Vermatids

[MadReefer]

Did a water change today and did not realize how many vermatid snails I have. My bumble bee snails are gone except for 1 or2. I plan to cut feeding to every other day and get more bumble bee snails.
Is there anything else I can do? Removing or replacing rock not an option.

 

[myrjon]

bumble bee snails worked well for me..

 

[MadReefer]

Plant to stop at pet store later this week and pick up 20 BB snails. One or two rocks I can remove. Ordered reef glue so will take those rocks out and glue the tubes shut too.

 

[DangerDave]

If they’re the little ones, they’re pretty easy to manage with reduced feeding of small particle stuff. I’ve never had the big ones but they seem like a nightmare.

 

[MadReefer]

Sadly, I have the big vermatids.

 

[Rjmul]

Just crush them and then cover with epoxy

 

[ericrodriguez]

If you only crush them would they come right back?

 

[Rueric]

Best of luck to you. I had the small ones and bumble snails didn’t work for me. Ended up restarting tank since it infested all corners of my tank..

 

[nightmarepl]

Best of luck to you. I had the small ones and bumble snails didn’t work for me. Ended up restarting tank since it infested all corners of my tank..

had very similar situation once you get them there is really no way of stopping them no matter how many snails you add sadly ive had 50 bubble bees in a 20 gallon and couldnt stop them...
reasons why i never do live rock i always do dry rock cycle it myself add bacteria weekly dip the soul out anything coming into the tank specially take the plugs off corals the snails bury into the pores of the plugs you wont even see it..
management of a problem isnt fixing a problem get rid of them by reset or deal with them forever...

i had the same thing with ich people kept telling oh just manage it with feeding healthy... yah okay... ich literally cuts your fishes life in 2/3s because people dont feel like QT

i deplug all my corals dip them 2 once before the QT once after QT 5g all in one QT setup after copper treating my fish it was strictly a QT tank
now i barely have issues.

 

[MadReefer]

One thing I can say is if I have to rip out all my rock and start over; I am definitely out.
I had some luck with bumble bee snails in the past. Will try again and cut back feeding and see where I end up.

 

[MadReefer]

Thought I would post this article on the subject.
The Detailed Guide to Vermetid Snails and Their Removal

 

[Rjmul]

If you only crush them would they come right back?

Cover with epoxy.

 

[erics210]

I may still have some, BUT....When I acquired this tank back in Nov 2019, I immediately reset back up. As I had to get the rock and livestock all back in. After the dust settles I noticed HUGE HUGE amounts of all sized vermatids.
What I did was. Scraped the overflows and plumbing and sucked all that out of the tank as it settled to the bottom of the compartment. Then....one little section at a time...I removed all the rock quickly and with a paint scraper just scraped the tubes to break em up, and plunged I to a bin as a rise and back in the went. So over a week or so I manually removed 95+. And added a wrasse. I probably still have them, but not a nuisance like before. I am sure you could do the scraping in place. Was just a way to break em up to allow fish to get at them.

 

[erics210]

And as far as heaters powerhead racks etc. Quick 10-15 minute citric acid bath and they wipe right off.

 

[MadReefer]

Took the one rock and in a bucket. Picked up some bumblebees and waiting on glue to arrive.

 

[NJTaxMan]

And as far as heaters powerhead racks etc. Quick 10-15 minute citric acid bath and they wipe right off.

If you are doing a citric acid bath that is gonna kill everything anyway..why not just boil the rock for a few min? Serious question.

 

[diana a]

Never boil or heat reef rock.

 

[MadReefer]

If you are doing a citric acid bath that is gonna kill everything anyway..why not just boil the rock for a few min? Serious question.

One rock has no coral the other does. Will soak the one in vinegar and manually remove and glue the other. I cannot get all the rock out to manually remove.

 

[Haus]

I’ve always had vermetids....used to crack those I could reach for the wrasse to take care of, stopped that and never got too many again. My wrasse died a few months back and no issues. Maybe the falco hawkfish keeps them in check, or the tubes are empty from the wrasse cleaning them all out before it died. I’d rarely see the mucus in the past but it’s been a long while.

 

[erics210]

If you are doing a citric acid bath that is gonna kill everything anyway..why not just boil the rock for a few min? Serious question.

I just meant the equipment. I see many vermatid shells and Coraline on his powerhead. A quick bath in citric acid with the powerhead on and wipes clean.

When I suggested removing and scraping rockwork, I never meant to imply any dipping, acid bath or boiling whatsoever.
Just a quick manual removal. I used a scraper for clay sculpting. Looks like a metal band on the end of a stick. See pic. Just something to scrape off the shells near the base and rinse. Again. I know I didn't get them all, but made a huge impact.


***Boiling and even brushing many corals off of live rock.
There are many horrible stories of people doing this and either dying, close calls, or other health issues.