Vermetid snails equals tank restart

[2Wheelsonly]

You will absolutely get them again, use this experience to figure out how to deal with them. Pest free tanks are extremely rare in this hobby, nothing will change my mind.

There are people that constantly re-start and reboot and never ever have an established tank. Learning to deal with things is the key to having a thriving and established reef; people have to get that new perfectly clean tank vision out of their heads if they ever want to experience real growth!

 

[OREGONIC]

They are just bio diversity, their population will balance out. Both vermited and aptasia are pretty much unavoidable in my opinion.

 

[Cory]

Dinos killed all mine as well as most sps lol

 

[PeterLL]

I used my tank upgrade as a 'restart' for getting rid of vermetids which were my main concern. New dry rock, new dry sand. All equipment citric acid bathed. all corals removed from rocks as far as possible,then in a QT transfer tank for ~6 weeks. 2 3% H202 baths and anything remotely vermetid shaped was crushed and then the frag dipped again in H202. all clean up crew were quarantined as well and had their shells scrubbed with H202. I did this a couple months ago, and have found 3 vermetid snails in the tank. It's not an easy fight to win, and it's inevitable you will get them unless you severly restrict whats going in the tank.

 

[Sandra Finnell]

I too, do not like the web thing that the snails extend. The crazy thing is, I don't have a lot, but more than I would like, and so I bought a coris wrasse (still in quarantine) to maybe help keep them under control. Now, I have seen my Sally Lightfoot crab hold one of these vermetid snail tubes and eating it. My vermetid snail numbers have been on the decrease lately, so that may be the reason. Has anyone else witnessed this crazy Sally thing? If so, that might be a help, if you want a Sally in your tank. It never has bothered anything, and the grandkids love watching for her. She has shed her shell many times and has been in my tank, with all sorts of corals and fish, for almost 2 years now.

 

[TeotheCoral]

I used my tank upgrade as a 'restart' for getting rid of vermetids which were my main concern. New dry rock, new dry sand. All equipment citric acid bathed. all corals removed from rocks as far as possible,then in a QT transfer tank for ~6 weeks. 2 3% H202 baths and anything remotely vermetid shaped was crushed and then the frag dipped again in H202. all clean up crew were quarantined as well and had their shells scrubbed with H202. I did this a couple months ago, and have found 3 vermetid snails in the tank. It's not an easy fight to win, and it's inevitable you will get them unless you severly restrict whats going in the tank.

I’d say we need to figure how to do a snail transplant—transferring new snails from one shell to a new one that had previously been washed with h2o2 and polished.

 

[Softhammer]

How hard could it possibly be to crunch them up in that small of a tank? they aren’t hard to find. I had quite a few in my jam packed 180 and it’s nothing a long pair of hemostats or pliers can’t handle. Wrasses also eat the snails once out of the tube.

 

[BighohoReef]

I don't understand how people don't considered vermited's a damaging pest, seen a few to many tanks where they've been left to there own devices and question why they don't have corals or why their corals are dying. Anyways I'm digressing..

For the tank itself I would clean it, scrub it and rinse it multiple times white vinegar does wonders, make sure to rinse well. Live rock if you plan on reusing it inspect, inspect, inspect you find a snail remove it and seal that spot with coral glue for good measure. Corals I would do something similar or just remove old frag plugs and replace them with new ones really the only way to be sure.

 

[haitian_reefer]

If anyone is looking to restart their tank, please me your unwanted rock/corals

 

[Glass Algae]

You're bound to get then again anyway either inside a chunk of rock or hidden somewhere on a frag or even on another snail. I would just Maintain what you have and make it a habit and part of maintenence to scrap the buggers when u see em.

If u do decide to restart your restart plan sounds pretty good.

 

[ScottB]

I have a full on infestation after about 4-5 years. I hate them, but am counting on some balance to shift against them. I have searched high/low for effective predators but no love really. Aside from bone cutters. Yes they do annoy some of my corals. When I can see that I get a bit more diligent about crushing the offenders.

All that said, I would not give up on my live rock. I don't know what it would take for me to give up on all my old live rock. Without it, my SPS perish IMO.

The most effective thing I have done is to pull a rock out and mash them. The wrasses don't need to be fed for a few days after.

 

[BighohoReef]

They are just bio diversity, their population will balance out. Both vermited and aptasia are pretty much unavoidable in my opinion.

I don't mean to sound rude, but shouldn't we be trying to remove these pests from the hobby? If everyone would teach proper QT to new hobbyists or LFS would mention the things they have growing in there tanks or just take care of them in general we could reduce the pest issue. It's heartbreaking to hear we spend thousands of dollars on tanks, corals and fish to have an "Oh well" attitude about pests.

 

[uhupong]

Lots of bumblebee snails work wonder.

 

[Albertan22]

I don't mean to sound rude, but shouldn't we be trying to remove these pests from the hobby? If everyone would teach proper QT to new hobbyists or LFS would mention the things they have growing in there tanks or just take care of them in general we could reduce the pest issue. It's heartbreaking to hear we spend thousands of dollars on tanks, corals and fish to have an "Oh well" attitude about pests.

There are many out there who don’t consider vermatid snails to be pests. I am one of those. When I started the hobby about 12 years ago nobody cared about them, they came and went. This hate on them seem to be a newer development. I view them kind of like diatoms, they pretty much always come with a new tank then tend to die back or disappear when the aquarium matures and finds balance. That said, so many aren’t interested in balanced ecosystems or letting processes play out anymore. Everything is about adding additives and bacteria products to shortcut the natural cycles, which is maybe why some of these pests are taking a greater hold now than they used to. Now aiptasia, that’s a different story, bloody stuff is the devil!

 

[Kalinina]

I got them from a piece of live rock from the LFS. I didn't know what a vermatid snail was at the time or I wouldn't have put it in my tank. I didn't mind them for a while, until they infested my powerheads. It was super hard to scrape them off. I did actually tear my tank down, have all of that live rock waiting in a tub with heat and flow. Not sure what I'm going to do with it. I have new live rock, dry rock and sand for the restart.

I have a yellow corris wrasse and he did not eat them.

 

[ChineyRas]

I used my tank upgrade as a 'restart' for getting rid of vermetids which were my main concern. New dry rock, new dry sand. All equipment citric acid bathed. all corals removed from rocks as far as possible,then in a QT transfer tank for ~6 weeks. 2 3% H202 baths and anything remotely vermetid shaped was crushed and then the frag dipped again in H202. all clean up crew were quarantined as well and had their shells scrubbed with H202. I did this a couple months ago, and have found 3 vermetid snails in the tank. It's not an easy fight to win, and it's inevitable you will get them unless you severly restrict whats going in the tank.

This is disheartening, because I too am in the process of an upgrade but definitely planning on taking all measures to avoid vermetid snails as well. Wasn’t even planning on transferring over corals from old tank which is infested.

 

[drblakjak55]

Have to agree. Unless you’re totally restarting and quarantining all your coral for a while it’s unlikely not to come back with the reboot. I take a certain joy in crushing the little suckers as soon as I see that web

 

[Butcher333]

I’m currently trying Ammonium Hydroxide 10% Ace Hardware brand. No surfactants. I lifted the rock out and used a Q-tip to dip and touch to tubes. It worked good on the Vermitids, but not as much on the Colonial Hydroids because they have soft tubes and it’s really frustrating to get the Ammonium Hydroxide into the tubes. I’m going to try a different strategy with the hydroids. With the Vermatids however, I just took the dry end of the Q-tip to remove water from their tube, so that when I use the saturated end capillary action draws the hydroxide into the tube and kills the Verm. Wait a couple minutes and rinse in saltwater before placing back into the tank. Reef safe and specific to the intended target. I’m staying on top of this with my new tank. I’m really hoping this solution works long term.

 

[West1]

After much thought, I purchased a sixline wrasse. Not so much to get the vermetid snails but to hopefully eat the wigglers. I think stopping the babies is the hardest part. I’ll manually crush the adults when I see them.

I am going to either A) restart or B) setup a QT for the QT vermetid tank.

if I can get the numbers to reduce w/the sixline, I’ll slowly move frags to a 5 or 10gl QT tank. Quarantine for a few months with new plug, then move to main. Maybe 3 frags at a time.
Eventually having no corals in the 20gl vermetid tank and going full vinegar w/tank equipment.

#IHATETHESETHINGS#!!!!!!

 

[OREGONIC]

I don't mean to sound rude, but shouldn't we be trying to remove these pests from the hobby? If everyone would teach proper QT to new hobbyists or LFS would mention the things they have growing in there tanks or just take care of them in general we could reduce the pest issue. It's heartbreaking to hear we spend thousands of dollars on tanks, corals and fish to have an "Oh well" attitude about pests.

I just dont see how they can be completely avoided. Much like algae they are unattractive and can irritate coral but proper tank maintenance and parameters keep them in check. I always tell people when I sale or trade coral that there is aptasia and vermitid snails in my system, but in my opinion they are both unavoidable. I dont think thinking something is unavoidable is the same as having an oh well attitude. We are building ecosystems in a glass box, not everything in every ecosystem is considered wanted. This being said a healthy well balanced ecosystem, with a helping hand, keeps things under control.