Vermetid snail HOW to kill them help!

gencarson

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I've learned the best way to deal with pests that are invasive but don't directly harm things is to learn to ignore them. Vermatids and red turf algae are just a part of my tank. They don't hurt anything so why pull my hair out.
I would do the same if they weren't stressing out the Corals with their snot nets. I assume they are also a calcium thief. I've tried cutting back on feeding, but I'm to the point where I think cutting back anymore would be harmful to the animals. I'm not going to cause undue suffering when a scorched earth policy against the invaders works just fine.
 

Nburg's Reef

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I would do the same if they weren't stressing out the Corals with their snot nets. I assume they are also a calcium thief. I've tried cutting back on feeding, but I'm to the point where I think cutting back anymore would be harmful to the animals. I'm not going to cause undue suffering when a scorched earth policy against the invaders works just fine.

My population of vermatids never really bother corals. Sure their snot webs may touch them, but the acros usually grow over the tubes and all the LPS and softies could care less. Plus they only snot a lot when i stir up the sand or it there are lots of particulates in the water.
 

Leadfooted

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My population of vermatids never really bother corals. Sure their snot webs may touch them, but the acros usually grow over the tubes and all the LPS and softies could care less. Plus they only snot a lot when i stir up the sand or it there are lots of particulates in the water.
I have to strongly disagree so others understand that Vermetids can irritate a coral enough to kill it. I've had them slice Litho's right in half (which I was able to frag the sliced off piece (so that's a unique bonus), they've killed many of my blasto colonies as well as a few Acan's. Many say these don't hurt corals and it makes my head spin because I believed it and searched for other reasons why corals were dying and hurting because I listened to others that said they don't bother them. This caused me to loose some really nice pieces, very costly too I might add. Perhaps there's species that don't hurt corals, but the one's in my tank do.
 

Leadfooted

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pic to support what I said. This is not your typical irritating pest

litho1.jpg

litho2.jpg


The piece dangling is what I snipped off and fragged, which it growing nicely. Again, just showing how harmful these Vermetids can be.
 

RandyT5

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So today I was watching where my longspine urchin chowed on the rocks, I have a LOT of vermitid snails, and I have been cutting back feeding but not running filter socks, so that's probably why. But if you look closely, you can see where the urchin mowed down, the snails are gone.

IMG_20180910_182429.jpg


IMG_20180910_182440.jpg
 

Brew12

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So today I was watching where my longspine urchin chowed on the rocks, I have a LOT of vermitid snails, and I have been cutting back feeding but not running filter socks, so that's probably why. But if you look closely, you can see where the urchin mowed down, the snails are gone.

IMG_20180910_182429.jpg


IMG_20180910_182440.jpg
Very cool.

I've noticed some have disappeared from my tank, my urchin could be why. I don't have nearly the numbers that you do though so I would never have made the connection.
 

RandyT5

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Very cool.

I've noticed some have disappeared from my tank, my urchin could be why. I don't have nearly the numbers that you do though so I would never have made the connection.

Yeah I have quite the... collection? It got real bad when my tank was fallow for ich/velvet. But this guy is definitely chewing them off all the way to the rock. I don't think it's going after them specifically but don't get between an urchin and its algea!
 
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nightmarepl

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Yeah I have quite the... collection? It got real bad when my tank was fallow for ich/velvet. But this guy is definitely chewing them off all the way to the rock. I don't think it's going after them specifically but don't get between an urchin and its algea!

I have a 10 gallon think i can get a urchin like that? Will it hurt anyone else in my tank?
 

RandyT5

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I have a 10 gallon think i can get a urchin like that? Will it hurt anyone else in my tank?
Other than long spines needing a ton of algae to graze on, these guys get HUGE, like basketball sized. Mine is in a 90 gallon and I know for sure it's not going to be able to live in there its whole life. Maybe if you found a small one, it would be ok for a while, but they eat a ton of algae, constantly grazing. They might knock over frags but they aren't too destructive.
 
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nightmarepl

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Other than long spines needing a ton of algae to graze on, these guys get HUGE, like basketball sized. Mine is in a 90 gallon and I know for sure it's not going to be able to live in there its whole life. Maybe if you found a small one, it would be ok for a while, but they eat a ton of algae, constantly grazing. They might knock over frags but they aren't too destructive.

Maybe get a different urchin? Always wanted one think other species would eat them like yours does?
 

Brew12

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Other than long spines needing a ton of algae to graze on, these guys get HUGE, like basketball sized. Mine is in a 90 gallon and I know for sure it's not going to be able to live in there its whole life. Maybe if you found a small one, it would be ok for a while, but they eat a ton of algae, constantly grazing. They might knock over frags but they aren't too destructive.

My long spine has tripled in size in the last 6 months. My 187g has a very open aquascape so I think he will be ok... but only if he stops growing soon.
 

RandyT5

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My long spine has tripled in size in the last 6 months. My 187g has a very open aquascape so I think he will be ok... but only if he stops growing soon.

Crap. mines like baseball sized. Guess ill be rehoming faster than I thought.
 

Brew12

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Crap. mines like baseball sized. Guess ill be rehoming faster than I thought.
I'd guess the spines on mine are in the 9" to 10" range. I also have a ton of coralline algae which he plows through. He has an unlimited food source. It's pretty amazing how good he does keeping coralline off my glass.
 

SteadyC

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I have a blue tuxedo in my 110, I don’t have a bad snail issue so maybe he is taking care of that. It also eats corraline algae. I have needed to take the snot off of a plate coral a few times, it completely surrounded the coral. Because of this the coral wouldn’t put out it’s tentacles, so in my opinion they can/do irritate some corals. I manually removed that snail, that was close to the plate coral.
 

vetteguy53081

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You can pluck them out or inject each tube with Kalc paste
 

jda

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People are starting to use Chloroquine Phosphate to treat them. ...still early with just anecdotes, but could be promising.
 

Brew12

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People are starting to use Chloroquine Phosphate to treat them. ...still early with just anecdotes, but could be promising.
That wouldn't be reef safe though, would it?
 

jda

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I have no idea. I have not tried it nor recommend it... only that I have seen some posts on it. It is used in reef tanks to kill algae...
 
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