Hi
Reefahholic,
Congratulations on your apparent reprieve. I'm just wondering if your approach included your removing each rock in your reef, examining each rock for this snail, and then physically eliminating each snail (multiple times if necessary). (If so, I really, really certainly wish I could do that!) My tank is a 1st floor 180G DT (along with an assorted attachment of 135G, 70G, 80G and 80g units in my basement).
WHAT I REALLY NEED A BIOLOGICAL CONSUMER OF VERMITIDS! (OR, EVEN A CHEMICAL ELIMINATOR OF VERMITIDS!)
Otherwise Radiata's
Law of Dynamic Aiptasia Entomology needs to be revised to include a Radita's
Law of Dynamic Vermetus Entomology. (In either case the inclusion is for either the dynamically re-occurring
Aiptsia or the dynamically re-occurring
Vermetus.)
A simplification of the law is that "
there is always one more Aiptasia" or "
there is always one more Vermetid snail".
Once they get in, it’s basically impossible to get them out. I don’t know of one person that has. The best thing you can do is don’t ever let them in. However, like I mentioned above, it’s not really worth the time and effort. Plus you set yourself up for a weak Biome (probably for 2 years) and the very strong potential of getting Dino’s. IMO, just embrace them and go with good quality LR.
If you insist on being anal (like I was) and trying to prevent them, and you want to go through the time, effort, headaches, etc..to keep them out, just look at everything going in under strong magnification or a light Microscope. Only introduce live Acro tissue. No plugs, No LPS, No snails…basically nothing that they’re commonly found on. See how ridiculous that sounds, but that is basically what I did. They burrow into the shell of snails (see that pic above). I actually threw those snails away that were burrowed into. Not worth the risk.
My plan was to never introduce any LR or LPS. I broke my rule of no LR when the Dinos got bad and added 10lbs. Thought for sure I’d see one pop up later, but never saw one anywhere. I also broke my LPS rule and added two Goni’s and a Frogspawn, because after added the 10lbs of LR I figured my dream of No Vermetid’s was over. However, I still carefully looked them over and removed the few they had and then glued/putty any holes. One I actually covered the entire base with glue and then put putty over the entire base.
If you just setup an Acro tank and dead rock, it’s doable. Definitely not impossible. The frags must be searched for any dead spots or tissue. The snails love attaching to any dead spots, other snails, LPS skeleton, etc.
I’ll never buy white dry rock again. It’s just way too sterile. I’d go with LR and then use a weak muriatic acid dip, and soak in freshwater afterwards. That will kill all the pest and worms. Then rinse well and let it cure in saltwater for a month or two with heater and good flow. That rock would perform much better (progress much faster) than your typical white dry Marco type rock because it’s already aged. Even though it will be dead (with no life) it will still outperform the white Marco dry rock that has a lot of clay content in some of the rock.
So yeah, is it really worth it? NO. Would I do it again? NO.
The two major pests I got from the LR were Bryopsis and Bubble algae. The Bryopsis I nuked with Fluconazole and almost nuke my entire tank with it. The bubble algae I removed every bubble initially, but it can be microscopic and tiny little spores pop up later that you’ll never see initially and some are fairly deep inside the rock. Super stealthy for sure. I keep pulling the rocks when I see one and strategically grab them or pop them off with a tooth pick careful not to pop the bubble. You can do it inside the tank but you need a precise tool and good suction. Little by little I’ve worked this tank to get me the least amount of issues in the longterm. What is a tremendous headache now, may pay off later. To be honest it’s already starting to pay off now. Not much in there I need to worry about. No Aiptasia, no nothing really.
