Vermetid snails. Is time/stabilty a factor?

[Auquanut]

This is a topic that has been on my mind for some time. I'll try to keep it brief. Shortly after setting up my 125, I had a pretty serious issue with vermetid snails. I started the tank with about 50% live rock from an established tank. Upon doing some research, I came across a post (can't find it now) that ran along the lines of "This too shall pass" so I did nothing.

Over time the population of vermetids declined. To be honest, I haven't seen any in a couple of years until I did some aggressive fragging a couple of weeks ago and found a couple. I do have a melanaurus wrasse that I've had since the tank was very young.

So. Just a topic for discussion:

Could time/tank age be a factor in vermetid snail management?

Could wrasses be the answer?

Has anyone with a well established tank had an unmanageable infestation arise?

I personally tend to feed heavy and my nutrients tend to run slightly toward the high side. So at least in my case, I don't think nutrient control was the answer.

I was just wondering: With all of the posts about vermetid snail removal (some of which can be pretty drastic), does anyone have any experience with vermetid snail management?

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

Mine seem to come and go with time. I don’t have any wrasses in this system so that isn’t it for me. If I have one irritating a coral I just hit it with some superglue and call it a day. To the best of my knowledge there is no particular fixall on this one minus bleaching/vinegar/acid bathing the rock.

 

[Auquanut]

Mine seem to come and go with time. I don’t have any wrasses in this system so that isn’t it for me. If I have one irritating a coral I just hit it with some superglue and call it a day. To the best of my knowledge there is no particular fixall on this one minus bleaching/vinegar/acid bathing the rock.

Yeah. They're kind of like aptasia. Apparently once they're there, they're there to stay uless you find a way to manage or take drastic measures.

 

[doodledreads]

I cannot say for sure but mine has been on the decline since I got my copperband butterfly and a few bumblebee snails. I definitely cannot say for sure I will get rid of them but I have been seeing less of them.

 

[fish farmer]

I've had vermetids for as long as I've had tanks running, never really knew what they were until a few years ago.

I maintain a 120 gallon tank which has been running for about 19 years. I was pulling one of the returns a few years ago to reconfigure the flow.....packed with vermetids. The old skimmer on that tank had a lot on the inside bottom as well.

My home 29 gallon which has been setup for about 10 years has vermetids in most shaded areas, although I rarely see them in plumbing. I don't see them completely cover areas, rarely see them on the glass, see them get in power head cages. I do have a sixline wrasse, which took care of all the copepods on the glass. Maybe eats them too?

 

[Auquanut]

I cannot say for sure but mine has been on the decline since I got my copperband butterfly and a few bumblebee snails. I definitely cannot say for sure I will get rid of them but I have been seeing less of them.

Would you attribute the reduction in numbers at all to the maturity of the tank, or simply predation?

 

[Auquanut]

I've had vermetids for as long as I've had tanks running, never really knew what they were until a few years ago.

I maintain a 120 gallon tank which has been running for about 19 years. I was pulling one of the returns a few years ago to reconfigure the flow.....packed with vermetids. The old skimmer on that tank had a lot on the inside bottom as well.

My home 29 gallon which has been setup for about 10 years has vermetids in most shaded areas, although I rarely see them in plumbing. I don't see them completely cover areas, rarely see them on the glass, see them get in power head cages. I do have a sixline wrasse, which took care of all the copepods on the glass. Maybe eats them too?

Running those tanks for so long, have you ever seen an increase/decline in their numbers on the rockwork over time? Have they ever become a serious issue?

 

[doodledreads]

Would you attribute the reduction in numbers at all to the maturity of the tank, or simply predation?

Tank is pretty new actually. Only three months old. I used the live rock from my old tank infested with vermitid snails and aiptasia from overfeeding my old tank. Added the butterfly and snails about a month later starting the tank. So tank is definetly not mature.

 

[Reef and Dive]

This is a topic that has been on my mind for some time. I'll try to keep it brief. Shortly after setting up my 125, I had a pretty serious issue with vermetid snails. I started the tank with about 50% live rock from an established tank. Upon doing some research, I came across a post (can't find it now) that ran along the lines of "This too shall pass" so I did nothing.

Over time the population of vermetids declined. To be honest, I haven't seen any in a couple of years until I did some aggressive fragging a couple of weeks ago and found a couple. I do have a melanaurus wrasse that I've had since the tank was very young.

So. Just a topic for discussion:

Could time/tank age be a factor in vermetid snail management?

Could wrasses be the answer?

Has anyone with a well established tank had an unmanageable infestation arise?

I personally tend to feed heavy and my nutrients tend to run slightly toward the high side. So at least in my case, I don't think nutrient control was the answer.

I was just wondering: With all of the posts about vermetid snail removal (some of which can be pretty drastic), does anyone have any experience with vermetid snail management?

It seem from other posts the only efficient predator so far is Bublebee snails. Too bad they´re not available in many countries like mine...

I started to manage my less problematic pests after things got nice, so hydroids are gone, valonia gone, but still a thousand vermetids or more around here...

 

[Cell]

I've wondered if coralline algae helps prevent them from anchoring or potentially plugs tubes at times. Anecdotally, it seems like when tanks mature they tend to go away.

 

[Reef and Dive]

I've wondered if coralline algae helps prevent them from anchoring or potentially plugs tubes at times. Anecdotally, it seems like when tanks mature they tend to go away.

They easily grow over coralline on my tank, and then coralline over them, and then they grow more ... Sometimes even on corals... Those pests!

 

[Auquanut]

I started to manage my less problematic pests after things got nice, so hydroids are gone, valonia gone, but still a thousand vermetids or more around here...

I checked out your build. Beautiful tank. Do the vermetids irritate the corals? Have you noticed any increase/decrease in their numbers as the tank matures?

 

[Auquanut]

I've wondered if coralline algae helps prevent them from anchoring or potentially plugs tubes at times.

Interesting idea. If I remember correctly, the reduction in vermetids may well have corresponded with when the coralline really started to take off in my tank. I really never thought of that, but it could be a factor?

 

[Cell]

I've seen tubes completely covered by coralline, whether or not there was still a worm alive when it happened, who knows.

 

[SebastianReefer]

I had them in my 75 gallon but I don’t have any now tank is 3 years old they just went away I currently have them in my 125 from live rock I took out of my 75 so I will see how this works out with time

 

[Drao05]

Had a ton in my tank. Bought a bunch of bumblebee snails and the cleaned them all out!

 

[carmodpg]

What do you consider a mature tank? I've had mine going for about 2 years and have plenty of vermetid that annoy everything in the tank (and outside of the tank..ME).

 

[Auquanut]

What do you consider a mature tank? I've had mine going for about 2 years and have plenty of vermetid that annoy everything in the tank (and outside of the tank..ME).

Not really sure what would be considered "mature" as far as vermetids are concerned, or if tank maturity is even a factor. Mine were pretty much gone by the 2 year point. I started with quite a bit of established live rock and I have the melanaurus wrasse. Maybe one or both of those factors helped. Maybe something else that I haven't considered. Maybe just dumb luck.

 

[bcarl77]

Following, hate these little buggers. Tank is approaching a year. Came from my nano.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

My tank is about 10yrs old and I've had vermited snails for most of that time. I can remember they used to be everywhere and would poke me all the time but these days I barely ever see them. I feed heavy and have high Po4 so I definately haven't starved them out. I also have 3 wrasses but they've all been in the tank for less than 2 yrs so I don't think they did it either.

I'm not sure what the solution is, they just don't seem to thrive in established systems.