Exterminating vermetid snails w/o hurting my feather dusters

[SallyWho]

When I first set up my tank, I bought a grapefruit sized piece of live rock out of one of the tanks at my LFS. I got two or three neat filter feeders as part of the deal, but now, 4-5 months later, I've noticed the dreaded vermetid snail tubes appearing on it. Since I have that rock separate from the rest of the aquascape, it's no big deal to pull it out to work on those tubes. Firstly, how long can a feather duster be out of the water before suffering irreparable harm? They sure are neat little hitchhikers and I'd like to keep them alive. Is there a super glue that will work under water? I could pull the rock, put it in a shallow bucket with a little saltwater and work on it that way, if there's a super glue that will plug those tubes up while submerged. And secondly, if I get out a magnifying glass, how would I be able to identify the snails that are present but haven't yet formed a tube? What do they look like before the tube appears? I'd hate to pull the rock, seal a bunch of tubes, miss the young ones, and have to wash-rinse-repeat. I'm lucky enough that I've only seen them on that one rock and they haven't spread to the rest of my 'scape! Also lucky that I haven't put any coral in the tank yet! There's just some snails, a hermit, a foxface, and a coris wrasse (which is not interested in nibbling at them, but on the plus side, it also leaves the feather dusters alone). I appreciate any input you can offer! Thanks!

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

A small dab of epoxy stick shoved into the opening or smeared over it will also work, just be careful with the shoving part because their tubes are super sharp/fragile and can break off in your skin like a splinter.

If the tube is easy to get to, you can also take a pair of bone cutter, snips, or even a small pair of pliers and crush the snail and the tube, your wrasses and some other fish will be most happy with this method haha just don't leave the pliers in the tank or use a pair that you wouldn't want to get rusty.