Vermetid snail HOW to kill them help!

[homer1475]

I know what killed all of them in my tank! But I would not suggest it to anyone.

I have an algae turf scrubber that I DIYed, long story short, one of the lights had fallen into my sump shorting it out. Puff of smoke, a trip of the GFCI, and a week later I lost several corals, and every vermetid in my tank died!

No idea if it was some reaction between the copper wire and the salt water, or if the puff of smoke caused something, but every vermetid in my tank died. The following week I had several small cuts on my hands from cleaning them, and spiroid worms from every pipe, and hard surface in my tank.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

A reefing buddy of mine claims the yellow coris wrasse he put in his tank wiped them out. Of course, the coris will also kill every micro feather duster and other worm in the tank, so I've resisted trying that route.

I have thousands of them in my tank.

 

[homer1475]

My yellow coris does not touch them or any other micro or macro tube worm in my tank. I have 3 large Hawaiian tube worms, one cocoa worm, and many many tiny red feather dusters on my rocks, that are growing and multiplying.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

My yellow coris does not touch them or any other micro or macro tube worm in my tank. I have 3 large Hawaiian tube worms, one cocoa worm, and many many tiny red feather dusters on my rocks, that are growing and multiplying.

He might have gotten one with a taste for escargot!

 

[Mr.Acro]

Yea they are a nasty pest. I'd echo decreasing broadcast feedings, using bone cutters on the larger individuals and just increasing flow in the areas that are more densely populated. If you can disrupt the feeding (increased flow, decreased access to food) and disrupt the life cycle (cutting away the larger individuals) you can hopefully make a dent in the population.

 

[psychobilly07]

Has anything changed with these guys? I tried coral snow for 2 weeks every night and it not only did not reduce the population but my snails had explosive growth during this period. I run socks and spot feed fish only. I ordered a melanurus wrasse hoping he might help keep these guys in check. I have thousands.

Same, been using coral snow for 2 weeks with no change, I have melanarus wrasse who will eat the snails only if I crush the tunes first

 

[gencarson]

Just a follow up (from long ago). My crusade to banish these from my tank using nothing but sheer will and crude physical brutality worked. It might be anecdotal and the result of other factors, but I've gone from probably low hundreds to 0 in the course of a couple months.

After a good feeding the snot nets are easily visible. Long nose forceps come out and the crunching begins. Shrimp and crabs caught on and would follow me around. Once crunched they swoop in and score a snack.

I was concerned about potentially throwing things out of balance but after each session of murder I would crank the flow and put in some some fine filter socks.

I am unsure about them hurting corals, but after seeing some zoas all retracted due to snot nets covering them I decided that was enough. I don't really mind pests up to a point. If they are causing problems with the residents, they get banished.

I had a hitchhiker crab that I wasn't sure about. Feedback from others was to banish him. I let him be and kept an eye on everything. Turns out he is the most enthusiastic vermitid snail connoisseur in the tank. I'd find him picking at every vermitid shell carcass for days after. He's earned his resident card.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I literally have like ten or twenty thousand of them in my tank. Manual removal only really makes me feel better but doesn't really impact the overall population.

 

[Losthawk69]

Had them in tanks all my life they never seam to hurt anything guess people just think there ugly I seen them touch coral with there web but never seen any affect if you don't like them get heavy gauge wire stainless steel break them open get some wrasse they'll eat them some bumble bee snails arrow crabs wipe the sweat off your head slow down on powdery foods for Coral they will starve. When feeding Coral turn down the pumps direct feed Coral very sparingly.

 

[piranhaman00]

Is the bumblebee snail effective at removing them?

 

[ThRoewer]

Everything has an enemy, even these dreaded pests:
Death and life: Muricid snails consume the vermetid gastropod, Dendropoma maximum, and use empty shells for reproduction
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-014-1141-6

So now we all just need to tell all our LFS to get these so that they tell it to their wholesalers and they tell it to their collectors...


Here can pictures of them be found:

Thais (Mancinella) armigera

Menathais tuberosa

 

[ThRoewer]

For those too lazy to write themselves, her a sample of what I just sent to my preferred LFS:

=====================================================
Hi,

The Muricid snails Mancinella armigera and Menathais tuberosa seem to be an effective way to fight vermetid snails:

Death and life: Muricid snails consume the vermetid gastropod, Dendropoma maximum, and use empty shells for reproduction
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-014-1141-6

Could you ask your wholesalers and overseas suppliers to start looking for these? Given how invasive and detrimental vermetid snails are for corral tanks and how much most reefers hate them I would think that there is a sizable market for a reef-safe predator specialized in preying on them.

Here you find pictures of them:

Thais (Mancinella) armigera

Thais (Mancinella) armigera - gastropods.com Thais (Mancinella) armigera: Link, H.F., 1807: Belligerent Rock Shell Shell size 50 - 105.5 mm E Africa - Japan www.gastropods.com

Menathais tuberosa

Menathais tuberosa - gastropods.com Page/Plate; Mus. Bolten II: Indonesian Shells I: p 85/6: Molluscs of Okinawa: p 91/11: Encyclopedia of Marine Gastropods: p 271/9: Schelpen Encyclopedie (in Dutch) www.gastropods.com

Thanks,

==========================================================

Feel free to copy it and send it to your fish stores.
The more requests they get the more likely we will see these to become available just like it was with Berghia snails to fight Aiptasia.

 

[Andy’s180]

I've learned the best way to deal with pests that are invasive but don't directly harm things is to learn to ignore them. Vermatids and red turf algae are just a part of my tank. They don't hurt anything so why pull my hair out.

Show us!

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Show us!

What do you want me to show you?

 

[Andy’s180]

Show us how your reef is doing so well infested with vermited snail

 

[Nburg's Reef]

you’re welcome to check out my build thread

 

[Dustinjw]

Get yourself a syringe and inject them with cleaning grade vinegar. That took care of most of mine that I could reach.

Wonder if I could do the boiling RO water like I did for aptasia

 

[vetteguy53081]

Wonder if I could do the boiling RO water like I did for aptasia

Nope- whole different creature
Options are : Super glue gel over the tube hole or my favorite. . . . Needlenose pliers- grab the tube at the base and break of the tube and discard

 

[DHill6]

SS cuticle nippers also work and won’t rust. Clips them right off at the base.

 

[porawhora]

Most of mine were eaten by bumblebee snails- however adding so many in such a small tank is a good way to make sure no other inverts will live seeing as these snails are known to eat other inverts. I have 3-5 in a 75g and still occasionally see them snacking on a small turbo or hermit