Vermetid and acid in the tank

jduong916 · Dec 10, 2017

I'm going to acid wash all of my rocks due to a vermetid infestation. I cannot get inside the overflow and kill the ones in there. I was hoping to fill the overflow and close the valve underneath and add muriatic acid at a 10:1 ratio of 33% muriatic acid solution in just the overflow chamber. Would this cause any damage to the silicone, glass or plastic in the overflow?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 10, 2017

That should be OK for the materials, but note there will be a lot of bubbling and it may be hard to keep liquid down it and it may shoot out. Be very careful to protect yourself.

pga7602 · Dec 10, 2017

Sounds fun, but these die in fresh water after several mins. Why not just soak everything in water for and hour.

jduong916 · Dec 10, 2017

pga7602 said:
Sounds fun, but these die in fresh water after several mins. Why not just soak everything in water for and hour.

I really doubt a fresh water bath will do the trick, these guys are very stubborn.

jduong916 · Dec 10, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
That should be OK for the materials, but note there will be a lot of bubbling and it may be hard to keep liquid down it and it may shoot out. Be very careful to protect yourself.

Are the bubbles created that fast? Would i be able to bail out the bubbles fast enough so it doesnt overflow into the tank

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 11, 2017

jduong916 said:
Are the bubbles created that fast? Would i be able to bail out the bubbles fast enough so it doesnt overflow into the tank

Fast. I'd be careful.

Scorpius · Dec 11, 2017

You could also do some food input control. I had a ton of these guys a few years back and now I have very few left. The more you feed the more you get. I also think it's an ugly phase of some tanks that takes a long time to get through.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 11, 2017

FWIW, I had them VERY bad too, and it was one of several reasons for ultimately taking down my tank.

LJLKRL05 · Dec 11, 2017

I recently acid washed all my rock for this same reason. My fish are in a hospital tank for ich and the tank will be fallow for 76 days so I figured this is a good time to do it.
Tank is going through the uglies now with diatoms and all the new tank syndrome stuff, but I tore it down completely and cleaned the sand and everything. I did not tear down the sump to keep my bio filter alive.
I only acid washed the rocks.
I scraped them out of the overflow and then used a shop vac to clean them out, but acid will definitely dissolve them. Vinegar might work too though.

mstockmaster · Dec 11, 2017

I actually have had good luck with bumblebee snails. I put 4 of them in my 40 breeder and the vermetid population has been largely controlled, not eliminated entirely but certainly kept at bay. I added the snails before the vermetid got out of hand, but it definitely reversed the direction of the population growth.

jduong916 · Dec 11, 2017

I think those of you who say reduce feedings, super glue and other methods mentioned have not experienced a huge out break or may not be keeping SPS. They are in plague numbers and they do not dwindle down. Every single one of my sps have some grown in it.

That being said, I'm pretty sure the snails cant survive in my sump. The first chamber is filled completely with macro and pods and I cannot find a single vermetid throughout the sump. Now back into the tank I have millions, down the overflow more millions, then nothing else after the water discharges into the sump. I can get out mostly everything in the tank just not the overflow. I dont think the snails can travel upstream from the over flow to the tank and I don't think the can make it through the sump. So they might just be contained in this area, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I am inclined to believe they will remain in the overflow and piping because I've seen gorgeous tanks with no noticeable snails in the display, but during maintenance I see the pipes and they are filled with the snails.

I was also thinking of filling the overflow with super salt concentration, but I'm not sure if this will actually work.

jduong916 · Dec 11, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
FWIW, I had them VERY bad too, and it was one of several reasons for ultimately taking down my tank.

Break down seems like the only way to go. I'm kicking myself because I did this almost a year ago to get rid of aiptasia and I didn't even think about the vermetids. They exploded after I put the aiptasia free rocks back in.

mstockmaster said:
I actually have had good luck with bumblebee snails. I put 4 of them in my 40 breeder and the vermetid population has been largely controlled, not eliminated entirely but certainly kept at bay. I added the snails before the vermetid got out of hand, but it definitely reversed the direction of the population growth.

I think I'm way passed this point, but I will add snails if I see them come back. I know i can't get all in the display, but I'm sure they will be controllable.

LJLKRL05 · Dec 11, 2017

The problem with just killing them is all the shells (needle points) the leave behind. I had so many on my rocks I could not pick a rock up without touching a snail shell point.
I would love it if they did not come back in my tank, but I know I did not get them all. I will try not to feed as much this time and see what happens.
I also had a couple of rocks with corals on them I could not acid wash, so I broke off as many snails as I could and will hope for the best.

Scorpius · Dec 11, 2017

Do you have pictures? Curious what your tank looks like with all these.

LJLKRL05 · Dec 11, 2017

I am not sure if you are asking me for pictures, and not sure if you can see them in this picture. I did not take any specifically of the snails before I tore it down.
If you can zoom in and look at the edges of the rock you can see them sticking up. They are all over every rock at the time this pic was taken.
Look just below the copperband on the rocks and you should see them.