Vermetid Snail ELIMINATION - In tank Treatments

that is a tough trail mu friend. heart goes out to you.
i always say that when you hear me *****ing and stressing about my tank then that means my life is pretty good... bc it means all else is ok.
Do what you can and remember the tank is about as close as detail oriented stubborn guys (and gals) can get to meditation. keep it in mind when staring at these little pita's
 
Over the last couple of months I added a coral banded shrimp and 3 emerald crabs. I can't say that I've ever seen them actually ripping apart a vermetid snail but they are always picking at the rock. it seems like the vermetid population almost all gone now.
 
ReefKeeper64 said:
Over the last couple of months I added a coral banded shrimp and 3 emerald crabs. I can't say that I've ever seen them actually ripping apart a vermetid snail but they are always picking at the rock. it seems like the vermetid population almost all gone now.
Click to expand...
Whaat??
You mean gone ?? Bye bye?
If yes that is amazing
 
Interesting read.

My tank and LR is 15+ years old. And after a couple years of neglect, the algae (turf?) and v-snails are outta control. Today, I had some time and decided to pull the rocks for some manual control - complete failure, each rock had hundreds, if not thousands, of v-snails. The task seemed hopeless and I gave up. Nearly every square inch of rock had a dozen of these things.

I don't have a reef, merely a FOWLR tank. So, it seems a CP treatment is the way to go? Besides pods, limpets and assorted worms; there are no invertebrates in the tank. I was considering nuking everything with bleach. But, I hate to loose all the diversity in the tank. This is old Tonga branch and Tonga shelf - stuff you can't get anymore. If CP will get the algae and the V-snails, why not? I have a wet-dry, so ammonia might not be a big issue. The house is going up for sale in the coming months, so it is either sparkling clean tank or no tank at all. My fish are 10-18 years old, so I hate to tear down and re-home them.

Another thing I thought of: what are all these snails eating? How much particulate matter can 3 fish generate? Like I said, I have thousands of these things. I wonder if these things can't feed on dissolved organic matter. I very seldom see any snot nets.
 
Pulling out Rock

Pulling out Rock

I am really frustrated with the vermetid snail invasion. If I get these things under control I'll never put in another plug or rock. I pulled half of my rock out and replaced it with dry rock. (I was afraid of what would happen if I just pulled out all of the rock.) I plan to take out the other half (covered in vermetid snails) and replace that with more dry rock. (maybe add some rock to the sump for more bacteria) I know that there will be vermetids in the tank, but I'll be able to have a fighting chance. I'm changing the food to pellets and dosing potassium permanganate and calcium carbonate. My hope is to cut the food supply enough to eradicate .... If it does not work ---- I'll move everything to a temporary tank, run tap water and acid for a week, and start from scratch.
 
Hi guys , yes its a pain in the neck the local fish store do not have Coral banded shrimp
One of them put it on the order list, if this will take too long I want to use potassium permanganate... I have to find a supplier for that
 
It doesn't really matter what you feed FYI. The fish poop and that will break apart in the water and feed the vermetids. I'm sure it will help, however, to feed foods that are NOT broadcast.

I recently have fed medicated foods (metro, kanaplex) and noticed that the webs were not nearly as numerous. Not sure if the medication irritates them or not. Anecdotal.

Planning to get a couple coral banded shrimp. Will report back. Already have an emerald crab but I rarely see it. May have to get another one. The tank is a 300 so a single emerald won't do too much. But they are quite aggressive to one another when food is limiting.
 
McPuff said:
It doesn't really matter what you feed FYI. The fish poop and that will break apart in the water and feed the vermetids. I'm sure it will help, however, to feed foods that are NOT broadcast.

I recently have fed medicated foods (metro, kanaplex) and noticed that the webs were not nearly as numerous. Not sure if the medication irritates them or not. Anecdotal.

Planning to get a couple coral banded shrimp. Will report back. Already have an emerald crab but I rarely see it. May have to get another one. The tank is a 300 so a single emerald won't do too much. But they are quite aggressive to one another when food is limiting.
Click to expand...
Good luck my friend, please keep us posted
 
feed the fish not the tank

feed the fish not the tank

Isayso said:
Daarnn... have you tried to starve the shrimp??
Click to expand...

I'm not someone that overfeeds. I usually take my time hand feeding each of the fish. When they stop coming to me for food, I stop feeding. (in other words I feed the fish, not the tank)
 
Isayso said:
Whaat??
You mean gone ?? Bye bye?
If yes that is amazing
Click to expand...

Yes, it really is to say the least. Another thing that may have helped is I increased the flow quite a bit a few months ago. The webs those vermetid snails put out don't hold up to the stronger flow now. I think they got hungry and somewhat were starved.

Also, last night I watched an emerald crab as it was picking at the rock. There were a couple of vermetid snail tubes within its path and sure enough, the crab eventually grabbed a snail tube and broke it of the rock. I can't say it was hunting for vermetids in particular but it is an opportunist and took out the snail tube.
 
jmicky41 said:
Interesting read.

My tank and LR is 15+ years old. And after a couple years of neglect, the algae (turf?) and v-snails are outta control. Today, I had some time and decided to pull the rocks for some manual control - complete failure, each rock had hundreds, if not thousands, of v-snails. The task seemed hopeless and I gave up. Nearly every square inch of rock had a dozen of these things.

I don't have a reef, merely a FOWLR tank. So, it seems a CP treatment is the way to go? Besides pods, limpets and assorted worms; there are no invertebrates in the tank. I was considering nuking everything with bleach. But, I hate to loose all the diversity in the tank. This is old Tonga branch and Tonga shelf - stuff you can't get anymore. If CP will get the algae and the V-snails, why not? I have a wet-dry, so ammonia might not be a big issue. The house is going up for sale in the coming months, so it is either sparkling clean tank or no tank at all. My fish are 10-18 years old, so I hate to tear down and re-home them.

Another thing I thought of: what are all these snails eating? How much particulate matter can 3 fish generate? Like I said, I have thousands of these things. I wonder if these things can't feed on dissolved organic matter. I very seldom see any snot nets.
Click to expand...

Those snails are small but worms are usually sizable and could cause a nutrient spike in your system. CP will work but take it slowly. You don't want them to all die off at once. Start with a 10% dose in week 1. Wait another week and add 10% more in week 2 and so on. Pretty soon you will see the vermetids and worms start to die off. Same goes with the algae but not copepods surprisingly. The copepods will be fine.
 
Rtdrumz said:
I have Coral Banded shrimp that allowed the vermetid explosion

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I believe you. If coral banded shrimp or crabs were a 100% answer, this thread wouldn't exist. I have read other posts where coral banded shrimp worked so its not a black or white answer either way. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

I had my first vermited explosion back in 2012 in another tank. At the time I had high nutrients and low flow and the webs were everywhere. The rocks looked spiky as all get out.
 
Reef Safe?

Reef Safe?

ReefKeeper64 said:
Those snails are small but worms are usually sizable and could cause a nutrient spike in your system. CP will work but take it slowly. You don't want them to all die off at once. Start with a 10% dose in week 1. Wait another week and add 10% more in week 2 and so on. Pretty soon you will see the vermetids and worms start to die off. Same goes with the algae but not copepods surprisingly. The copepods will be fine.
Click to expand...

Has this been tested to be safe for mixed reef? Where do I buy CP?
 
No it is not a reef safe treatment. Do not use CP in a tank with inverts you want to keep alive, coral included.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk
 
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