Vermetid Snails killing my corals Help please!!

Ok... so i have had a strict philosophy over the last 8 yrs of reefing NO CRABS! The other day randomly and for no real reason at all I added about 20 blue leg hermits, and 3 emerald crabs. These guys have been going nonstop. All the the web "trash" has been picked clean off the rocks. I almost thought i saw a emerald picking at one of the tubes.
So i am gonna go ahead and put 15 more in and 5 scarlet and 1 more emerald. Lets see. Maybe these guys got a foothold bc i didnt have and hermits in cuc for a decade.

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definitely I will be following your steps like a shadow :)..
please keep us posted.. we cant give al up because of these pests
 
Ok so here is the update. In addition to dealing with this pest. I am also now i. A house that i will likely be at for a long time so i am really getting tank in shape. So there a ALOT of changes happening.

Ok blue legs and emeralds in a couple weeks ago. My rockk is cleaner than it been in years. I swear that the vermet8ds are not as active as before. The crabs have eaten all the old webs / detritus on rock. It has caused a nutrient influx in tank and so red slime has reared its head. Refreshed gfo and rox carbon. However i do remember somebody saying thay red slime took care of the vermetid problem. It smothered them out. Either way thungs are changing for the better it seems
 
Nice to hear.
But do you actually see the vermetid snail
Declining?? Not believe active doesn't necessary mean that are Dying..
 
Here is what has happened these crabs have PICKED CLEAN all the old webs and detritus on rocks... which of course flooded tanks with new nutrients. Enter red slime. This has COVERED the rocks. RIP vermetids. We will see. I have never had a cyanno outbreak. But i know when i want to end it its easy with chemiclean. Which is a hell of alot better than vermetids.

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Update red slime gone but veremtid still there :-/ i prob should have let the red slime go longer. Never had red slime, never used any chemicals in tank been reefing for over 17 yrs. I will say chemiclean is AMAZING wow. Dont hesitate to use this product for red slime.

Back to vermetids..... i did buy 'bone shears' from brs and the are HANDY. make short work of dealing with tge bigger tubes.
I cant say that the crabs kills the vermetids but they certainly annoy them and consistently steal their webs and cleanup the leftover ones. Which makes me happy. I love my rock and tank looks beautiful right now. I jist wish there was a bettrr answer orther than buy new rock and start cycling it or put some super non reef fish into my system

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Interesting observation while working with some rock. I had taken some rock out of my tank and put it in my sump, then was ready to remove it alltogether. I dropped it strait into a saltwater bath and dosed a high dose of LaCL to soak up any phosphates in the water to help leach any phosphate out of the rock as fast as I could. I did it in saltwater as I wanted too re-use the rock immediately and not "Kill It" just use high doses of LaCL to leach phosphate as fast as possible. After a few treatments I noticed the Vermetid snails stopped webbing when dosing LaCL. A little further reading confirmed many people reporting the death of most filter feeders when there was high levels of sustained LaCL precipitate. Since I dosed heavily and frequently I would propose repeated heavy exposure to LaCL precipitate may have negative effects on these snails.

Just an observation.
 
One fish I have known to wipe out a vermetid population is the purple tang, but ONLY in a large-enough tank.
 
Vermetid snails are underrated. I think they are the worst. I've had them in all my tanks and they eventually take over. Overtime they grow inside the return tubing impairing flow. I just started another tank about 6 months ago and am paranoid I did not introduce any from my older tank.
 
One fish I have known to wipe out a vermetid population is the purple tang, but ONLY in a large-enough tank.

I have a purple tang and I never seen it pick at it.
I also have about 50 hermit and they never seem to do anything either.
 
Fishes are like cats and people---tastes do vary. Mine was voracious and merciless.
 
It may be to early for me to say this but I have been micro scrubbing the tank with nano bubbles for about 2 months now and I have seen a significant decrease in V snail growth. I had a plague in my tank and several web formations feeding at night. now I see almost no web formations and very little new growth. I think the nano bubbles somehow are interfering with the snails feeding capabilities and irritating them. keep my fingers crossed...
 
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