Vermatids

[MadReefer]

My plan is use a syringe with peroxide and inject the tubes with it. Then crush the tubes, cover area in glue and rinse. I knew will always have a few but not they are popping through coral.
The powerheads are not mine; knock wood so far they are clean.

 

[Rjmul]

My plan is use a syringe with peroxide and inject the tubes with it. Then crush the tubes, cover area in glue and rinse. I knew will always have a few but not they are popping through coral.
The powerheads are not mine; knock wood so far they are clean.

Just go after 5-10 a day. You'll get ahead of it. Kalk paste might work too. I wouldn't use peroxide or kalk on say 100 vermstids in a day. Pace it out

 

[NJTaxMan]

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.

I didnt mean to imply anything. I just see this response on R2R over and overagain..use a Citric Acid bath and was asking out of pure curiosity as opposed to trying to one up anyone. I coudl see poisoning with Zoas and Palys..but my assumption would be that I already remove anything that should be boiled anyway. I am not one of those that need the disclaimer of not taking baths with toasters

 

[MadReefer]

Well I added more sand and started gluing the vermatid snails. I have way more than I thought. Good news the bumblebee snails were eating them but will need to many.
Guess I will be tossing rock and going with dry. Some vermatids are in between coral so need to drag what I can.

This does suck.

 

[ole farny]

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

so i've had vermetids for a number of years and they are one of several reasons i'm currently working on a reboot of my tank. i'm not sure what i'm going to do to address them yet. i've tried manual removal before and it provides some relief, but they do seem to eventually come back. there are just too many places that they can hide in rocks and equipment and i feel like i'll never be able to get them all.

i have some absolutely gorgeous rock that i love, a lot of pukani covered in purple, pinks and orange algae, so i really don't want to get rid of it and start from scratch, which is why i may end up trying a second attempt at manual removal. i also hate the idea of starting over with dry rock and all the nasty/ugly that comes with that, or shelling out big bucks for fresh, premium cured live rock.

after reading in the guide above that it was suggested it might be possible to starve them out, i was wondering if any one has tried this yet? i'm thinking maybe even remove the rocks from the system entirely and let them go practically fallow. wouldn't that likely kill my bacteria in the process, and probably the coralline too, so maybe a moot point after all. or could coralline and nitrifying bacteria survive with decent light and some "dirty" tank water, while the vermetids starve?

just wondering aloud i guess, but maybe someone has tried this or something similar and has some experience to relay. good luck to everyone with a dog in this fight.

 

[Rjmul]

so i've had vermetids for a number of years and they are one of several reasons i'm currently working on a reboot of my tank. i'm not sure what i'm going to do to address them yet. i've tried manual removal before and it provides some relief, but they do seem to eventually come back. there are just too many places that they can hide in rocks and equipment and i feel like i'll never be able to get them all.

i have some absolutely gorgeous rock that i love, a lot of pukani covered in purple, pinks and orange algae, so i really don't want to get rid of it and start from scratch, which is why i may end up trying a second attempt at manual removal. i also hate the idea of starting over with dry rock and all the nasty/ugly that comes with that, or shelling out big bucks for fresh, premium cured live rock.

after reading in the guide above that it was suggested it might be possible to starve them out, i was wondering if any one has tried this yet? i'm thinking maybe even remove the rocks from the system entirely and let them go practically fallow. wouldn't that likely kill my bacteria in the process, and probably the coralline too, so maybe a moot point after all. or could coralline and nitrifying bacteria survive with decent light and some "dirty" tank water, while the vermetids starve?

just wondering aloud i guess, but maybe someone has tried this or something similar and has some experience to relay. good luck to everyone with a dog in this fight.

These things are designed to live in dark holes, and survive on a chance of detritus I don't think you can starve them out. Just try manual removal for 30 days and see what happens. Just remember, some people pay people to maintain their tanks. Sometimes we have to get out hands dirty and work at it a little bit

so i've had vermetids for a number of years and they are one of several reasons i'm currently working on a reboot of my tank. i'm not sure what i'm going to do to address them yet. i've tried manual removal before and it provides some relief, but they do seem to eventually come back. there are just too many places that they can hide in rocks and equipment and i feel like i'll never be able to get them all.

i have some absolutely gorgeous rock that i love, a lot of pukani covered in purple, pinks and orange algae, so i really don't want to get rid of it and start from scratch, which is why i may end up trying a second attempt at manual removal. i also hate the idea of starting over with dry rock and all the nasty/ugly that comes with that, or shelling out big bucks for fresh, premium cured live rock.

after reading in the guide above that it was suggested it might be possible to starve them out, i was wondering if any one has tried this yet? i'm thinking maybe even remove the rocks from the system entirely and let them go practically fallow. wouldn't that likely kill my bacteria in the process, and probably the coralline too, so maybe a moot point after all. or could coralline and nitrifying bacteria survive with decent light and some "dirty" tank water, while the vermetids starve?

just wondering aloud i guess, but maybe someone has tried this or something similar and has some experience to relay. good luck to everyone with a dog in this fight.

These things are designed to live in dark holes, and survive on a chance of detritus I don't think you can starve them out. Just try manual removal for 30 or 60 days and see what happens. Just remember, some people pay people to maintain their tanks. Sometimes we have to get out hands dirty and work at it a little bit

 

[MadReefer]

so i've had vermetids for a number of years and they are one of several reasons i'm currently working on a reboot of my tank. i'm not sure what i'm going to do to address them yet. i've tried manual removal before and it provides some relief, but they do seem to eventually come back. there are just too many places that they can hide in rocks and equipment and i feel like i'll never be able to get them all.

i have some absolutely gorgeous rock that i love, a lot of pukani covered in purple, pinks and orange algae, so i really don't want to get rid of it and start from scratch, which is why i may end up trying a second attempt at manual removal. i also hate the idea of starting over with dry rock and all the nasty/ugly that comes with that, or shelling out big bucks for fresh, premium cured live rock.

after reading in the guide above that it was suggested it might be possible to starve them out, i was wondering if any one has tried this yet? i'm thinking maybe even remove the rocks from the system entirely and let them go practically fallow. wouldn't that likely kill my bacteria in the process, and probably the coralline too, so maybe a moot point after all. or could coralline and nitrifying bacteria survive with decent light and some "dirty" tank water, while the vermetids starve?

just wondering aloud i guess, but maybe someone has tried this or something similar and has some experience to relay. good luck to everyone with a dog in this fight.

This is what I have done so far.

1) Pull easy to access rock and cover the tube opening with crazy glue / reef glue.
2) The ones I couldn't pull I took a syringe with 3% peroxide and stuck it as far down the tube as possible and injected it.
3) Does 1ml peroxide per 10g water twice a week. The article talks about Reef Snow but peroxide clears the water too.
4) Picked up ten Bumblebee snails. They do help but you need many more.
4) Cut back feeding to every other day.

This has reduced them but I cannot access the back where I do see webs. Hoping to starve these out. If I have a few fine but I don't want to be over run.

They don't call me Madreefer for nothing.....

 

[nightmarepl]

This is what I have done so far.

1) Pull easy to access rock and cover the tube opening with crazy glue / reef glue.
2) The ones I couldn't pull I took a syringe with 3% peroxide and stuck it as far down the tube as possible and injected it.
3) Does 1ml peroxide per 10g water twice a week. The article talks about Reef Snow but peroxide clears the water too.
4) Picked up ten Bumblebee snails. They do help but you need many more.
4) Cut back feeding to every other day.

This has reduced them but I cannot access the back where I do see webs. Hoping to starve these out. If I have a few fine but I don't want to be over run.

They don't call me Madreefer for nothing.....

i was also thinking since they are snails aka invertebrates if you remove all the corals and such off your rock couldnt you just dip them in copper for like 30 minutes?

 

[MadReefer]

i was also thinking since they are snails aka invertebrates if you remove all the corals and such off your rock couldnt you just dip them in copper for like 30 minutes?

Not as easy as it sounds. I have coral where the vermatids are in between or burrowing up through caps, pavona, etc.
I think you would kill all beneficial bacteria on the rock and then you need to remove the copper from the rock.

 

[ole farny]

This is what I have done so far.

1) Pull easy to access rock and cover the tube opening with crazy glue / reef glue.
2) The ones I couldn't pull I took a syringe with 3% peroxide and stuck it as far down the tube as possible and injected it.
3) Does 1ml peroxide per 10g water twice a week. The article talks about Reef Snow but peroxide clears the water too.
4) Picked up ten Bumblebee snails. They do help but you need many more.
4) Cut back feeding to every other day.

This has reduced them but I cannot access the back where I do see webs. Hoping to starve these out. If I have a few fine but I don't want to be over run.

They don't call me Madreefer for nothing.....

thanks for the details, that seems like a pretty good plan.

in the past, mrs. farney and i removed every rock in the tank except for the bottom ones burried in the sand bed and we physically removed every snail we could see with bone cutters and tweezers. on the rocks we pulled out and on the ones still in the tank both. even though we spent the better part of a day doing it, i doubt we got them all as some are deep in crevices and others blend in real well with the rock. we kept removing any we saw for the next week or so.

i'm not real clear on their life cycle, but it must include spray and pray and i don't know how you'd spot the larvae/young or eliminate them if they are in the first few days after fertilization, but maybe bumble bees would help with that. we did not use any of those.

within 6 months they were back and soon irritating corals again with the mucus nets. not sure i want to try that again or toss my rock either, so putting it in a tub by itself without feeding and let it go to see if it starves them out may be my next attempt. ideally i'd like to keep the rock as live as possible while i try this, but i'm thinking that might not be possible. plus, no idea if this would even work. if they can feed on dissolved organics in the water, its going to fail or take way longer than it may be worth. probably best to just dry the rock out for a month and cure it all over again.

 

[MadReefer]

One rock I was able to get out had at least 2 dozen that I could easily see. I soaked it a bucket of vinegar for a week and they all crawled out and dead on the bottom.
I do hear you, don't want to pull all my rock and get new starting a cycle. Not mention I would lose many corals because i will have to slice what I can salvage.

 

[Rueric]

I’ve debated for a long time on how to address my vermetid snail issues.. I think there are two different kinds. Large and small. If you have the large ones, those might be easier to maintain, the small ones I believe are just too many. You’ll never eradicate it.
Sadly, there are no natural predators to these, they were so unsightly in my tank. I opted to go with the nuclear option.
Nuking a tank that’s been established for 4 years was a tough choice. But I chose a restart and an opportunity to completely redo my scape.
Going forward, I’m very diligent about keeping those things out of my tank.

 

[MadReefer]

UPDATE:
I stopped dosing peroxide last week and so far don't see vermatid webs. I'm sure there are some but much improvement. Did a total of 4 doses in 2 weeks which was done 3 to 4 days a part.

Downside is I believe my Bubble coral didn't like the peroxide because the Pearl one has closed up, only about 2 bubbles. The green one will not extend as big as it used to.

It stinks losing a coral but I won't have to breakdown at this point.

 

[Salted]

UPDATE:
I'm sure there are some but much improvement.

Then why stop dosing? Some is too many, do you want to be back at square one over run again in 6 months? You were about to break the tank down over this. Hit it a few more times so you feel confident you've wiped them out.

 

[ole farny]

maybe drop some reef roids of phyto in there just to see if they are still alive. or maybe the peroxide takes out the mucus nets. i forget which but one of them really seemed to get them in feed mode.

 

[eholceker]

UPDATE:
I stopped dosing peroxide last week and so far don't see vermatid webs. I'm sure there are some but much improvement. Did a total of 4 doses in 2 weeks which was done 3 to 4 days a part.

Downside is I believe my Bubble coral didn't like the peroxide because the Pearl one has closed up, only about 2 bubbles. The green one will not extend as big as it used to.

It stinks losing a coral but I won't have to breakdown at this point.

how much peroxide are you using? It’s pretty safe to use if done properly and can be used long term. its basically like ozone. 1ml per 8 gallons is a pretty safe starting dose daily.

 

[MadReefer]

I did 1ml per 10g. So 8ml 4 times in 2 weeks.

 

[MadReefer]

Then why stop dosing? Some is too many, do you want to be back at square one over run again in 6 months? You were about to break the tank down over this. Hit it a few more times so you feel confident you've wiped them out.

I have read long term peroxide dosing is not good. Many opinions on this and what is meant by long term. Since my LPS seem to have a poor reaction and did not see webs decided to stop.

 

[eholceker]

I have read long term peroxide dosing is not good. Many opinions on this and what is meant by long term. Since my LPS seem to have a poor reaction and did not see webs decided to stop.

The reaction is probably from other things dying in the tank such as microscopic algea, cyano, and dino's. Also possible from an increase in water clarity from the peroxide.

 

[MadReefer]

True. Here is a pic of the trio bubbles. The pink is a micro bubble.