Vermetid Snails killing my corals Help please!!

When I have dipped rocks with colonies it's been for 10 minutes following 2 fresh sweet rinses in 2 different containers. I actually lost a melonarous wrasse the first time because he was picking the rock's afterwards. I remember a thread somewhere on here where a guy was doing Bayer dips once a week for sometime and got really sick. It took him and his doctors some time time to figure out what was happening. It is a poison and my belief is that soaking it for a long period of time a day, weeks,ext can't be good. I would think that it would be like any other body of water that has been polluted for a time and how long it takes to be cleaned up. This is just my guess.

I sayso I am sorry to hear about your wife as well. That has to be really rough. I wish nothing but the best for you and you wife.
 
Thanks for the kind words
We are keeping positive so far..
About the rocks...
That is my concern leaching for long time
 
following along because I am at the end of my rope as well. have been thinking about adding a toby puffer as I read they will eat them but concerned about what else they will eat!
 
Hi Steve,
Melanurus wrasse didn't work for me..
He is a gorgeous fish. But it doesn't touch the pests, Toby puffer another great color fish I did try to starveso.he can pick those snails...but... he ate all the corals but the pests
Yellow wrasses. Not working...
At least all the above are not working in my tank...
This is the reason I'm leaning towards the Bayer
 
Bayer will not work. I restarted my tank a year ago, and dipped everything that was transferred over that had some of these guys on it in a strong bayer solution with a powerhead. I manually removed all I could find, and dipped everything. Started with all new equipment, all new dry rock and sand. I kept my coral on egg crate stands in the new tank for months, and monitored them for vermetids popping back up, which they did. I steadily removed all I found, and eventually one rock got a bunch on it seemingly overnight ( not really, but didnt take long). I took that rock out, dipped in muriatic, and replaced. Fine for a few months, no other issues. Kept inspecting pieces that had a few pop up every now and then. Eventually I thought I got them all and quit monitoring. A month or so later, I noticed one on my main rock structure, then another... Etc. On every rock and a couple on my overflow.

Summary, bayer dips aren't the answer.

Good news, though! I posted this in another thread, but it appears the dewormer fenbendazole kills them, and even better news, it can be used as an in tank treatment if done properly, and with certain precautions.

Fenbendazole has been used for long time to kill hydroids in seahorse tanks. I stumbled on a relatively new thread on another forum that mentioned it being used as an in tank (reef) treatment foe hydroids and had a great side effect of killing vermetids. Reportedly killed all he had.

Caveats: kills other snails and starfish, some corals like xenia, gsp, gorgs,bristle worms. Zoas are said to be fine, fish are unaffected, sps, lps are fine. It takes several months to purge the system and be safe for snails and starfish again, but if it rids the tank of vermetids, that's a pretty decent trade off.

Google fenbendazole kills vermetids
 
pisanoal said:
Bayer will not work. I restarted my tank a year ago, and dipped everything that was transferred over that had some of these guys on it in a strong bayer solution with a powerhead. I manually removed all I could find, and dipped everything. Started with all new equipment, all new dry rock and sand. I kept my coral on egg crate stands in the new tank for months, and monitored them for vermetids popping back up, which they did. I steadily removed all I found, and eventually one rock got a bunch on it seemingly overnight ( not really, but didnt take long). I took that rock out, dipped in muriatic, and replaced. Fine for a few months, no other issues. Kept inspecting pieces that had a few pop up every now and then. Eventually I thought I got them all and quit monitoring. A month or so later, I noticed one on my main rock structure, then another... Etc. On every rock and a couple on my overflow.

Summary, bayer dips aren't the answer.
Click to expand...



I'm sorry Bayer didn't work for you.

I was able to use Bayer successfully. Here's how I did it.

I sterilized everything including rock with bleach and let it dry, vinegar washed and dried out the rock again, fragged the corals making sure to cut out any snails that had been surrounded or grown over by coral (I only kept live coral, no skeleton), thoroughly Bayer dipped all coral and placed them in a holding tank with completely new water, being sure not to cross contaminate.

I started my tank up all over again and I am now vermited free.

Bayer most likely does not work on adult vermetids in their tubes. However, I do believe it works on the earlier stages of life. The stage that cannot be seen with the naked eye. I believe it is possible to transfer baby microscopic vermetids on anything wet. So it is very important to avoid cross contamination.

It was a ton of work starting over, but honestly if I had started over long ago, I would've saved myself even more work. I manually removed thousands over several years trying to eradicate them.

I wish you guys luck.
 
Last edited:
Mr. Brooks said:
I'm sorry Bayer didn't work for you.

I was able to use Bayer successfully. Here's how I did it.

I sterilized everything including rock with bleach and let it dry, vinegar washed and dried out the rock again, fragged the corals making sure to cut out any snails that had been surrounded or grown over by coral (I only kept live coral, no skeleton), thoroughly Bayer dipped all coral and placed them in a holding tank with completely new water, being sure not to cross contaminate.

I started my tank up all over again and I am now vermited free.

Bayer most likely does not work on adult vermetids in their tubes. However, I do believe it works on the earlier stages of life. The stage that cannot be seen with the naked eye. I believe it is possible to transfer baby microscopic vermetids on anything wet. So it is very important to avoid cross contamination.

It was a ton of work starting over, but honestly if I had started over long ago, I would've saved myself even more work. I manually removed thousands over several years trying to eradicate them.

I wish you guys luck.
Click to expand...
That is exactly what I did. The vermetids grew back on frags that were vermetid free. It does not work on any life stage. You got lucky and did not transfer any. I scrutinized those pieces several times and did not find any adults before dipping and transferring.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk
 
This may not be helpful for all, but a predator makes short work of them. I added a clown trigger and he does not touch the corals but makes short work of ALL inverts. The only inverts I had were a sand sifting start fish that has been in one of my systems for over a year, and vermetid snails. He ate 4 of the 5 legs of the star and then never proceeded to bother him again. He is slowly healing and regrowing his legs. The snails were mostly gone in a week. I still have one or two pop up, but they do not last long.
 
Isayso said:
How long have you had the clown?
Sometimes is too early to see it nipping at corals
Click to expand...

I have had this guy for only a couple of months. The tank he came from also had corals and he didn't touch any of them. I keep him well fed, and in between the feedings he hunts for the vermetids. Haha he also loves nori, go figure.
 
I have always loved puffers, with the exception of the dwarf ones, I always see them go after corals and nems. I read a few accounts of people keeping CT long term (5+ years) with no issues with corals. Inverts and their tank mates were another story.
 
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