Clam question

[drdude05]

I bought a clam from my LFS last Thursday. I was doing some reading on the clam forum and overall it seems to be doing ok except that its mouth, as described by Whisky in the FAQ section, is gaping. It was not doing this yesterday morning, but has been gaping more often than not over the past few days.

I now know this is a sign of stress, but how do you figure out what from? Could it be something as simple as I need to turn the calm 180 degrees so the mouth faces into the current instead of with the current? or are there other things I need to check?

[Loverotties]

What type of clam?

[Wiskey]

Oh, you posted this here too, I didn't see it. I can't find the one I responded too in GRD, so I'll ask here, how's it doing? Any change?

Whiskey

[drdude05]

Update, the calm was doing better, but started gaping again yesterday so I moved it to the rock. The mouth hasn't gaped simece I moved it and it seems to be happy.

[Wiskey]

Good

Whiskey

[tdwyatt]

Sometimes just the stress of transporting the clam will cause intake os gape. Recovery this rapidly is not necessarily a result of any particular treatment, but more likely some acclimitization of your specimen to the extent it has had to respond to the tank. This may even be an issue with mild differences in salinity, which for clams can over time lead to their demise. This is especialliy true if this occurs frequently or the salinity stays suboptimal for extend4ed periods of time. This is why it is so important to observe the clam prior to acquisition to determine if there is any change in the health of the clam rather than a simple acclimitization issue.


Glad to see you clam is better, HTH