Need Help - Pinched Mantle

[cnseekatz]

Hey guys. I've had this clam for a few years and it's always been really healthy.

 

When I moved it over to this tank, it started getting some rough edges on it's mantle. It starting getting pretty noticeable, but I thought it might have been getting stung by a nearby BTA.

 

I moved it to it's own little perch, but it didn't get better. Now it's looking worse than ever. I assume this is Pinched Mantle? I've read that a freshwater dip is helpful to kill any microbial infection it might have.

 

Here is my question. Would it be worth it to pry the poor thing off it's rock? I can't do a prolonged freshwater dip on the whole rock because of the other corals. Should I try to remove the clam for a dip, or just let it try to get better where it is?

 

[PiscesFish]

That kind of decision is up to you really. If the clam isn't getting any better no matter what you're doing without a FW dip, then you can do a short dip with the whole rock, but if it isn't getting better, then you probably might have to try and pry it off and dip it longer.

[thecoralbeauty]

this is from a monthago, what ended up happening?

 

I had a similar issue in the old tank- two clams with pinched mantle, and the bigger one had attached himself to a rock. fw dipped them both- big one survived, small one did not. since the big one was attached to one of the foundation rocks of my tank, i ended up digging the entire rock out and just swishing the clam in the water (holding the rest of the coral/rock out of the water). it was annoying, and i ended up going back and forth a lot, but the clam pulled through, and i didn't end up damaging my corals.

i've also heard that a razor blade severing the byssal threads as close as possible to the rock can help, but i was never brave enough to try. I've since just taken preventative measures to keep them from attaching to anything too difficult to move.