Pinched Mantel?

[gogregerson]

My derasa clam looks like it's mantel is "pinched" on one side and it doesn't extend it's mantel as far as it usualy does. Is this Pinched Mantel? If it is, what do I do now?

[clownnut]

pic will help?

[Wetone]

I have done freshwater dips to kill certain protozian that have created pinched mantle,dont be afraid to leave it in for a good thirty minutes,I was told by the man who owns Clams Direct Before it might be nice diagnose with a scraping and place onto a slide under the microscope.

[mattb]

Just make certain that the pH and the temp are pretty close to the tank water... PM is everywhere ugh.... Yeah, Barry's supposedly doing research on this, but all he's come up with is that it 'may' be protozoan which there are a bizillion of (exaggerating there).... You may need to do FW dips multiple times, though I would wait several days or a week in between dips.

[drake1]

all five of my clam have PM, one isn't showing any improvement to the freshwater dips in 3 weeks and of course he is my oldest and biggest. it does sound like PM that you have. if it starts without anything touching it or bothering it then you more then likely have PM. talking to Barry at clams direct he has found the protozoon that causes it but he isn't saying anything about a possible cure. I think its money related, a cure can fetch a good price if you sell it but there is still a problem since the research is being done by the people who have donated money for the PM cure, like myself, so I'm not sure how well that would go over if you sell something that others have donated to find the cure. that's just speculation on my part though. if you read the post on clams direct you will see that even Barry recommends removing iron from the water with carbon and a huge water change. he knows enough about PM now from the research to know what type of proto. its is and what triggers it to shed it cyst and become active and it must be iron since I don't think he would recommend something he knows is wrong. just my 2 cents here. I was thinking of setting up a QT tank and running a UV filter for my one clam that isn't responding but I just noticed that my QT tank is cracked and my UV bulb isn't working....AUGH but I have a extra halide ready to go though....
Jeff

[mattb]

Saying that PM is a protazoan doens't really say much, as there are so many of them. Barry was trying to raise like $2500 to 'research' this, considering he's probably lost that much in clam, I don't know why he was trying to raise this from individuals. His research is suspect, especially considering that he's promised the "results" from his research and has only said that he believes that it's a "protozoan".

If one fw dip doesn't solve it you need to repeat it until it's gone. I had one squamosa that I did a fw dip every few days, probably 5-6 treatments before it was gone. UV won't help as the protozoan would need to pass through it.

[drake1]

according to barry anyways he has said that he has only last 2 clams in 8 months to pm, but this is according to him. the protozoan is found on the areas that have PM so your right it may be the protozoan causing it or it might be the protozoan feeding on the dieing parts of the clam, this is why i guess it cost so much to find out. i am suspect when i was the $500 donation from DT's phyto...i took that as a nice way of letting him know they would be interested in selling a cure but at the same time barry has never had a bad word said about his service, second he has posted what everyone has donated and third he is the only one that has taken the time to actually find out what is causing PM so i am going to cut him some slack for the next couple of weeks and see what he says about the PM research.

[mattb]

Knop, Bornemann and others had indicated that they thought PM could be a protozoan... Borneman was actually the one who publicly said that by saying PM may be a protozoan doesn't tell us much. I'm not trying to talk bad about Barry, but his "research" provided no new insight. Borneman asked him whether it was a ciliated, flagellated or sessile protozoan and he either did not know, or chose not to respond.

[Wetone]

How is the clam doing now?...

[gogregerson]

I think I need to do another FWD

[mattb]

How long has it been since your last FWdip?

[drake1]

just an FYI over the last 6 weeks of dealing with PM on my 5 clams the thing that helped the most was using the carbon in a HOT Magnum. first 4 weeks i only Fresh water dipped and the clam would respond for a few days then back to there PM looking state. after running the carbon and changing it every 2 days for a week all but one clam shows no sign of PM but the last one had it worst and i was sure he would die but now he only shows slight signs of it. I hope this helps, and good luck with your clams...