Vertimid snails out of control, advice needed.

[lickyricky]

Hey everyone,

Thanks in advance for any responses.

I have read tons of threads about this but nothing that helps! I started seeing a few tubes a few months ago and now they are on the verge of covering every square inch of my rocks (maybe an exaggeration but it’s the direction I’m heading).

Most people say it’s because you “feed too much” but I simply don’t think that’s possible.

It’s a Red Sea Max E170 with 55 total gallons including sump. I have 1 clown, 1 wrasse, and 2 cardinals so I don’t feed much at all. A few flakes in the morning and either 1/4 of a cube of frozen mysis or a small piece of frozen Rodgers feed feed. How can this be too much food? Plus I barely ever see their long stings come out. I also do Reefroids but I target feed with the flow off, even still as soon as the flow comes back on it blows around the tank. Also dose Red Sea reef energy A and B a few times a week (not sure if they eat any of this also).

I’ve tried zapping them with a laser but it takes too long and there are way too many. I’ve also tried crushing them all the way to the base which actually seems to make it worse over time so I stopped this approach. I know people say to superglue the ends of their tubes but this is not feasible because of the different angles and such all around the tank. I have lots of coral so no real way to remove the rock.

Am I really just “feeding too much”? What else could cause this outbreak? Anyone had any success with another method??

Thanks again for your help!



t.

 

[mta_morrow]

Hey Ricky. I recently got rid of them in my tank.

Needle nose pliers. Crush to the base. Completely remove.

I have none left. The key is a total crush all the down to the rock and remove the worm.

 

[lickyricky]

Hey Ricky. I recently got rid of them in my tank.

Needle nose pliers. Crush to the base. Completely remove.

I have none left. The key is a total crush all the down to the rock and remove the worm.

Did you take the rock out to do it? For some season it felt to me when I tried that they multiplied. I did it while the rock was still in the tank and didn’t see a “worm” I could remove, it was pretty much mush after I crushed it.

 

[mta_morrow]

Couldn’t remove my rock work

Crush at the base and keep it crushed until it’s out of the tank.

Then use a rag or something to wipe off the pliers.

Repeat.

Took me about a month but now I have none.

Be sure the pliers are not rusty!

Rinse and dry well.

 

[stacksoner]

The most sustainable solution is to throw out the rocks that they're colonizing and try to salvage corals attached.

IMO, parasites (and every other living thing in our aquariums) thrive in safe, stable, and habitable environments. And this is why you should snap off all the remaining tubes you see on random rocks / frag bases in the tank and add flatworm exit. I believe that destroying their homes / disrupting their feeding mechanisms is a great way to expose them to tank predators & makes it more difficult for them to survive in your system.

 

[mta_morrow]

The most sustainable solution is to throw out the rocks that they're colonizing and try to salvage corals attached.

IMO, parasites (and every other living thing in our aquariums) thrive in safe, stable, and habitable environments. And this is why you should snap off all the remaining tubes you see on random rocks / frag bases in the tank and add flatworm exit. I believe that destroying their homes / disrupting their feeding mechanisms is a great way to expose them to tank predators & makes it more difficult for them to survive in your system.

This is very poor advice and a complete waste of time and money spent.

This is one of the easiest pests to deal with and that’s only if you consider them a pest.

Also, please share where it’s documented that flatworm exit has any effect on vermited snails. I have never heard of that before.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I would add, many members report very good success with the addition of coral snow. It binds floating organics and allows them to be skimmed and trapped in socks and floss.
Removes the food , and then smash em.

 

[mta_morrow]

Smash them like this

 

[Indymann99]

My Vermitid snail infestation (was REALLY BAD... like EVERY rock in the tank looked like a pin cushion)... lasted about 6mo then they died out. This was 10 yrs ago and none have come back. DUE NOTE... the "tubes" are VERY VERY VERY sharp... when handling infested rock it is VERY easy to puncture your skin... and get an infection... no bueno.

 

[vetteguy53081]

crush entire tube and/or mix kalk with water to a paste and apply a small bead to them via syringe and watch them dissipate

 

[dbl]

I simply broke off the tubes and dabbed a little super glue over the hole. Not saying it works for everyone, but it did the trick for me.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

My Vermitid snail infestation (was REALLY BAD... like EVERY rock in the tank looked like a pin cushion)... lasted about 6mo then they died out. This was 10 yrs ago and none have come back. DUE NOTE... the "tubes" are VERY VERY VERY sharp... when handling infested rock it is VERY easy to puncture your skin... and get an infection... no bueno.

This and crush them. They go away, I feel like it is part of the new tank uglies. But man they will cut you up! I went after them with just a flat head screw driver. They eventually just disappeared all together. I am only coming up on year 3, so I promise you don't have to live with them for long! Please don't throw all your rock or destroy your tank in attempt to get rid of them. Patience is all you need.

 

[JamesWeaver]

I had this problem as well I got a lot of them out by scraping them with a screw driver but then I added a dog face puffer and he ate the rest

 

[stacksoner]

This is very poor advice and a complete waste of time and money spent.

This is one of the easiest pests to deal with and that’s only if you consider them a pest.

Also, please share where it’s documented that flatworm exit has any effect on vermited snails. I have never heard of that before.

To clarify, I don't believe these are vermetid snails. Chaetopterid and annelid tube worms are both commonly misdiagnosed as vermetid snails.

The difference between the worm and snail tube shells is that vermetid shells are shiny inside and have three shell layers, whereas the annelid worm tubes are dull inside and have only two shell layers. Chaetopterids cast mucus nets like Vermetids.

Let's look at the facts. OP says he has exhausted every vermetid elimination approach and the infestation has only gotten worse as the tubes are now covering almost every square inch of his rocks. You said it yourself that vermetids are one of the easiest pests to get rid of. Lastly, he has yet to observe any signifcant evidence of them feeding and cites rare instances where he has seen their "long stings" protrude from the tubes.

I will wait for OP to post photos of his tank infestation before advising any further. I agree that my advice is bad, but it's no worse than anyone else's given limited information provided to correctly diagnose the issue.

 

[vetteguy53081]

To clarify, I don't believe these are vermetid snails. Chaetopterid and annelid tube worms are both commonly misdiagnosed as vermetid snails.

The difference between the worm and snail tube shells is that vermetid shells are shiny inside and have three shell layers, whereas the annelid worm tubes are dull inside and have only two shell layers. Chaetopterids cast mucus nets like Vermetids.

Let's look at the facts. OP says he has exhausted every vermetid elimination approach and the infestation has only gotten worse as the tubes are now covering almost every square inch of his rocks. You said it yourself that vermetids are one of the easiest pests to get rid of. Lastly, he has yet to observe any signifcant evidence of them feeding and cites rare instances where he has seen their "long stings" protrude from the tubes.

I will wait for OP to post photos of his tank infestation before advising any further. I agree that my advice is bad, but it's no worse than anyone else's given limited information provided to correctly diagnose the issue.

I agree on tube worms which is why I recommended Kalk paste

 

[lickyricky]

To clarify, I don't believe these are vermetid snails. Chaetopterid and annelid tube worms are both commonly misdiagnosed as vermetid snails.

The difference between the worm and snail tube shells is that vermetid shells are shiny inside and have three shell layers, whereas the annelid worm tubes are dull inside and have only two shell layers. Chaetopterids cast mucus nets like Vermetids.

Let's look at the facts. OP says he has exhausted every vermetid elimination approach and the infestation has only gotten worse as the tubes are now covering almost every square inch of his rocks. You said it yourself that vermetids are one of the easiest pests to get rid of. Lastly, he has yet to observe any signifcant evidence of them feeding and cites rare instances where he has seen their "long stings" protrude from the tubes.

I will wait for OP to post photos of his tank infestation before advising any further. I agree that my advice is bad, but it's no worse than anyone else's given limited information provided to correctly diagnose the issue.

Here are the photos if it helps.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Here are the photos if it helps.

So I was told those are vermitid snails, back when I was dealing with them. So I still stand by patience and if you want to go on a crushing spree, it can be cathartic. I still see no reason to RIP apart the tank. You just want to be sure to crush the base of them. That is where the little buggars retreat to.

 

[Haberdasher]

I had these small vermetid snails at plague levels as well. I couldn't defeat them. I salvaged what corals I could and threw out the rock. Quarantined the remaining corals in individual small tanks and treated with various methods including, scraping/crushing, starving, increased heat, and poison over a period of months. They would just repopulate. Nothing killed them all. Ended up throwing all the coral out, bleached the tank, and rebuilt it. Will now quarantine absolutely everything that goes into the tank going forward.

 

[WV Reefer]

Don’t be drastic. It really is a food issue which is why they multiply so fast and then completely disappear later on.

I had them in my 75 Gallon and if they were irritating Corals then I would deal with them on an individual basis by crushing.

Now there are none.

It will get better.

 

[OREGONIC]

I too have a e170 with added sump. I had tons of those little guys everywhere for the longest time. Seemed like the more I tried to get rid of them the worse they would get. I eventually just quit trying to kill them all and over a few months they slowly started disappearing. I did add a leopard wrasse around the same time not sure if that helped as I have never seen him directly picking at them but he is always on the hunt and picking at pods on the rock so maybe he was eating them too. I only have a few now and dont ever worry about them.