached clams (this one was not as the Blenny just knocked it over) is a threat and concern. On the other hand, the byssal gland is an organ within the clam that excretes the threads and can easily and quickly detach its grip as needed.
Two questions:
1) Can anyone identify this mass?
2) Has this clam been critically harmed?
3) Was this harm preexisting (conjecture accepted), or was it the Blenny hightailing out of there, or was it me setting it upright? The mass was resting right next to the clam when I lifted it and moved it two inches.
The clam is now closed. I rarely see micro-and-momentary-movements of open/close, but that is it.
4) Should I be concerned and what advice do you have if its state doesn't change [in some time period]?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Yesterday I received my first small tridacna maxima. A beautiful shy thing at first. The first few hours it was doing fine. It was acclimated for just over an hour using the traditional drip. I inspected it looking for things that resembled grains of sand like organisms. I admit, sadly, that I don't recall whether I noticed the foot. Things looked fine and so I placed it.
I spent most of the day just watching it as I seem to do with my tank when work is a little slow.
Later in the day, a few hours afternoon I decided to take a squat and get some more observation time in. I startled Blenny the Lawnmower which was sitting next to the clam (itself still looking fine). Blenny just whipped out of there in a jiffy. His tail knocked over the tiny maxima so that it was laying flat. I donned my gloves so that I could reach in and set it on a rocky perch just above where it was and so that it could be more or less upright. That seemed fine. He seemed to take to the new location and opened up and looked as he did earlier in the day. But I noticed something resting on the bottom of the tank where he was resting originally. I picked it out of the tank and it looks like it might be a part of the clam.
Naturally, I am concerned.
By the late evening (~11 pm) I noticed the clam had taken a tumble ~.25" and laying on its side again. Shell closed. 8 am this morning and it was still closed though I did see occasional micro-flinches.
I initially thought the mass I found was byssal threads (though not apparently attached to rock or sand; it was just there drifting).
I am concerned it may have been the byssal gland itself; though the reading I've done leaves me confused. On the one hand, I've read that moving attached clams (this one was not as the Blenny just knocked it over) is a threat and concern. On the other hand, the byssal gland is an organ within the clam that excretes the threads and can easily and quickly detach its grip as needed.
Two questions:
1) Can anyone identify this mass?
2) Has this clam been critically harmed?
3) Was this harm preexisting (conjecture accepted), or was it the Blenny hightailing out of there, or was it me setting it upright? The mass was resting right next to the clam when I lifted it and moved it two inches.
The clam is now closed. I rarely see micro-and-momentary-movements of open/close, but that is it.
4) Should I be concerned and what advice do you have if its state doesn't change [in some time period]?
Thanks in advance for your help,
