Vermetid snail infestation...ready to throw in the towel

Mikuchar

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I have a 135.5 waterbox sps dominate reef aquarium. Been in the reef hobby coming up on 2 yrs. Previously had a 75 gallon went thru every problem you could have but always persevered. I've been growing everything into mini colonies with great coloration so things were going great. Have the best equipment lighting etc. You could buy. Then I see my oregan blue torte not growing much than discoloring than few more acros Did some research on what I saw on rocks turns out I have a serious vermetid snail infestation. Every inch of rock has that hard crust tube etc. I've been on reef to reef watched every single video possible read every single article and people give you advice all over aboard from their meaningless across growth right over it or they just told me started over with their taint so I'm at a loss because I'm literally seeing my across die 2 of them already dead and the other ones are on our way out it seems like they grow right through the base of the coral and starve them to death. I. I have some bumblebee Snails in there now and the reef aquarium place I got them from said they
should take care of it but I don't see that happening with 6 bubblebee snails and I don't know how much vermetid snails I have but they are literally everywhere every single rock you can't see anything else on the surface of the rock but those tunnel things sticking out the reason why It got that far because I didn't know what it was, I thought it was just part of the rock or something but I really need some help or some serious suggestions because I'm ready To just throw in the towel

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dwest

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Sorry about this. Vermatids really suck no doubt. I have a bunch in my tank. They grow within my corals, on the rocks, lay their mucous mats all over the place, and look awful. But my corals still grow. I am wondering if there is a possibility that something else is going on. If I were you, I would keep looking for other things that could be causing problems with your corals.
 

dwest

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Throw in 10 bumble bee snails. It will keep your numbers from going up
Have bumblebees worked for you? I haven’t tried them yet but have heard many different stories about bumblebee snails.
 

chunkylovah

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Just echoing others, ive got a 34 gallon tank that was over ran by vermitids. Like it looked like a never ending silly string battle had broken out in my tank, and some of my corals weren't happy about it. So i bought two bumblebee snails and the infestation was gone in about a month.
 
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Mikuchar

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I threw in 6 bumblebee Snails yesterday so time wil tell I guess. I've heard from so many reefers that say they don't work only method to work is taking every rock out especially if your acros aren't big colonies set them in plastic egg crates or frag rack Depending on size and takand take each piece out and use bone clippers and click the whole entire piece off to the base but as many as I have that would be really be extremely time consuming And like I said I have 2 cros gone and another one that doesn't look good at all and the rest just not growing anymore
 
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Mikuchar

Mikuchar

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Sorry about this. Vermatids really suck no doubt. I have a bunch in my tank. They grow within my corals, on the rocks, lay their mucous mats all over the place, and look awful. But my corals still grow. I am wondering if there is a possibility that something else is going on. If I were you, I would keep looking for other things that could be causing problems with your corals.
 

ninjamyst

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Don't see colony size acros or vermetaid snails in your photos. If your acros are dying, I doubt it's from vermetaid snails. They may tick off corals but they rarely kill acros. Acros usually spread over them.

Bumblee snails are hit or miss. 6 won't do much in your 100+ gallon tank if it's truly infested. I recommend taking out any loose rocks and just manually remove them to help out your bumblebee snails.
 
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Mikuchar

Mikuchar

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The only thing that I saw recently was a couple little bristle worms but that was before I even saw I had a problem I think it's just the vermetids because as far as chemistry All my parameters are just fine and I haven't started dosing anything new. I can see all those nets and mucas stuff everywhere and all over the rocks around the coral base and everything
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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heres what to do

accept them

feed the sps so well and the lps so well they simply overtake it. I have a red favia they try to grow on and then the tissue creeps right up and seals the worm like a tent. same for sps, they simply creep up the tube and seal them off.

its possible to live with them and to drive corals to cap up the nearby ones. my tiny vase reef has thirty or so permanent verms i hate the mucus nets but just tolerate them. better than dinos.
 

Pntbll687

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I threw in 6 bumblebee Snails yesterday so time wil tell I guess. I've heard from so many reefers that say they don't work only method to work is taking every rock out especially if your acros aren't big colonies set them in plastic egg crates or frag rack Depending on size and takand take each piece out and use bone clippers and click the whole entire piece off to the base but as many as I have that would be really be extremely time consuming And like I said I have 2 cros gone and another one that doesn't look good at all and the rest just not growing anymore
Bumblebee snails will work, they eat the vermetid out of the tube, and the tube stays behind, so it may not seem like they are doing much.

I've never had vermetid irritate corals to the point of death. I have vermetid on almost every lps skeleton and they still grow. I also have Jedi mind trick monti growing over vermetids.

I don't think the vermetid you have are enough to cause any serious issues.
 

boacvh

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I watched videos, endless threads, tried snails, crabs, etc. In the end I just gave up and accepted them as part of my tank as suggested above by @brandon429 . A year or so later they are all gone. I don't know if it was just luck or the snails, or the crabs, or the amount I glued or what, but I tend to think they are just a natural part of a cycle. I suggest patience, even if difficult and see their cycle through.
I am a total noob. So take that with grain of salt.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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My yellow monti frag outpacing the verm heathen
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And the brain tent lol
At the top left
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Rubber Ducky

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Be patient and get more bumblebees...here's what I've learned with my recent outbreak...I had vermetid snails go from a cpl to probably 2,000 in a matter of months, literally took over my 70 gallon, like all over the place! I tried breaking them off, removing what I could until that got to be too much effort...I got 7 bumblebees because I was told 1 per 10 gallons should be fine. They started munching, but not a noticeable amount in my opinion.got 10 more about 2 months later feeling unsatisfied with the prior groups work. About 2 weeks later I noticed things started looking a lil bit better...2 months later, it's looking alot better, those lil fellas do their work, but I would get more if I were you, like have 20 in there. Be patient and let them do their work.

Other options that my LFS recommended that I tried that might be worth trying:
Get a turkey baister and blow all over your rocks, in the nooks and crannies, really disturb them, so their webs come out thinking they're getting some food, then take some coral snow and squirter it directly onto the webs...what happens is that it's supposed to clog up their tubes cutting off their food supply, thus starving them to death. Takes repeated times.

Another option from LFS but kinda risky imo...use a syringe , and carefully hit the tubes up close with some fresh Boiling water...in theory, I feel like this should work, but be super cautious around corals. So it's better used in just rock areas...

My bumblebees are keeping the vermitid snails at bay and so im gonna stick it out with them for now...best of luck, dont give up!
Oh and I forgot, that my 6 line wrasse is good for picking some off now n then also...
 
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ying yang

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Just have some patience as if only put the bumble bees in yesterday,i dont think thats enough time for them to get to work and kill every last vermitted snail in one day if you got such a big infestation like you said.
What i read often is some of our problems we get take months to get to point where problem/ infestation so may take same amount time to get out off the problem.
But as others have said just accept them or remove the rocks and prize off with tweezers/ bone cutters/superglue the tubes shut or get a natural predator like bumble bee snails or in your case get more maybe?
Was a thread the other week saying some wrasses eat them. Search for that thread and see if you can get information on kind of wrasse used or feed tank less as they catch food with that mucus net so feed tank less or target feed fish/ corals = less foods in water then maybe less vermitted snails.
Good luck either way but what you shown doesnt look that bad to me but im a new reefer and ive already accepted my tank wont be a show tank and its ok to have a variety of things in tank unless they killing things but my understanding off vermittes snails is they irritate corals but no first hand experience just yet but sure i will have soon ^_^
 

ying yang

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Im new to saltwater at 6 months so by no way shape or form am i saying you dont know what you doing .
But seen a few people say their parameters are good but once shared them then another member here spotted something that the op missed as old saying goes 2 heads better than one.
Maybe share your parameters and test kit used,age of tank etc etc and someone may spot something you missed buddy.like 0 phospate and nitrate and this caused problems or just tank a young tank and got some kind of swing of one kind or another like alk not stable as every 0.1 in alk difference the difference is exponentially ( maybe this not the word but i know what im on about lol where 0.1 difference is 10 times different and 1.0 difference is 100 times etc)
Been here 6 months on this site and spending 3- 4 hours a day reading threads to equip me with knowledge if something goes wrong with my tanksl and seen pests eating corals/ brass fittings giving heavy metals in the water and nothing would grow not even algae/to much light/ not enough light/ to much nutrients/ not enough nutrients,some corals just wont grow in some peoples tanks etc etc ,basically so many factors that dictates how our tanks behave so goes back to that old saying " 2 heads better than one" but i wish you luck in trying to solve your problem off why your 2 acro's died,lots experienced helpfull guys and gals here to help you so good luck unless you 100% certain its the vermitted snails burying into base off your corals and starving the corals to death ( i thought vermitted snails live in the tube which sealed at one end and the other end they cast out a mucus net and filter feed and drag the net back into eat) but ignore above if you certain its vermitted killing your corals then all you can do is live with them or try eradicate / manage them.
 
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Mikuchar

Mikuchar

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I am driving from work now I appreciate you and everyone's help I'll give you the perimeters etc. when I get home but I have an Apex controller and auto doser 2 part so it's been pretty steady I haven't seen any spikes at all but I will check the phosphate and nitrate when I get home but 3 days ago it was .03 the nitrate and phosphate was .09
 

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