i purchased a deresa from live aquaria last week, and it arrived on thursday. i took a full two hours to acclimate him (with the lights off) just before the tank's night cycle. by the time i bid them goodnight, the clam was open, filtering water, and his mantle was up to the edge of the shell.
the next morning, to my horror i saw that my skunk cleaner shrimp was picking away at the inside of the shell. not the mantle, just the shell. god knows how long he was doing that the night before. the clam looked noticably stressed. to help prevent any more intrusions, i moved the clam and cut a liter soda bottle in half, and a bunch of circulation holes and covered the clam in it. after two days of that, i saw no marked improvement, and i moved him down into the sump/refuge to rest on the chaeto bed.
after four days, it seems like the mantle is almost peeling off from the shell. here's a pic-
ok, now for my tank-
it's a 55 on top with approx 40 lbs sand and 50lbs rock, and a 20 gal sump/refuge below loaded with chaeto and mangroves for nutrient export. tankmates include 2 clarkii's, long tentacle, orchid dottyback, lawnmower blenny, skunk and banded shrimp, and some lps's and softies. oh, and approx 5 watts per gallon on top of powercompacts, and 5 watts per gallon below with 10k daylight powercompacts
tank parameters-
sg- 1.0245
temp - 74
ammonia/nitrite/nitrate- 0
cal- 420
ph- 7.8 (a bit low at the moment)
phosphate- 0
i don't really test for any other parameters because i use ocean water, and i've found that it contains everything my tank would need.
please someone hold me and tell me that my clam will pull through!
thank you all in advance!