Vermatid snail take over

Jakepen · Jun 17, 2017

Bought 180lbs of Pukani from a local reefer. Steal of a price, so no complaints of condition. However the amount of vermatid on the rock is staggering, the guy had to of only had a FOWLR tank. I'm soaking the rock in bleach for a couple weeks, to make sure everything is dead. Will this ensure death, and diminish any chance of the snails spreading? They are a bit ugly, would you suggest I go around and hand clean each rock of them? Probably a day or two worth of work, I wouldn't mind though. Hard to see them in the picture probably, but every thread needs a picture.

Pife · Jun 17, 2017

Those aren't vermatid snails. Just little tube worms.

I wouldn't soak it in bleach for very long. A muratic acid bath will clean then all off and is really easy and safe to do.

Jakepen · Jun 17, 2017

I'm fairly certain they are vermatids. They were darker red before I put them in the soak. I thought about doing a acid bath, as I did that for my first tank. However I don't see any more benefit over bleaching them.

Jakepen · Jun 17, 2017

Unless because it does eat away a small percentage of the rocks surface, if the snails would just kind of fall off...

Pife · Jun 17, 2017

Jakepen said:
I'm fairly certain they are vermatids. They were darker red before I put them in the soak. I thought about doing a acid bath, as I did that for my first tank. However I don't see any more benefit over bleaching them.

They are not vermatid snails. They are way to small. I have millions of these beneficial tube worms in my sump.

Acid will literally remove them. Bleach will only kill the organics inside the shell.

Jakepen · Jun 17, 2017

You may be right, by no means am I a expert. Here is another picture, maybe another member can help identify.

reefwiser · Jun 17, 2017

See that is a Vermatid snail getting rid of them right now in my tank. [emoji3]

Pife · Jun 17, 2017

Jakepen said:
You may be right, by no means am I a expert. Here is another picture, maybe another member can help identify.

I've also found that if you just dry the rock for a couple days they will die. Cheap and easy. I like acid washing because it removes them and a thin layer of rock to open it back up to being more porous.