Neptune Aquatics

Vermetid snails invasion

Hi,

I've been following the development of vermetid snails for almost couple years and getting to the point of restarting the tank instead of trying to kill it. At some point in the past I've got it and can't get rid of it. Right now every inch of tank has at least 5-10 of small snails. It grows on the corals, irritates zoas and softies and looks gross. I know some say it will gone but so far it multiples and I wonder if I can even get any frags for tank restart.
Since the tank is relatively small and I'm not very happy about it I'm thinking of restarting it.
What do you think - is it possible to save anything from the tank without bringing it back to the new tank? How to clean system to prevent if from coming back? From my knowledge there are no dips that can kill those beasts. I can make holding tank in the garage for fish but not sure what to do with corals - I have some zoa rocks, some SPS, some softies. Everything covered with vermetids...
 
Start smashing them. Make sure to smash the whole shell and not just the tube part.

As your nutrients levels drop, they will slowly go away.

Try target feeding the fish rather than broadcast feeding. Get a turkey baster or something similar and squirt some food into the tank. Wait for it to be consumed then squirt some more.


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I've been smashing it for years but there are thousands already, some grows on the SPSs... Nutrients are almost zero - 0.5 nitrates, almost undetectable phosphates.
 
I don't know if there is any tank free from the scourge of vermatid. Maybe there is one out there...


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I've been smashing it for years but there are thousands already, some grows on the SPSs... Nutrients are almost zero - 0.5 nitrates, almost undetectable phosphates.

Nutrients measuring 0 doesn't mean you don't have a nutrient problem. You could have a tank full of GHA and show 0 nitrates and phosphates.

If the vermatids are multiplying, then they are getting food. If when you feed you see masses of the vermatid mucus strands, that's how they feed.

Limit the food and they will slowly die out. That and aggressive smashing! My wrasses love it when I start doing that. They just pick through what I smashed and they get a nice meal.
 
I started over. I fragged a number of the corals I really liked and gave the rest of the corals and rocks away. I've seen them in my new tank too but as soon as I spot one I kill it. Now that I know what to look for they haven't had the chance to mass produce. When I tore down the last tank it was like you're saying, they were everywhere.
 
Interesting - is it safe to use water from tank with snails for transfer tank - Can it reproduce in the water?


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I’m sure its safe for fish, wondering about coral frags - planning to make some, put on the clean plugs and hope to keep it clean.


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