Fish needed that will eat Vermetid Snails

[hotelbravo]

I have hundreds if not thousands of Vermetid Snails in my tank i havent really noticed until i was redoing rockwork and couldnt find a safe spot for my fingers and got to looking around and they are covering everything including the powerheads and returns. they are even in the drain hoses, skimmer neck, and sump area. these guys are EVERYWHERE!!!!


i have heard that some copperbands will eat them but not sure what else will eat them.. i have xenia i dont want eaten but if its the price i have to pay then so be it.

any suggestions???

 

[SaltyDoug]

Don't puffers usually eat snails?

 

[jraker]

I have heard that raccoon butterflies will eat anything. Puffers might also be another option.

 

[hotelbravo]

Just so I'm clear I am talking about the snails that live in hard calcified tubes and spew out webs to catch matter in the water column puffer fish will actually eat those?

 

[A sea K]

Puffers certainly have the dental hardware for the job but who knows. Came across this thread earlier today, http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1927977

 

[MuShu]

I have a Valentini puffer and while he ate all the little tube worms on the rocks, the vermetid snails have been multiplying.

 

[ThRoewer]

A Chelmon (CBB) may harass them enough to keep them from spreading into the open. Possibly there are also some wrasses, triggers, puffers or filefish that go after them, but I doubt that fish will be particularly successful in controlling them. For that you may need predatory inverts like snails, sea stars, crabs, ... something that may work in a FOWLR tank, but not so much in a reef tank with corals and inverts.

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[johnike]

I've read that Bumblebee snails eat them.

 

[hotelbravo]

I've read that Bumblebee snails eat them.

Interesting, my LFS has those snails in their display tank last time I was cleaning it for them they asked if I wanted them. I turned them down but maybe I should go get a bunch and try them out

 

[jmicky41]

My tank has/had them. Seems the population goes through boom and bust cycles. If I feed more frozen foods like Rods or Larrys the numbers increase. If more pellets and plankton are fed, the numbers wane. During my last clean up, I smashed all that I saw and their numbers seem to be in check.

 

[shred5]

I do not know of much that would dent them.. They populate very fast and die fast, it depends on food, If you feed a lot of fine plankton type foods or blender mush you will have them. They die or starve fast. Their shells stay around forever though even when dead. Stop giving them food and in months they will die.

 

[hotelbravo]

But with thousands of their sharp Skeletons laying around I would have to take every rock out to manually remove them. Unless there is something that will eat them...

 

[Flippers4pups]

I'm not aware of any natural predators. If broken, they seem to multiply. As others have said, they go through a boom and then die off. You could glue their opening shut, but in large numbers, that becomes impractical.

Given enough time their numbers should decline. If not and they encroach on corals, drastic measures may be needed. ( Removing rock, acid bath......etc.)

 

[hotelbravo]

They are already encroaching all corals. They are eeevveerywhere

 

[shred5]

But with thousands of their sharp Skeletons laying around I would have to take every rock out to manually remove them. Unless there is something that will eat them...

Nothing is going to eat their skeleton. Maybe a urchin might chew a few down.. Anyway I know how much of a pain they can be.. I had one tank that under the rocks every inch was covered, they can hurt like hell...

 

[ThRoewer]

I'm not aware of any natural predators. ...

Only apex predators have no natural enemies (aside from diseases). There is most certainly something that eats them or they would not hide in the dark or bother to build a protective tube. Just because we don't know it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Also, a quick search on Google Scholar brought up this interesting article:

Guard crabs alleviate deleterious effects of vermetid snails on a branching coral

It seems Trapezia or Tetralia crabs (Acropora/Pocillopora/Stylophora crabs) keep the snails away from their corals.

 

[scooter31707]

Don't know how true it is, but my LFS said that the Halichoeres wrasses eat them.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Only apex predators have no natural enemies (aside from diseases). There is most certainly something that eats them or they would not hide in the dark or bother to build a protective tube. Just because we don't know it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Also, a quick search on Google Scholar brought up this interesting article:

Guard crabs alleviate deleterious effects of vermetid snails on a branching coral

It seems Trapezia or Tetralia crabs (Acropora/Pocillopora/Stylophora crabs) keep the snails away from their corals.

That's great for the SPS, but what about the remaining tank?

 

[2000se]

following this.

 

[becon776]

Everyone of thwse threads is a dead end

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