[dartier]

I should have known better when I was in the local chain LFS to not take a chance on their livestock. There was a metallic blue maxima (about 4-5" across) that was on sale. He was laying his side, so I could not quite see if his mantle was fully extended. Long story short, he appears to have a pinched mantle extending half way along his mantle on both sides. I have been waiting patiently to see if he would open up fully since Saturday. Today the mantle did not look any better, if anything worse, so I decided to try a FW dip. Nothing to lose at this point as he is a goner if it does not correct soon.

I have never done a FW dip, and frankly the concept of putting a saltwater creature in FW makes me feel a bit unsettled. I matched the temperature and PH of the FW before doing the dip. I left him in for 15 minutes. I turned my lights off right after, so will have to wait until tomorrow to see how he fared.

I just ordered some Lugol's online and will have that on hand for future (an iodine dip is supposed to be less stressful on the clam).

Fingers crossed.

Dennis