Vermetid Snail ELIMINATION - In tank Treatments
- Thread starter pisanoal
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dkeller_nc
New member
This may well be "correlation without causation", but I thought I'd note this just in case someone else has a similar experience. I used to have these irritating buggers in my 50g reef. I think I've the type that don't reproduce all that fast because they don't seem to reach plague proportions, but I could nevertheless count 10 to 15 at any one time in my rock.
That changed when I brought home a pair of leopard wrasses about 2 years ago (in this case, ornate leopard wrasses - macropharyngodon ornatus). I never gave it much thought until I read through this thread last night, but the vermetid population in the tank crashed shortly after adding the wrasses. There are still a few in the sump and overflow, but zero in the tank itself.
That changed when I brought home a pair of leopard wrasses about 2 years ago (in this case, ornate leopard wrasses - macropharyngodon ornatus). I never gave it much thought until I read through this thread last night, but the vermetid population in the tank crashed shortly after adding the wrasses. There are still a few in the sump and overflow, but zero in the tank itself.
LobsterOfJustice
Recovering Detritophobe
My max dose was 2.8mg/gal. Right now I just finished dose 2 of a planned 3 doses 2 weeks apart at 2.6 mg/gal. This last time, I stirred up a bunch of detritus in the sump when I dosed, hoping maybe the vermetids would throw out their webs and accidentally catch some of the fenbendazole particulates as well.
I can't really say on the snails, as I don't keep any. That's another one of my issues, I have some kind of opportunistically predatory whelk that reproduces and will kill any other snails I try to put in the system... I can say that this dose is enough to adversely affect starfish... they will either completely shut down and go dormant, or fall apart.
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I can't really say on the snails, as I don't keep any. That's another one of my issues, I have some kind of opportunistically predatory whelk that reproduces and will kill any other snails I try to put in the system... I can say that this dose is enough to adversely affect starfish... they will either completely shut down and go dormant, or fall apart.
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McPuff
New member
I tried the bumblebee snails... and they have been noticeably effective! There are several areas where I've noticed a massive difference pre- and post-snail addition. Even the small shells are gone. Only added a dozen so I think I'll get about 30 more of them and just give them some time. It seems they only go for the small ones but it's possible I just haven't noticed the larger ones being consumed. Regardless, the large vermetids are easy enough to manually remove.
So like I wrote earlier, had a friend with the same experience. I am confirming the same behavior from the bumblebee snails. They do work! Biological control, no need for chemicals, remove them if they become a problem for any other organisms (easy enough). Worth giving them a try and sharing your experience. Note: I added them about two months ago or more. So you have to be patient!
One thing that I've notice with my tank is that the vermatid snail population has stalled when I took my auto feeder offline. I have pellets in there and fed 2 times a day plus frozen food. Now that I'm no longer feeding pellets no new vermatids. Will only be putting it back online for extended absences.
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ThRoewer
New member
Do the bumblebee snails go only after the vermetid snails or also after tubeworms and other snails? I would really hate if they kill all the tubeworms I have in my rocks and especially if they would go after my Christmas-tree worms. And I would also not appreciate if they decimate my Trochus and Stromatella snails.
There are actually a few snails that are specialized in going after the large vermetid snails: Muricid snails consume the vermetid gastropod, Dendropoma maximum, and use empty shells for reproduction
Though I doubt these are at this point readily found in the trade.
McPuff
New member
I have not seen the bumblebee snails go after any other types of snails. They are MUCH smaller in my tank so I don't know if that matters or not. I assume they will go after some other fan worms, etc. Maybe not. I'll have to check those as I know I've got some patches of those tiny fan worms, etc.
The bumblebee snails are super slow. I rarely see them move at all. Guessing the larger snails would easily escape them or at least not get killed by them.
The bumblebee snails are super slow. I rarely see them move at all. Guessing the larger snails would easily escape them or at least not get killed by them.
ThRoewer
New member
One LFS told me that bumblebees go after corals. Did you notice them do that?
In my tank, the vermetid snails are likely the better food source because I have the rocks covered with little ones and I'm just starting with corals.
BTW, has anyone ever tried small puffers like the figure-8 puffer (Dichotomyctere ocellatus)? Are they going after vermetid snails?
ThRoewer
New member
I would think Petco, PetSmart, LiveAquaria, or many LFS with freshwater department might have them.
They are usually sold as freshwater or brackish fish but they are actually saltwater fish.
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McPuff
New member
No, I've never seen them on a coral. Haven't heard of them eating corals before either but I suppose it's possible if they don't have the preferred food source... possibly someone bought them because they liked the look but didn't actually have vermetids in the tank.
ThRoewer
New member
Well, I'm gonna give bumblebees a shot.
Right now I certainly have far more vermetids than corals in my tank. I fear most of the vermetids in my tank are babies of the really large kind, so I want to fight them while they are still small. I actually spent a good deal of time to go over the rocks and snap all the large ones off but the small ones were just too many and it too secluded spaces.
McPuff
New member
Correct. I haven't seen them go for the large vermetids and I assume they won't unless supply of small guys becomes quite low. Good thing is that the large ones are easy to kill by hand and are not as numerous. I believe they are a different species.
ThRoewer
New member
They are Ceraesignum maximum (formerly Dendropoma maximum) and by my experience they can get quite numerous and are not as easy to kill as you may think, at least not in a fully stocked tank.
It seems they are affected by a pathogen that kills them very targeted. Unfortunately it's nothing you could easily get.
I've employed a few bumble bee snails for the little ones and plan on training a couple of figure 8 puffers to go after the large ones.
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