How do you get rid of vermatid snails?

[phiber_optikx]

How do you get rid of vermatid snails? They only come out around feeding time and they cover my entire tank in floating "webs...."

[Lynden]

Why exactly do you want rid of them?

 

Rock scrubbing could be an option, but I generally do not advocate such extreme or unnatural treatments for infestations. I can't think of a fish that specializes in predating on them but a benthic trigger might do the job. These may also eat your small inverts and may chew SPS. Soft corals and LPS generally are left alone.

 

Perhaps also an urchin could help?

[jsw]

super glue

[phil_ip]

super glue

+1

[phiber_optikx]

I want to get rid of them because they are COVERING my tank in slime nets. They are so small i can't even find them and the nets are horrible. These pictures are AFTER pulling out most of it. I wouldn't mind it if the nets were small but these are massive nets! I think a 10 hex is too small for a trigger

 

[reefdan]

you can also snap them off the rock. make sure you get them from the base because they'll borrow into the tube

[Chebon]

+1 for the super glue

 

If you can find them (follow the slime trail) put a dab of super glue over the tip. They'll die after a while without being able to feed, then just snap them off at the base.

[phiber_optikx]

I can't find any of them......... Otherwise they would all be in the trash by now I had seen one or two strands occasionally and thought it was odd but since they were gone in a day I never thought too much about it. But today I put in a little bit of Marine Snow for the new duster and tonight they were everywhere! If I can't find them and they continue to be a major nuscense, could I just put all my lr in a hospital tank, dose it heavily with a copper based medication for a few days and then put the lr back in? Or would the lr hold the copper?

[supreme_spork]

I can't find any of them......... Otherwise they would all be in the trash by now I had seen one or two strands occasionally and thought it was odd but since they were gone in a day I never thought too much about it. But today I put in a little bit of Marine Snow for the new duster and tonight they were everywhere! If I can't find them and they continue to be a major nuscense, could I just put all my lr in a hospital tank, dose it heavily with a copper based medication for a few days and then put the lr back in? Or would the lr hold the copper?

 

once copper hits liverock it's toast -- don't do it.

 

vermetids really don't merit such drastic measures IMO -- they're a pain in the ass sometimes, but you can deal with them if you take it slow and use your head. step one: sounds like you should stop using marine snow for now if you saw a dramatic increase in nets when you used it . step two: try and trace the nets to their origins -- eventually you'll find where the nets are originating, and you can slap a dab of super-glue in that area.

 

remember that these things are more of a nuissance than a danger, so don't do anything drastic just because your tank looked gross for a day. watch them over time and learn their habits and patterns and plan a strategy accordingly.

[c est ma]

phiber,

 

I know what you mean about not being able to find the source of the mucous nets, as I have the exact same problem. I am really questioning whether they are due to vermetids, as I have had them as well and they always had an obvious vermetid tube. (I've had both "benign" vermetids--interesting hitchers that don't appear to bother anything; and "irritant" vermetids that, despite my eradication efforts, ultimately killed a candy cane. In both cases I could always find some sort of origin tube by looking hard enough.

 

ATM I can have mucous strings seeming to appear from bare rock. Stare as I might, I can see nothing at the sites from which they seem to emanate. Happily, these do not seem to be annoying other inhabitants, but they are most unsightly and very good at becoming covered with Cyclopeeze when I feed the tank.

 

I've wondered if they could be ctenophores, which can be +/- invisible...but I thought their "fishing lines" were comblike...

 

Anyway, I know what you're saying!

 

--Diane

[tinyreef]

c'est has a point, it could be ctenos. some of the pics seem to have "comb teeth" on the strands but that could be blurring from the picture. ctenos usually are innocuous even in high numbers but relatively easy to eradicate as they reproduce more slowly (ime) than vermetids.

 

i'd vote them off asap. they and valonia are the bane of my tanks. they feed on my very high nutrient waters (super phytoplankton from sunlight) and proliferate like mofos! a few here and there are ok but when they number hundreds on a rock, that's when they're nuisance and scrouge level.

 

true, their mucus webs add to the food pyramid but they compete with other filter feeders (like the duster you have in those pics) and they can impede passage ways within the rockwork preventing fish and other livestock easy transit throughout the rockscape. (<---this is a real significant issue in my current display tank actually)

 

you want to keep one or two and let them grow big? that's ok and sometimes interesting looking, e.g. i have one surrounded by gsp growing like a tower. but imo, nip fresh ones in the bud before they can dominate a tank.

 

either crush the whole shell, chip the snail off, attack manually, etc. i can get very graphic in my methods of control of these vermin snails.

 

btw, i've been pondering about a natural predator but i'm not quite sure of their effectiveness; specifically, CB shrimp. when i kept cbs i hardly noticed any vermetids. in fact, they were always limited to only my sump. but once i removed cbs's from my display the vermetids started "showing up" (based upon the timing correlation in my old logs). i'm not saying that's a real option though becuase it's an untested theory of mine but i figured just to throw it out there. hth

[c est ma]

VERY interesting theory! Don't CB shrimp have some downsides of their own though? (I've never had a shrimp so I have a hard time remembering what I hear about the various species... )

 

-Diane

[knoxvegas]

Bump for more input. I have a horrible vermetid infestation in my pico reef. I spent a lot of time taking out each rock, and eradicated 'most' of them with a dremel tool. However, it is not total, and from my experience they are quick to mulitiply and come back. I supposed I'll try the super glue now that I have a lot of them gone. Curious about the CB's.

[kreegan]

I have vermetids in both my nano and pico. The one in my nano is pretty large. The opening to his tube is about 1/3 of an inch. I don't like the mucus strands at times, but have considered them to be mostly harmless. In what why did they damage your candy cane, Diane? Mine is a few inches away from my candy cane and I don't want it causing any problems.

 

Rich;)

[c est ma]

I have vermetids in both my nano and pico. The one in my nano is pretty large. The opening to his tube is about 1/3 of an inch. I don't like the mucus strands at times, but have considered them to be mostly harmless. In what why did they damage your candy cane, Diane? Mine is a few inches away from my candy cane and I don't want it causing any problems.

 

Rich;)

 

I had a single candy cane polyp on one stalk; below the head of the candy cane, there were 3 or 4 vermetids cemented to its stalk (which was maybe 3" long). I initially had good success with the candy cane, feeding it regularly and getting the one polyp to divide into two, but at about that time the biggest vermetid began sending out nets that rubbed the side of one of the newly divided cc polyps. Where there was contact the flesh of the cc withered. When it looked as if the whole new head was in danger of dying, I removed the frag from the tank and did my best to break off and ream out the vermetids from the stalk, all the while trying not to damage the flesh of the cc polyps.

 

I never seemed to be able to completely eliminate the vermetids. Eventually the cc polyps died; whether this was due to the vermetids, the manhandling, or some inattention while I was on vacation and another person was watching the tank, I can't be sure...

 

It was obvious, though, that contact with the the vertmetid's mucus strings was very irritating to the candy cane flesh.

 

--Diane