Vermetid Snails forcing a Reboot - Help

[Bfragale]

I actually have a number of vermetid snails developing in my tank now, about 7 total that I have spotted and removed. I have a 1" Green Spotted Puffer that I want to train to eat the vermetid snails, but I haven't had a lot of opportunity yet. I know that the puffer has the capacity to hunt and kill the snails, but I need to train the puffer to identify the white vermetid shell/tube with the scent of food. That's the tricky part. If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears.

It's actually kind of funny though, when I crushed the vermetid snails with metal tongs, the ghost shrimp ran over to gobble up the snail's remains. Ghost/grass shrimp are one of my favorite tank inhabitants.
[/QUOTE

the ones o have have a purple red ish tube. All the “tubes” I have that are white are small feather dusters. I have both, the tubes look similar but the feather dusters are white. Snails are the purple reddish color.

 

[KJAhp098]

Don't they like a nutrient rich system? Maybe try feeding less and doing a series of larger water changes.

 

[Big C]

Thanks for the quick responses! I find it pretty insane that there isn't a natural predator for them. Some people say Coris wrasse, some people say bumblebee snails but I haven't seen anything that actually wipes them out. Might try to plug up the drains in the and run a muriatic solution to be sure they aren't still alive in the small space around the edges of the overflow. Will definitely be washing all equipment with vinegar etc. and letting it dry out for a week or so to ensure nothing lives.

What if I cooked the rock in a big pot? Thats gotta work right?

Had a infestation in my tank. After a year they started to recede, wish I knew why. Still there but in small numbers. But it did give me a reason to upgrade with all new equipment. Any equipment I used (two gyres) had the satisfaction of watching them bubble up with the muriatic acid soak ;Woot.....

 

[R1skyBiz]

I can’t verify this, but I put a frag of burnin banana in my tank that attempted to give my tank aids. Had bryopsis and vermitids on it. (I nuked that with Fluconazole after I noticed it popping up). The little tubes are still there, but they haven’t appeared anywhere else and nothing ever comes out of them. I think my 6 line ate them somehow? Nothing else that could possibly have done it, unless my tuxedo or cleaner shrimp did something incredibly useful.

This is not my tank, (google) but this is what I would like to avoid lol

That first picture is insane!!!!

I’m actually in a situation that is just shy of the 2nd photo in your post. Is there any science that supports the high nutrient theory aiding the development of these things?

Im still 90% leaning towards the muriatic bath and a full reset at the moment.

 

[R1skyBiz]

If you have zoas or palys at any time, DON NOT boil rock. You will only be going to the ER.

Yea, I’d never do that.

I can’t verify this, but I put a frag of burnin banana in my tank that attempted to give my tank aids. Had bryopsis and vermitids on it. (I nuked that with Fluconazole after I noticed it popping up). The little tubes are still there, but they haven’t appeared anywhere else and nothing ever comes out of them. I think my 6 line ate them somehow? Nothing else that could possibly have done it, unless my tuxedo or cleaner shrimp did something incredibly useful.

Burnin’ banana Aids sounds pretty scary . I’ll research and consider the Fluconazole. Thanks man!

 

[Magellan]

Yea, I’d never do that.



Burnin’ banana Aids sounds pretty scary . I’ll research and consider the Fluconazole. Thanks man!

Oh, that’s not for vermitids! It’s for bryopsis lol, I was saying it also had vermitids but something killed them, I was hypothesizing that it was my 6 line wrasse

 

[R1skyBiz]

Oh, that’s not for vermitids! It’s for bryopsis lol, I was saying it also had vermitids but something killed them, I was hypothesizing that it was my 6 line wrasse

Ah... dang, I was hoping that was gonna be it.

Nuking the rock seems like the best bet at this point unfortunately.

 

[Greg P]

Why does anyone even care about these? They don't look bad. Just makes it look like an actual reef. Show me what you consider overrun... I consider them free filtration.

Wish I had some pics to show you, but I was too embarrassed to take them.
What I considered over-run was when they were the only life on my LR, and pretty much ALL of my SPS was trying to overgrow them in one stage/form or another. So much so that a Cali Tort was just a bunch of nubs at the base, and a Setosa was a bunch of tubes with snail tips.

See all the stuff at the base? And that area wouldn't grow.

 

[Greg P]

I tried to control them through nutrient reduction, but I lost the battle.
I ended up buying all new rock and cooked it in a tub to remove all PO4. Then I dosed it with liquid ammonia for a couple months while I made a re-start plan.

I moved all life to a spare tank, drained the main DT and ran it with tapwater for a week.
The rest is what I did out of order, just a list of my methods;
Plugged the drains and filled the overflow and plumbing with straight vinegar, then let soak for maybe 48 hours - pew.
Soaked all hardware in vinegar in buckets; thoroughly scrubbed, rinsed, then dried for over a week. Poured used vinegar into the sump, 1 chamber at a time.
Each chamber was pumped into the next to cut down on costs.
I went through 11G of vinegar in total.

Sold/gave away all LR and sand, and any corals which could not be fragged to a clean base were also given away. All I kept were SPS fresh cuts, a Gorg, and a small square of GSP which was THOROUGHLY inspected, scrubbed and dipped so much so that I'm surprised it lived !!
Gave away all snails and hermits
Replaced socks
Replaced pH and temp probes

I may have missed something ...

I then put the system back together and ran it for a week with tapwater

New LR, new sand, all SPS FRESH CUT frags heavily dipped and inspected with a jewelers glass.

7 Months Vermetid-free so far

EDIT: that was 11 Gallons of vinegar used, not 11 litres

 

[R1skyBiz]

I moved all life to a spare tank, drained the main DT and ran it with tapwater for a week.
The rest is what I did out of order, just a list of my methods;
Plugged the drains and filled the overflow and plumbing with straight vinegar, then let soak for maybe 48 hours - pew.
Soaked all hardware in vinegar in buckets; thoroughly scrubbed, rinsed, then dried for over a week. Poured used vinegar into the sump, 1 chamber at a time.
Each chamber was pumped into the next to cut down on costs.
I went through 11G of vinegar in total.

I may have missed something ...

I then put the system back together and ran it for a week with tapwater

New LR, new sand, all SPS FRESH CUT frags heavily dipped and inspected with a jewelers glass.

7 Months Vermetid-free so far

EDIT: that was 11 Gallons of vinegar used, not 11 litres

@Greg P Thats a ton of Vinegar! What you did is more in line with what I am thinking I'll have to do but I think I'll nuke the current rock in Muriatic a couple times over the course of a week or so and then reuse it, I really like my aquascape and would prefer not to start over with that.

I would also really like to get them off my hammers but I'm not confident that I could manage that without doing more damage to the coral. They are all up the base near the tissue. Any suggestions on that?

 

[jda]

I have had massive amounts of blue leg hermits scale them back - they steal the food out of their webs. This is not a cure, but it make me feel better and seems to lower their numbers. I dropped 100 or 150 (I cannot remember) blue legs in there and let them get to work. I always throw my extra snail shells behind the rocks so that the crabs do not kill the snails for their shells.

 

[Greg P]

@Greg P They are all up the base near the tissue. Any suggestions on that?

QT
Either find a med that will kill them, or;
Scrape off what you can see, then in QT lots of broadcast feeding to entice any ones you missed to grow.
Good luck

 

[Backreefing]

I got some that don’t make webs , just 2 little antenna sticks out . With my phone zoomed in I can see his eyes.

 

[Backreefing]

Here is a close up pic

 

[Backreefing]

I have been wondering about using a urchin to eat them ? Urchins do even strip off the coralline algae

 

[kput]

Use this.

 

[italquam]

What about running it without fish for a while. Possibly they will die off?

I did this for a year and it did kill them all off , no food , no life.....

I also was planning of moving so that is why I left tank empty so long . Ended up rebooting with mixture or aggressive fish and reef safe fish

 

[Backreefing]

Update, I have googled urchins and hydroids ( I got them to ) and the tuxedo urchin eats hydroids. I know this post is about vermited snails, but when I can get to my LFS I’m getting one and if it works I will report it