Vermatid Snails

[reef keeper]

I hate these damn things. I have little webs in my tank and they are always on my sps. These things are a HUGE PITA. How do you deal with them? Before I do my build I'm almost thinking of nuking all my rock and just starting over with the rock cleaned and cooked.

Advice here would be sweet

 

[saltyair]

These snails in my experience are good to have and do self regulate - also wrasses, hermits and shrimp keep them in check - I find that they explode when lots of food is available


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[ALowe]

ya any disturbance in my tank and the webs cover all my rocks and get on my corals. I completely feel your pain with these i hate them. Especially in my nano they get all over my sps and get strings all over them. doesnt seem to bother the corals but is still super annoying to look at.

 

[EricTMah]

I find my leopard wrasse and copper band butterfly keep them in check in my system.

The occasional big one, I'll take my bone cutters and cut the tube off the rock and soon enough my leopard will take care of it

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[reef keeper]

I actually read an article somewhere that says that they will eventually kill your sps if there are too many. I'll wait on another CBB but let me look at a leopard wrasse. I need an assassin.

I do already have a yellow Coris wrasse. And there are a lot of empty snail shells around.

Maybe I can just use a stiff brush and knock the shells off?

 

[barebottomcouple]

These snails in my experience are good to have and do self regulate - also wrasses, hermits and shrimp keep them in check - I find that they explode when lots of food is available


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I"ve also had them they took off and then just kinda died out... I agree with Saltair that they are there for the food...remove food snail numbers decline...they are filter feeders so cant be all that bad, can they

 

[theyangman]

If you only have a few and you can see the openings, super glue the holes shut. If you have a lot, then well you're SOL.

 

[Kman]

That web they send out is a mucus net and meant to trap organic matter and particulate matter so they can pull it back in and eat.

I heard people say they cause problems with SPS but to me that is nonsense unless you had a crazy amount of them. You would have to have plague proportions for that to happen and smother the coral. That is like killing something with spit. If you have proper flow on your corals it will come off easily and cause no issues.
For those that say they had problems killing their SPS, unless they had a huge population of them covering everything they had bigger problems in the tank and needed something to take the blame for killing the coral. I have never had an issue with Vermatid snails in 28 years that is have been in the Saltwater hobby.

I understand some people don't like the look of them but to me anything that eats detritus and organic matter to help with nutrient cycling in my tank is ok with me. If you do have a lot and want to get the population under control or they really bother you, a leopard wrasse and copper band butterfly keep them in check like Eric said. They also don't like the red sea Aiptasia x or similar product. It kills them dead!

 

[reef keeper]

Ok. I'll scrub the rocks when I do the changeover. That should knock the numbers down. I'll look at a wrasse and CBB for the new tank.