Vermetid snails... here we go...

[danromero87]

So to be completely honest I was oblivious to the severity of this pest. I knew I had "something" and didn't mind it in the beginning because they did a hell of a job cleaning the sand. The tank has been up and running for over a year and being that its next to my bed holds my personal prized corals. Nothing crazy fancy, just ones that I personally like the most out of my two tanks. After realizing the infestation, I did some research and found out that they are vermetid snail. Well... like I'm sure you all know they are a pain to get rid of. I am weighing my options right now. I know people have used super glue, bubble bee snails, and or manual labor. I have even read on a forum to try and use coral snow... For me the best course of action seems to be to tear down the tank and scrub the rocks with a hydrochloric acid solution. I just wanted to see what people have done to eradicate this pest..

 

[dabob79]

I used a Yellow Corris Wrasse and manual labor. I used a butter knife and crushed all that I could and the wrasse took care of the rest.


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[ReefsandGeeks]

I haven't heard of many others doing it, but when I added a couple of urchins to my tank, they chewed away at the tubes and either ate or destroyed all accessible vermentide snails in my tank in a matter of days. I was astonished. They cleared off my rocks completely of snails, as well as other algae. Took a while for the ones in tight spaces to die off ,but I've been vermentide snail free for a good 2 years now with almost no manual effort on my part. My rocks all used to look like urchins they had so many on them, and I'd have to break a bunch off any time I grabbed a rock just so I could get a hold of the rocks.

Before that I tried manual removal, but they always came back. I didn't add the urchins to attack the snails, but was presently surprised when I looked at the tank and they were disappearing. I've kept those couple of urchins since and the snails have never returned.

 

[steallife904]

what type of Urchins? I have 1 tuxedo urchin. Wondering if he has eaten any?

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

Just a normal pincushin urchin. I have a purple one, maybe 2.5-3" and a white one around 2". I know the purple one ate them. Not sure if the white one does also, as the purple had them all gone before I got the white.

 

[biecacka]

I could see the urchin eating hem if they are in his path. :lol: not sure if he would hunt hem down for a food source but I could definitely see anything in his way getting eaten.

Corey