Vermetid snail elimination

[reeferpat137]

So ive got a 65 gal tank that i broke down and rebooted 2 months ago. And it seems like this new environment is perfect for vermetid snails, and they are booming. So im gonna break down the tank again and eliminate them for good!!! With some hydrochloric acid. Ill be going through the whole tank, and sump, even cutting out the over flow box to throughly clean that. My questions are 1) How long should i soak the rock for? and more importantly how to clean the acid from the rock! 2) Sand? Ive got a lot of it, am i going to need to do anything with the sand or can i just toss it in a brute can for a couple days? It is my largest source of biologic. 3) Is it possible for vermetid snails to live in high flow areas such as inside your plumbing? If so, ill be replacing those also. 4) Any other steps that im missing for elimination? Let me know, thanks

 

[Hairyteeth]

sounds extreme, you’ll most likely get them again along with aptasia and a few other things… just being realistic.
Get some bumble snails and over time they’ll start to go away

 

[JumboShrimp]

Question: Can you get to each of your rocks easily to pull them one at a time from the tank? If you are, I’d pull the rock, and under some good lighting (so you can see small snails as well), spend a few minutes with each rock busting the snails up from their BASE with some needle nose pliers. You might have to repeat the process again after a couple of weeks, but I’m telling you from personal experience, after I ‘manually’ killed the very last one they never came back.

+1 to Bumblebee snails as added insurance.

 

[reeferpat137]

Question: Can you get to each of your rocks easily to pull them one at a time from the tank? If you are, I’d pull the rock, and under some good lighting (so you can see small snails as well), spend a few minutes with each rock busting the snails up from their BASE with some needle nose pliers. You might have to repeat the process again after a couple of weeks, but I’m telling you from personal experience, after I ‘manually’ killed the very last one they never came back.

+1 to Bumblebee snails as added insurance.

sounds extreme, you’ll most likely get them again along with aptasia and a few other things… just being realistic.
Get some bumble snails and over time they’ll start to go away

Havent had aptasia for a long time. And were talking about an acid bath. Even some of the rock will be stripped away.

As for busting up every individual snail from on the overflow to in the overflow, in the sump and on the rocks... doubtful, this is 10+ year old real live rock, theres no way i can get into every nook and crany

 

[JumboShrimp]

Oh, I was focused on the rocks. I guess I missed that you have them in all the nooks and crannies of your tank. That makes that tougher.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

They will Absolutely be living inside your plumbing. They can live about anywhere.

A horde of Bumblebees is probably your best bet.

Unless you do a complete comb through of your sand which you are trying to maintain, I understand as a biological filter, You will have hundreds of young snails down there alone.

 

[Scratch08]

They will Absolutely be living inside your plumbing. They can live about anywhere.

A horde of Bumblebees is probably your best bet.

Unless you do a complete comb through of your sand which you are trying to maintain, I understand as a biological filter, You will have hundreds of young snails down there alone.

Agree with this…I tore down my 75 gallon that was infested with vermetids, overflow box and every piece of plumbing had them in inside… I’m on the fence with the effectiveness of bumble bee snails, but in my case I had thousands of vermetid, put in 50 bumble bees…were they killing/eating the v’s, maybe, but with so many it was hard to tell. I’ve had a few v’s pop up in my 25 lagoon recently, manual crushing any I can get to and yes I added bb snails to it as well, so far they aren’t exploding in population…

 

[reeferpat137]

They will Absolutely be living inside your plumbing. They can live about anywhere.

A horde of Bumblebees is probably your best bet.

Unless you do a complete comb through of your sand which you are trying to maintain, I understand as a biological filter, You will have hundreds of young snails down there alone.

How would one "comb" through the sand? Can i possibly strip the top 1" and replace that

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

How would one "comb" through the sand? Can i possibly strip the top 1" and replace that

Honestly, I'm not sure they're even is a way to completely comb the sand and make sure they are gone...

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Agree with this…I tore down my 75 gallon that was infested with vermetids, overflow box and every piece of plumbing had them in inside… I’m on the fence with the effectiveness of bumble bee snails, but in my case I had thousands of vermetid, put in 50 bumble bees…were they killing/eating the v’s, maybe, but with so many it was hard to tell. I’ve had a few v’s pop up in my 25 lagoon recently, manual crushing any I can get to and yes I added bb snails to it as well, so far they aren’t exploding in population…

Once they show up I'm not even sure bumblebees can fully eliminate them. I dumped 20 to 30 in at a time just for trying to maintain and slowly lower a population. I would have to have thousands of bumblebees. I think to eliminate them completely in my tank.

 

[Scratch08]

How would one "comb" through the sand? Can i possibly strip the top 1" and replace that

I would not trust it…I replaced everything and started over…it was a planned upgrade to begin with, but nothing from the 75, with exception of some plumbing fittings, skimmer and return pump (scrubbed, soaked in vinegar and scrubbed again) went in the new tank.

 

[Scratch08]

Once they show up I'm not even sure bumblebees can fully eliminate them. I dumped 20 to 30 in at a time just for trying to maintain and slowly lower a population. I would have to have thousands of bumblebees. I think to eliminate them completely in my tank.

I dumped 25 bumblebees in the lagoon, 2 weeks ago, again, not convinced they help, but have only found half dozen or so v’s in the tank so far, so maybe they work, maybe they don’t, no real idea…manual crushing is working best for now

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I dumped 25 bumblebees in the lagoon, 2 weeks ago, again, not convinced they help, but have only found half dozen or so v’s in the tank so far, so maybe they work, maybe they don’t, no real idea…manual crushing is working best for now

I keep them in my frag tank which I have visibility of all day from my desk and I definitely do see them eliminating v snails. Especially young ones.

 

[reeferpat137]

They will Absolutely be living inside your plumbing. They can live about anywhere.

A horde of Bumblebees is probably your best bet.

Unless you do a complete comb through of your sand which you are trying to maintain, I understand as a biological filter, You will have hundreds of young snails down there alone.

Also the sand is new with the reboot. So 2 months. Its a mix of figi pink and oolite. Idk if that makes a difference

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Also the sand is new with the reboot. So 2 months. Its a mix of figi pink and oolite. Idk if that makes a difference

It doesn't really. Young snails traverse the sand bed so they are there.

You could pull it out, Wash it, Then dry it for a few days which should ensure they are all dead. That just means you would need to start reseeding it. The bio filter would be dead

 

[reeferpat137]

It doesn't really. Young snails traverse the sand bed so they are there.

You could pull it out, Wash it, Then dry it for a few days which should ensure they are all dead. That just means you would need to start reseeding it. The bio filter would be dead

Dam, may as well acid bath the sand too then

 

[Scratch08]

Dam, may as well acid bath the sand too then

no need to acid wash it, may not have much left if you do, best to do what Lost said, wash/rinse and let dry for a few days, in the sun if possible

and sorry, never really answered your first question…how long to soak, I would say no more than 24 hours, maybe soak for few hours and the pull out a few pieces and check over them…this also depends on the acid concentration you use…
As for how to clean after the acid…neutralize the acid bath was baking soda before you remove the rocks, rinse with tap water real good, let dry, rinse again…put in bucket with RODi water and soak for a day, dump water and do it again.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Dam, may as well acid bath the sand too then

I've never had the need to acid bath anything. Rinsing with a pressure nozzle in a bucket until the water runs clear, then laying out in the sun on a tarp, flipping it every day or two has always worked well for me.

 

[fryman]

Do you plan to have coral? Vermetids are a pita but I would not go to the extreme measures it takes to 100% eliminate them.

It takes 1 or 2 years for dead rock to become fully mature live rock. I know poeple will say they started adding sps after as few as 6 montbs, but ime 6mo old live rock is barely acceptable while 2+ yr old live rock is far more reliable and stable for growing coral. You are setting yourself back at least 6 mos, more likely a year or more doing this.

Most reef tanks have vermetids, and most people just control them one way or another.

 

[Spare time]

sounds extreme, you’ll most likely get them again along with aptasia and a few other things… just being realistic.
Get some bumble snails and over time they’ll start to go away

You can avoid them with a coral QT. I have 0 aiptasia and vermatids in my tank.