Well crap...

[justjes45]

I think I have a break out in my tank of the dreaded vermetid snail.
A while back I noticed a couple of "pokey things" and I thought "oh how fun! Everything is naturalizing!" (This must be a good thing… )
And then there were a few more… And now when I was cleaning my tank, it has blossomed onto every single rock.

I'm all about a naturalized tank. I love it when the Zoas is finally creep into places that you didn't put them, etc..

But now, as I'm reading and researching, this is absolutely not a good thing, and very hard to get rid of.

It sounds like I need to take the rock structure apart and manually remove them? This is the best method?
I also read here that somebody had good luck with aquarium snow… And maybe I could take the rocks out and then just dip them in a solution of that?

Any advice would be wonderful. I really don't want to tear down all of my rocks, but evidently my "fascinating a little pokey thing" is bad.

 

[bluemon]

Posted about this in another thread recently as well.


Here are the most popular methods I've found and tried.

1. Manual Removal (Either getting the entirety of the snail off the rock by getting the whole spiral off (more effective, but can be hard in hard to reach spaces), or super gluing the entrance. I prefer being very sneaky and chopping off its head with a bone cutter before they retrieve into their shells)
2. Coral Snow (or DIY versions). The theory is that the Calcium Carbonate gets consumed by them when they have their webs out, and disrupts their digestive functions. Questionable but doesn't hurt
3. Bumblebee snails. I don't think there are actual accounts of them actively attacking big vermetids, but they are always on rocks doing SOMETHING, so maybe they are getting them at the smaller stages when they first settle onto rocks.
4. No more broadcast feeding. That means you gotta turn off your pumps during feedings and feed a bit more methodically.

For me, it was a combination of these methods that did the trick. Not a complete elimination mind you. Just severely cut back on them from an infestation to just a curious hitchhiker.

I would say the bumblebee snails were the game changer/final nail in the coffin for me, and Coral Snow seemed to really to little.

 

[Slocke]

Meh
Don’t panic. Get some tweezers and smash as many as you can find. Then get some bumblebee snails. Then… give it time. Vermetids are a phase we all go through. I once had a ton. Don’t have many any more and I didn’t really do anything about it

 

[Airedale Reef]

Like you, I noticed one or two around the tank, and didn't think much of it...within a short period of time, the back wall was peppered with them, as well as the rock work. After some research online as well as reviewing my feeding regiment, I noticed an abundant increase after I added Reef Roids to my feeding schedule (both broadcast as well as direct). Since then, I have added a wrasse, and limit the reef roads to no more than feeding per week.

If I see them pop tip on the back wall now, I simply just scrape them off and minimize feeding.

 

[Üter]

bumblebees, lots, or you could try bursa trigger or wrasse.

 

[bluemon]

Like you, I noticed one or two around the tank, and didn't think much of it...within a short period of time, the back wall was peppered with them, as well as the rock work. After some research online as well as reviewing my feeding regiment, I noticed an abundant increase after I added Reef Roids to my feeding schedule (both broadcast as well as direct). Since then, I have added a wrasse, and limit the reef roads to no more than feeding per week.

If I see them pop tip on the back wall now, I simply just scrape them off and minimize feeding.

Yea the worst is not even on the back walls.

It’s when they get into equipment and pipes.

Here is a haul from my overflow a few months back. The last remnants of the infestation.

You know it's bad when there are vermetids ON vermetids.

At least I haven't seen any new ones pop up since I removed these. I imagine these have been growing for years.

The worst thing about them is that because they are snails, they smell AWFUL if they have been dying for a while. Like literally the worst smell on earth.

 

[Double monti 61]

Had some but never an issue eventually they went away or at least did not become a problem. Maybe it is the competition for food and real estate that allow them to grow out of control.

 

[Reefer Matt]

+1 on bumblebee snails.

 

[Airedale Reef]

Yea the worst is not even on the back walls.

It’s when they get into equipment and pipes.

Here is a haul from my overflow a few months back. The last remnants of the infestation.

You know it's bad when there are vermetids ON vermetids.

At least I haven't seen any new ones pop up since I removed these. I imagine these have been growing for years.

The worst thing about them is that because they are snails, they smell AWFUL if they have been dying for a while. Like literally the worst smell on earth.

Wowza - you were not kidding about an infestation. I definitely did not experience anything like this...you make my issue sound like a dream lol.

Well the positive here, is that you haven't noticed any new ones...at this point, Id get the bumble bee snails, monitor coral feedings to help proactively keep this under control.
Good luck!

 

[bluemon]

Yea the worst is not even on the back walls.

It’s when they get into equipment and pipes.

Here is a haul from my overflow a few months back. The last remnants of the infestation.

You know it's bad when there are vermetids ON vermetids.

At least I haven't seen any new ones pop up since I removed these. I imagine these have been growing for years.

The worst thing about them is that because they are snails, they smell AWFUL if they have been dying for a while. Like literally the worst smell on earth.

Wowza - you were not kidding about an infestation. I definitely did not experience anything like this...you make my issue sound like a dream lol.

Well the positive here, is that you haven't noticed any new ones...at this point, Id get the bumble bee snails, monitor coral feedings to help proactively keep this under control.
Good luck!

To be fair, this was just in the overflow I did not clean out for years.

In my display area, it wasn’t as bad. Just your regular run off the mill ones, thick and thin ones, but no longer than an inch off the rock at their longest.

And since I got the snail a couple months back, i definitely see very little. Maybe a few odd ones in nooks and crannies

 

[justjes45]

Like you, I noticed one or two around the tank, and didn't think much of it...within a short period of time, the back wall was peppered with them, as well as the rock work. After some research online as well as reviewing my feeding regiment, I noticed an abundant increase after I added Reef Roids to my feeding schedule (both broadcast as well as direct). Since then, I have added a wrasse, and limit the reef roads to no more than feeding per week.

If I see them pop tip on the back wall now, I simply just scrape them off and minimize feeding.

Yea the worst is not even on the back walls.

It’s when they get into equipment and pipes.

Here is a haul from my overflow a few months back. The last remnants of the infestation.

You know it's bad when there are vermetids ON vermetids.

At least I haven't seen any new ones pop up since I removed these. I imagine these have been growing for years.

The worst thing about them is that because they are snails, they smell AWFUL if they have been dying for a while. Like literally the worst smell on earth.

WOAH!! This picture is crazy!
Maybe vermetid snails is NOT what I have… It does not look like this. I just have a whole bunch of pincushion, pokey things all over my rocks and some on the back wall. This picture looks nuts… I think I would freak out.

 

[justjes45]

OK, thank you so much for all of the great information and advice. I love @REEF2REEF for exactly this reason. Such a great support. I'm going to try a little bit of each. Manual removal, stopping the broadcast feeding, and bumblebee snails. I'll let you know!

 

[Catawba_Valley_Reef]

WOAH!! This picture is crazy!
Maybe vermetid snails is NOT what I have… It does not look like this. I just have a whole bunch of pincushion, pokey things all over my rocks and some on the back wall. This picture looks nuts… I think I would freak out.

You probably have vermetids….his vermetids were just going to the gym and probably taking roids (reef roids or steroids).

 

[Gumbies R Us]

OK, thank you so much for all of the great information and advice. I love @REEF2REEF for exactly this reason. Such a great support. I'm going to try a little bit of each. Manual removal, stopping the broadcast feeding, and bumblebee snails. I'll let you know!

Good luck to removing it!

 

[bluemon]

You probably have vermetids….his vermetids were just going to the gym and probably taking roids (reef roids or steroids).

Oh yea OP definitely has vermetids, and they grow like OPs naturally on rocks.

Mine looked like that because it was in the overflow and had nothing to grow onto, with turbulent flow and infinite food. It just grew longer and longer and onto itself