Clam under siege - pyramid snails?

[MikeP]

I have a gorgeous blue T.maxima I got from Jim N early last spring - he has been doing excellent and showing new growth and good mantle extension. The past few days the mantle has been 'pinched' for lack of a better word and I had been trying to find out what's going on. My parameters have not changed drastically. After reading several threads on RC I did a temperature adjusted freshwater dip for about 10-15 minutes and managed to get a lot of copepods off - this afternoon before leaving for work I was checking the clam and saw 2 of those **** white pyramid (pyramidellid whatever) snailsin the shell near the edge of the mantle.

I have a juvenile 6 line wrasse that never goes near that area or the clam - I am reading that it is best to just manually clean them off every night? Is there any way to totally eradicate them? Also can they infest Hippopus clams?

What a pain - this is a beautiful specimen and I don't want to lose it - if I have to pick snails off every day I guess I will but not looking forward to it.

-MP

[Goofball310]

From previous research, I've found them to be bothersome but not deadly unless found in large numbers.

[Goofball310]

Thank you. I recently moved here, but hope to have a tank back up within the next few months.

[Jimnorris]

MikeP.
They are a pain but yes you can win the battle! Every other day take the clam out of the tank and inspect and remove the snails. Joshua's tip on snails like turbo and ect. it right because they will also attack them. IMO the best EVER wrasse to help with these snails is the China wrasse! I brought two at partners once and they are awesome in the removal of these snails!
Jim

[MikeP]

Thanks for the advice all - I spent about 10 minutes last night going over the clam with a small flata tip screwdriver and crushing anything that looked snail like - I placed him in my nano right now while I figure out if my tank is actually infested or not.

[MikeP]

Just an update - clam is looking 100x better after FW dip, snail cleaning and placing in my nano.

JimN - How long is it safe to keep him in my nano (12 gallon cube with 24w 50/50 PC) without the lack of light causing other problems? Right now I have him about 2" under the surface of the water on a rock.

[Jimnorris]

MikeP,
I would say about a year or so if you feed him!
Jim

[Goofball310]

Wouldn't it really depend on the size of the T. Maxima?

I thought that smaller T. Maxima's are more dependent on feedings that larger?