Hippopus with broken ligament. Why/how?

[rharr21]

I have a hippopus that has been in good health for at least a year. It has also showed good shell growth. Tank chemisty is normal except for dKh which is high. Over the past week or so it has not opened fully. Last night I noticed it trying to close and its shells came together misaligned and then snapped into place. I took it out and examined it. The ligament that holds the shell together was cracked and the rear of the hinge was coming apart. I cut a small strip of flexible plastic and supper glued it to each half of the shell to keep it together, but in a way that the clam can still open.

I have two questions. What can cause something like this? And, will the ligament repair itself or is the clam eventually history?

[critterkeeper]

There is no known cause. However, I'm pretty sure it's the result of a bacterial infection of the ligament. There are some well-documented cases of bacteria attacking the ligaments of oysters, so I'm guessing it's something similar. Unfortunately, there just hasn't been much work at all done on tridacnid-specific diseases though. Oyster farming is big, big money - tridacnid farming isn't...

The good news (maybe) is that I have heard of cases in which "repairs" have been made such as yours, and the ligament has grown back over time. I can't verify that's true, but I've read it a couple of times...

[rharr21]

Thanks. I sure hope it makes it. It appeared to be doing so well.