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Aiptasia inside Clam Shell


PRJ

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Hey, guys.

 

A few days ago I noticed two Aiptasia growing on my clam. I decided I'd take him out today and get him cleaned up. First one I scraped off and put a dot of superglue over where he was growing to kill the attachment

 

The second one, however, is inside the clam's shell right on the very end. I'm using an exacto knife to scrape, but I don't want to injure the clam and superglue might make it so the clam can't open/shut properly.

 

I've got him out of the tank right now and want to get this taken care of before putting him back in.

 

Help!

 

post-82078-0-14286800-1388612543_thumb.jpg

 

 

This guy was also crawling on him; harmless?

 

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Is that the same poor clam that was gaping. You are touching it far too much. It could croak from stress alone. My little maxima also had an aitasia on it. I took a dab of superglue on my finger tip and smeared the area of the aiptasia being VERY careful not to get any on the mantle or inside the shell.

 

Do the needful and put her back in the tank and do not touch her again.

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i have like 5 or 6 on my purple crocea. i don't notice any adverse signs so i just ignore them. i'll take care of them when they get too big. lol

 

So is your suggestion not to touch it until it's larger? Once it's larger it looks like it will affect the opening and closing of the clam. It's on the inside of the shell at the edge.

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TheKleinReef

i haven't bothered removing them since the aptasia come into full contact with the clams mantle and the clam has no reaction to it.

in my 29, my gold maxima was occasionally being touched by my anemone and once again the clam never flinched.

 

if the aptasia bother you that much, carefully smother the aptasia in super glue or use kalk paste/aptasia x.

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Is that the same poor clam that was gaping. You are touching it far too much. It could croak from stress alone. My little maxima also had an aitasia on it. I took a dab of superglue on my finger tip and smeared the area of the aiptasia being VERY careful not to get any on the mantle or inside the shell.

 

Do the needful and put her back in the tank and do not touch her again.

 

Yes, same clam. I only touch it to keep it pointed toward the light because it's so small the snails and crabs re-orient it every night. This is the first time it's been appreciably moved, and I kept it under the water the whole time. I'm not trying to touch it on purpose, I just figured Aiptasia inside the shell was a bad thing. From what folks are saying, I guess it's fine.

 

What does "Do the needful..." mean? I'm sorry, I don't know if it's a typo or it went over my head.

 

I DO appreciate the help. Thanks a lot! :)

 

Is that the same poor clam that was gaping. You are touching it far too much. It could croak from stress alone. My little maxima also had an aitasia on it. I took a dab of superglue on my finger tip and smeared the area of the aiptasia being VERY careful not to get any on the mantle or inside the shell.

 

Do the needful and put her back in the tank and do not touch her again.

 

Roger. Will do nothing.

 

Thanks again.

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How are you going to do anything about an aiptasia that is inside a clam shell without harming the mantle? Take scissors and snip it if you can but that clam needs to get back in the tank.

 

 

Roger. WIll put back in now.

 

 

I didn't know it was inside when I took it out. I thought it was on the outer shell.

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Anchor the clam with something, a bit of rubble, a wedge of hardened epoxy. It needs time to attach. It may not be getting moved by crabs, it may be moving on it's own to find a comfortable spot. Usually moves when it doesn't like the flow.

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If it were me id quarantine the clam with a berghia nudibranch. They are the least likely to injure the clam and consume the aiptasia. Ive had great success with them in the past.

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Also that thing crawling on it is an amphipod, they're harmless but can irritate the clam when they crawl on the mantle.

 

Thanks. I figured as much.

 

Clam is back in the tank, 1 of 2 aiptasia removed.

 

I won't take it out for Aiptasia again.

 

Thanks all.

 

 

Anchor the clam with something, a bit of rubble, a wedge of hardened epoxy. It needs time to attach. It may not be getting moved by crabs, it may be moving on it's own to find a comfortable spot. Usually moves when it doesn't like the flow.

 

 

 

The clam's foot was ripped off a few weeks ago due to trying to wedge it in with a bit of rubble. Something moved the rubble the clam had attached to, it tumbled, foot was ripped off. Nothing to attach to now.

 

I'll epoxy a cradle for it and see if that'll work.

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The clam's foot was ripped off a few weeks ago due to trying to wedge it in with a bit of rubble. Something moved the rubble the clam had attached to, it tumbled, foot was ripped off. Nothing to attach to now.

unfortunately this is not a good thing to have happen.

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unfortunately this is not a good thing to have happen.

 

Yep. Zeph said it's bad, but not catastrophically bad. Foots can regrow, apparently.

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Aiptasia are pretty weak and clams are pretty good about brushing against sting-y stuff. I'd just leave it.

 

For now. Just make sure it isn't affecting its opening/closing in the future.

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I had an Aiptasia come in on my new clam, fortunately on the side of it's shell. My new peppermint shrimp got it (I assume) the first night though.

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I just had a similar experience, Nocturnal. I got a Peppermint Shrimp at the LFS on Sunday and, as of Monday evening, it looks like that AIptasia stalk is gone.

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You guys are lucky!! Peps never have worked for me. The only time I have tried berghias they were DOA even though they were packed like Fort Knox. I think I'm just destined to have aiptasia. Oh, and I also tried a copperband butterfly. That fish never even looked at an aiptasia, or any other form of food for that matter. RIP CBB.

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You guys are lucky!! Peps never have worked for me. The only time I have tried berghias they were DOA even though they were packed like Fort Knox. I think I'm just destined to have aiptasia. Oh, and I also tried a copperband butterfly. That fish never even looked at an aiptasia, or any other form of food for that matter. RIP CBB.
I'm 0 for 6 when it comes to peppermint shrimp.

 

I'm 4 for 6 of peppermint shrimp munching on fleshy corals though.

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I'm 0 for 6 when it comes to peppermint shrimp.

 

I'm 4 for 6 of peppermint shrimp munching on fleshy corals though.

 

Ouch! That's a rough track record!

 

I think it's gone, but I can't be 100% sure. It's on the very back side of the clam and I could never see it unless it was fully extended, but going on two nights now, I can't see it. Hopefully it's not just retracted or something.

 

You guys are lucky!! Peps never have worked for me. The only time I have tried berghias they were DOA even though they were packed like Fort Knox. I think I'm just destined to have aiptasia. Oh, and I also tried a copperband butterfly. That fish never even looked at an aiptasia, or any other form of food for that matter. RIP CBB.

 

Yeah, but you got to have a CBB in your tank for awhile! That's cool in and of itself.

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You guys are lucky!! Peps never have worked for me. The only time I have tried berghias they were DOA even though they were packed like Fort Knox. I think I'm just destined to have aiptasia. Oh, and I also tried a copperband butterfly. That fish never even looked at an aiptasia, or any other form of food for that matter. RIP CBB.

 

It was totally unexpected based on what I've heard.

 

Just so happened that I had the random Aipastia come in at the same time as a hungry shrimp. I was expecting to wake up and have to carefully murder the little bugger without hurting the clam. Instead, bam, no more tasia.

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