Clam Parasites

[KT & SJ]

Aside from pyramid snails, certain fish, shrimp or crabs, what other parasites/predators can a clam come in contact with in a reef system. I picked off a very small "bug" that I found on my clam and threw it under the microscope. It looks like a tiny semi-flattened pill bug like critter and was on the underside of my clam. The clam is in the sand with a shell that it has attached itself to. I brought it up to the top of the tank to get rid of an aiptasia that had taken up residence on its shell. I gave the clam a once over and noticed several of these little inverts crawling around on its underside. Harmless DSB critters? I hope.
Thanks for any info,
Shauna

[kfisc]

Dr. Shimek's columns have covered various copepod and amphipod species, a (very) few of which make it into our tanks and pose something of a threat- it also seems like my clams indicate fairly quickly when they're stressed/bothered- good luck.

[KT & SJ]

I've scoured allot of his info, my eyeballs are sure feelin it. Dr. Ron is gone for the weekend and sometimes he chooses not to read any posts made after he signs off for the weekend. So, I figured I'd post here for the time being and see what all you clamsmen had to say :) Just in case I have to be pc here, all you clamswomen as well. I'll probably cut and paste this post to his forum when he gets back. The clam doesn't seem stressed, at least not from what I can tell, good color, very responsive to light and movement, no gaping, opening up nicely. Thanks for the input,
Shauna

[Skipper]

Most likely a harmless 'pod.' I wouldn't worry unless I noticed the clam was not doing well.

[KT & SJ]

Thanks, I just found out, after a few days of searching, that they are a harmless detriteavore. What a relief.

[Skipper]

May I offer a bit of advice from an oldtimer...

I was once in your shoes, namely, freaking out whenever I found something new that I didn't know what it was. Lesson: learn not to overeact! Don't assume that a newly discovered critter is a bad thing because you don't know what it is. :D

[KT & SJ]

Thanks for the advice. I had herd of some harmful inverts that resembled this particular shape, but thankfully found a good pic of what I had and it wasn't it. Aside from that, I still get curious as to what all these little critters are that I find, good or bad. The result of this encounter though has left my clam attached to the top of my LR pile, thankfully the piece of LR that it has attached to is on a sturdy acrylic shelf and the piece of LR can be easily removed and relocated with out me having to tear apart my pile. I had to get an aiptasia off of the clam shell and the clam was on the DSB, because my tank is a deep corner tank I had to bring it up to where I could work on it. I then found these other little critters and didn't want to stress out the clam by putting it back on the DSB then having to bring it back up to the top if the bugs were bad. So I left it there until I knew the little "bug" was either a good or bad one. The next morning the clam had moved off it's original shell piece it had mounted itself on and moved to my LR boulder, actually this is the first time it has held itself up right since we added it to our system. I've read that if they are constantly moving or lying on their side it means they don't like the spot they are in so I guess it can stay there for the time being. Thanks again for the advice, always appreciated.
Shauna

[Scuba Dog]

I would not worry.......just keep an eye out for the dreaded pyrmid snails....some say that some types of bristole worms can create problems...I have found a few small ones on my clams, but havent seen them actually feeding on my clams....

[KT & SJ]

Tks. for the input scuba Dog.