Derasa clam. Asymmetrical growth.....odd mantle. Help\ideas

[Reefer54]

SO I BOUGHT THIS FROM BLUEzOOAQUATICS. It is about 5 inches+, which is larger than i purchased. okay, im good with that. however, the shell has grown asymmetrically, the left side is not as convex and also not quite as large. it is able to close completely as derasa should. The picture shows the unevenness of the shell and may explain the fold coming from the inhalant aperture. this fold may be resposponsible for the mantle pulling unevenly and not extending as much as it should on the lower left side.

it shows no sign of mantle pinch, and i suppose i would not consider this mantle pinch, but perhaps the guts shifted in transit causing this. i would love to help it if possible, but have just left it alone in full light at the bottome of the tank....led\t5 supplement, medium flow. params are satisfactory and po4 <.05 according to ulr hanna.

pics taken with samsung note2. 2 pics this morning and 2 pics with full light a few moments ago.


Ideas and or help would be great. For all purposes, the clam seems to be happy, responsive, and is siphoning water noticeably. Blue zoo aquatics is not responding to emails.....probably because it is weekend.

[Reefer54]

one more pic, but it is so hard to get a shot that shows the different shell growth

[Reefer54]

and of course, if the mantle oddity is a result of the different growth forms of the shell, that's great, but i didnt order a "designer" clam. If i ordered regular clowns, and they sent "designer" clowns, i may be ok with it, but in the end, i ordered a plain old generic standard derasa 3-4 inches and NORMAL. I didnt order a 5 in. I didnt order the charlie brown christmas tree. are ya picking up what im layin down

in all reality, as long as the health is not in jeopardy, im good.

[Reefer54]

bump

[Reefer54]

anybody.....

[Reefer54]

1 suggestion....just 1....im thinking of a fwd tomorrow night pending its condition during the day....objections, alternatives....my books are all packed up as i have been remodeling.

[Breadman03]

I've seen your thread a couple times, but don't know the answer. My thinking is that it took a lifetime to form that shape, and it's been around for a little while since it's 5 inches long. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Reefer54]

I've seen your thread a couple times, but don't know the answer. My thinking is that it took a lifetime to form that shape, and it's been around for a little while since it's 5 inches long. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Yeah, i had the same thought, but i can not find a similar mishaped mantle. even the odd shaped clams have a normal looking mantel from what i can find.

thanks for responding. i do appreciate it. i am just going to monitor it for now....

[moliken]

odd, but doesn't seem to affect anyhing, so don't worry. a properly done fwd won't hurt a healthy clam

[Reefer54]

Thanks Moliken,

i am ready to do one, but i want to hear from Blue first before administering any treatment, needed or not, so as not to void any guarantee....and hopefully they have a choice bit of advice\information, saying that is the normal form of this unique clam....even i doubt it.

i hate writing crap like that when it is the clam that suffers (should it be suffering slowly), and i mhave the ability to hopefully help it, but cant over price + shipping...i may have just shown the true nature of this hobby. booo.

[bluecoyote79]

I don't know what's going on with your clam, but I have a similar story involving a shrimp. I went to buy a scarlet cleaner shrimp to replace one that passed away. I saw two at LFS, one looked normal, the other one had what looked like a bubble with a dent on it's side. I felt bad for it and took it home. It acclimated well and had a great personality, but the bubble persisted after many molts. I eventually upgraded my tank and changed salt brands, around which time the bubble disappeared.

What caused it or why it resolved itself I don't know. I did learn that defects don't have to affect the animal's well being and it won't necessarily always be there, especially in inverts. It'd be interesting to know if there was something that caused this, but hopefully you're still able to enjoy it. If it's acting normally then I wouldn't worry, it's probably not being bothered by it.

[Reefer54]

and found this little guy tonight....not a cause, but it is to be eradiccated tonight via FWD after kids go to bed...

[moliken]

i doubt a fwd will kill apitasia. that sucker needs to be completely manually removed.

[Reefer54]

So for what it's worth, with this thread being pretty old and long since responded too, this clam is happy...i have dipped it 3 times total in the past year for pinched mantle, and each time it took a day but responded and recovered fully. The colors have dulled a bit just before i switched tanks due to it's being shaded by a very nice frogspawn, and probably due to some param fluctuation during my tank switchover a couple months ago. But it is regaining blue pigments along the mantle edge and the contrasting pigments are deepening again under the new 360we's.

For the growth..... very slow, but consistantly asymmetrical.....the thing prefers to lay lobsided, which i have probably caused the pinch each time when moving it upright. The odd shape of this clam surely had me worry at first, as well as the fold which makes it's incurrent siphon, but it is just an odd shaped clam. In the new tank, with 2 wp40's at 3\4 power, it was difficult to find a lower flow spot it would do ok in, but it likes it,.

Just thought i would update. I'll get a new pic up sooner than later.

[Art13]

Well, having a similar growth in a maxima, i can tell you why mine has that irregular growth. He was on his side. The side of the clam that was on the bottom grew out more than the top part did, i'm guessing so that it could collect more light and the top part wouldn't shade the bottom. I've since corrected and put him upright, but i can tell you that is definitely the reason why in my case the two sides are uneven, since when i got him he was uniform. hope this helps.

[Stevenliu9]

I have seen many clams grow to become asymmetrical. I think it has to do with the environment they grew up in, sometimes if they were tipped or has an object pressing on one side they appear like that. I saw one clam in Waikiki Aquarium's coral farm display actually grew a complete "curve" inwards the shell to go around a coral branch so it is extremely deformed but is completely healthy. I don't think there is anything you need to worry about it, or can do anything to "correct" it. It might just be completely healthy. The shell's do not need to be symmetrical for the clam to be healthy. If anything, you should be proud that the clam's abnormal growth adds character

[Reefer54]

thanks both!! At first (almost a year ago), i was worried about the flesh which folds over the intake siphon.....the shell was odd, but the flesh in the pictures worried me. And now i cannot agree more, it is just a character attribute for this particular specimen and it is adapted to whatever environment it was reared in.....i personally had never owned or seen one with such odd formation. i dig it.

thanks again

[Reefer54]

we need an asymmetrical clam thread!