Worm snails

danimgale · May 5, 2013

Caribbean worm snail (petaloconchus spp.) Anyone else have these things? I had one hitch hike on my hammer a few years ago and now there are about 5 in my tank at all times. They drive me crazy sending out their stupid webs and getting them all over my corals. I've tried smashing their tubes, plugging them off with putty and trying to poke them with something down the tube. How do I get rid of them?

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mcarroll · May 5, 2013

danimgale said:
Caribbean worm snail (petaloconchus spp.) Anyone else have these things? I had one hitch hike on my hammer a few years ago and now there are about 5 in my tank at all times. They drive me crazy sending out their stupid webs and getting them all over my corals. I've tried smashing their tubes, plugging them off with putty and trying to poke them with something down the tube. How do I get rid of them?

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They are known as Vermitid snails (not sure of the Genus - you may be right) and they are not possible to get rid of unless you really only have one or two and you can actually get them by hand. I hated 'em when my tank got 'em but I guess I've gotten used to them.

There's a larger variety that builds tubes about 1/8" in diameter that don't spread in plague proportions....wish I had those instead of the little ones.

The saving grace is that they are nothing more than a minor irritation in the tank - usually 100% benign. (In fact they are decent mechanical filters...)

-Matt

skinz78 · May 5, 2013

I take my fragging shears and chop em up into fish food...

mcarroll · May 5, 2013

How do you chop up something the size of a tiny booger? "Pieces" would be the size of dust!

(Maybe thinking of a different kind of snail?)

danimgale · May 5, 2013

Ha ha I've tried the scissor thing too but they just come back. Maybe its because they are smaller than I think I never really get them to chop them into fish food.

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mcarroll · May 5, 2013

Pretty sure all you would get is the tube and that's not where the worm lives...just where he goes during feeding. Normally lives in the base where it looks like a knot (or even a bit like a regular snail shell).

andestang · May 5, 2013

If you only have five of them, get rid of them now. They can multiply like crazy. I used a pair of clean channel lock pliers and crushed the complete shell. You have to get the whole thing to make sure you get the snail itself.

danimgale · May 5, 2013

I will have to go on a rampage with some pliers. could I just wash some in the dish washer before sticking then in my tank?

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andestang · May 5, 2013

I would give them a good hand scrubbing instead. Preferrable they are a chrome plated type. You can tell you got the snail itself when you see the guts ooze into the water, verses just seeing shell bits falling - the fish will love it.