LPS_Blasto
New member
These things have gained a foothold in my tank. Growing on snail shells. Growing on frag racks. They are in my sump. Everywhere.
Any way to get rid of them?
Any way to get rid of them?
Vermetid Snail Invasion
- Thread starter LPS_Blasto
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LPS_Blasto
New member
Anybody?
I find it hard to believe nobody has ever had these things in their tank or knows how to get rid of them. Need help.
I find it hard to believe nobody has ever had these things in their tank or knows how to get rid of them. Need help.
LPS_Blasto
New member
The skimmer in this tank is gigantic. I change 10% - 15% water every week. There's only 1 fish in the tank, and it gets fed once a day, so there shouldn't be a lot of uneaten food.
I've been performing manual removal of the snails. Every couple days I'll get in there and remove or kill at least 20 or 30 of them. Seams they really like to attach to the shells of my snails. Can't figure that one out. I'm taking all the power heads out and give them a thorough cleaning this weekend. Scrape the snails off and run the pumps in a 5g bucket of vinegar for a few hours. Wish I knew how to get rid of all them. It's not that they are a huge problem right now, but I am worried and don't want them to turn into a problem. I can see how they would easily over run a tank in 6 months or a year if left unchecked. Makes me mad because I'm always really careful about hitch hikers. I found 1 vermetid snail on a frag plug that I imported. That was a few months ago and now I have a couple hundred of them. I scraped that snail off the frag and killed it. I thought that would be the end of the problem. Seams that maybe it released babies before I noticed it because I never had any before I saw that one on the frag plug and now there's hundreds. :furious:
I've been performing manual removal of the snails. Every couple days I'll get in there and remove or kill at least 20 or 30 of them. Seams they really like to attach to the shells of my snails. Can't figure that one out. I'm taking all the power heads out and give them a thorough cleaning this weekend. Scrape the snails off and run the pumps in a 5g bucket of vinegar for a few hours. Wish I knew how to get rid of all them. It's not that they are a huge problem right now, but I am worried and don't want them to turn into a problem. I can see how they would easily over run a tank in 6 months or a year if left unchecked. Makes me mad because I'm always really careful about hitch hikers. I found 1 vermetid snail on a frag plug that I imported. That was a few months ago and now I have a couple hundred of them. I scraped that snail off the frag and killed it. I thought that would be the end of the problem. Seams that maybe it released babies before I noticed it because I never had any before I saw that one on the frag plug and now there's hundreds. :furious:
I just read a small part in calfo and fenners book reef invertebrates they say they are completely harmless. I know it doesn't solve your problem but three different times they reference excess nutrients. But you said you have a big skimmer so... I looked for a while before i found any in my 180 but they are there. I'm sure i overfeed my tank but i'm not sure how they are kept in check. Just so we are talking about the same thing they are the ones that never move and build calcium based shells in a protected area right? Really sharp but fragile too.
jayelblock
New member
I feel your pain (literally). One got jammed up under my thumb nail and created an infection that I had to pop with a needle. Totally disgusting.
I also had a pretty large infestation, but got mine under control with manual removal. I'm sure you're already doing this, but if you're not, get a scalpel blade and make sure that you pop the entire base of the snail off the rock. If you're just smashing the tube, that won't kill the snail. After you pop the snails off, they will fall to the sand bed, where they can be vacuumed up. I do this before every water change. I still have quite a few on the underside of rocks where my scalpel blade won't reach, but they are almost gone from the main viewing areas.
good luck
I also had a pretty large infestation, but got mine under control with manual removal. I'm sure you're already doing this, but if you're not, get a scalpel blade and make sure that you pop the entire base of the snail off the rock. If you're just smashing the tube, that won't kill the snail. After you pop the snails off, they will fall to the sand bed, where they can be vacuumed up. I do this before every water change. I still have quite a few on the underside of rocks where my scalpel blade won't reach, but they are almost gone from the main viewing areas.
good luck
mscarpena
New member
If you only have one fish there is a good chance you do not need to feed everyday(depends on fish metabolism) I only feed my fish 2 maybe 3 times per week to keep the nutrient load down. Also these start as little worms then form a shell. Check out chucks addiction bottom of the page for what they look like. A wrasse may eat the worm form of them before they grow a shell.
LPS_Blasto
New member
Yes, these snails are stationary. They build a little spiral shell on a rock or pump or on the back of an astrea snail and then they stay put.
I remove the astrea snails one at a time and scrape their shells with a small flat blade screw driver. I use an old tooth brush to scrape the vermetid snails body off, after I've destroyed the shell.
I really don't think I'm over feeding the fish. The pumps are shut off to avoid blowing the food around the tank. I stand near the tank and put tiny drops of frozen food into the tank. The fish consumes all of the food. There may be a couple tiny pieces that float away, but I stop feeding when the fish quits eating. The feeding regiment usually takes about 10 minutes from start to stop. Then I turn the pumps back on. I am hesitant to reduce feedings to only 2 or 3 times a week. There's a lot of current in the tank and the fish is swimming and fighting that current constantly. I think the fish uses a lot of energy on a daily basis. Tank turnover/flow rate is about 40x per hour. I do have one sheltered spot where the fish sleeps at night. But the only time the fish is in that sheltered spot is at night. during the day the fish is constantly swimming around and being blown about by powerheads or the return lines. The fish is an Ocellate damsel.
Manual removal seams to be keeping them in check for now. I just want to get rid of all them, so will continue. I'm not sure if I'll ever get rid of all them, but I'd be happy to only have a couple in plain site. It just irritates me because I've always been very careful about importing new corals or frags. I'm always careful about importing new live rock. I have a live rock tub that is used to cure rock. But it's not lit and any corals placed in there would likely die.
Anybody got a time machine that will let me roll back about 4 months? I'd skip the frag that I bought. :lol2:
I remove the astrea snails one at a time and scrape their shells with a small flat blade screw driver. I use an old tooth brush to scrape the vermetid snails body off, after I've destroyed the shell.
I really don't think I'm over feeding the fish. The pumps are shut off to avoid blowing the food around the tank. I stand near the tank and put tiny drops of frozen food into the tank. The fish consumes all of the food. There may be a couple tiny pieces that float away, but I stop feeding when the fish quits eating. The feeding regiment usually takes about 10 minutes from start to stop. Then I turn the pumps back on. I am hesitant to reduce feedings to only 2 or 3 times a week. There's a lot of current in the tank and the fish is swimming and fighting that current constantly. I think the fish uses a lot of energy on a daily basis. Tank turnover/flow rate is about 40x per hour. I do have one sheltered spot where the fish sleeps at night. But the only time the fish is in that sheltered spot is at night. during the day the fish is constantly swimming around and being blown about by powerheads or the return lines. The fish is an Ocellate damsel.
Manual removal seams to be keeping them in check for now. I just want to get rid of all them, so will continue. I'm not sure if I'll ever get rid of all them, but I'd be happy to only have a couple in plain site. It just irritates me because I've always been very careful about importing new corals or frags. I'm always careful about importing new live rock. I have a live rock tub that is used to cure rock. But it's not lit and any corals placed in there would likely die.
Anybody got a time machine that will let me roll back about 4 months? I'd skip the frag that I bought. :lol2:
Palting
New member
I have the same problem. Correct me if I'm wrong, but nutrients in the tank does not exclusively refer to what we feed to the fish. It can also mean the pods and microscopic as well as macroscopic critters that grow in our tanks. I have a vermitid snail and a featherduster bloom going on in my tank from this. I have stopped feeding coral food for several weeks now, and all my non-photosynthetic filter feeders, like the chil coral and silk coral, are still thriving and spawning. Unfortunately, so are the undesirable vermitid snails and featherduster pests 
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