Your thoughts Randy

[scottsreef]

Hi there just wanted to get your opinion on my tank and what i could do. I have a 180 mixed reef and i ended up getting vermetid snails on my rock and glass. Im talking about probably over 500 tubes sticking out. I have noticed that when i stir up the sand to see the web come out of the tubes, that not all of them have webs that come out. They are the tiny little ones not the large ones. My biggest concern is that some of the rock work has big holes and caves that fish go through. I am concerned that they will start to get cut or hurt as we all know those little tubes are dang sharp. My question to you is this, because there are so many and they are on glass and im suspecting on the walls of the plumbing pipes. I am thinking that it might be time for a bleach bath for the tank to flush entire system of the snails, then i can scrape, chisel and scrub away all the tubes on the rock, glass and plumbing. |Do you think this is a good plan becuase of the volume of tubes i have? I have looked at my barrel of live rock down in sump area, I have most of my live rock in blue barrel with lid on it so its criptic zone and i have not seen a single tube in there. Just wanted to pick your brain as to what my options may be. Thanks and if you have any questions let me know.
Scott

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Vermitid snails by the thousands was a big part of the reason I took down my tank. Ugly and prone to rapid spreading in my system.

I’m not sure bleach is needed (fresh water might kill them) but doing something sounds desirable.

 

[scottsreef]

Vermitid snails by the thousands was a big part of the reason I took down my tank. Ugly and prone to rapid spreading in my system.

I’m not sure bleach is needed (fresh water might kill them) but doing something sounds desirable.

I was thinking with them in the plumbing lines that about only way of killing them all off would be to sterilize entire DT with bleach or moratic acid. What did you do to your system when you took it down? I have been thinking that if i did sterilize entire system i could buy some dry base rock and get it cycling and ready to go for when i pull old sterilized rock out. Then i would add new rock to system and then clean and cycle the sterilized. I just dont want to start it all up again and find i missed some in plumbing or pumps. dang i hate those little things. Thanks Randy

 

[scottsreef]

Sorry i just looked at your reply again and you mention fresh water might kill them. I wonder if i should pull out a piece i know has some on and bath them in fresh water(would you recommend RO/DI or just tap). It would be alot safer and easier doing FW then bleach or acid. I do have extra tanks downstairs in fish room that i will transfer everything to. Then start water change with FW. See im glad i asked you, i never would have thought about FW.

 

[jduong916]

Vermitid snails by the thousands was a big part of the reason I took down my tank. Ugly and prone to rapid spreading in my system.

I’m not sure bleach is needed (fresh water might kill them) but doing something sounds desirable.

I started using the diy coral snow, I think its calcium carbonate or something like that. When I use this I can see all the vermetid webs. I recall you saying that dosing calcium carbonate has no affect on the tank inhabitants because it is insoluable. So Im wondering is there any other chemical that is insoluable but deadly to the snails. I wouldnt try this, but maybe if you mixed it with water threw it in the tank it would attach to the snail's web and they die ingesting it. Just an idea, maybe some reefing company could make a product like this.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I started using the diy coral snow, I think its calcium carbonate or something like that. When I use this I can see all the vermetid webs. I recall you saying that dosing calcium carbonate has no affect on the tank inhabitants because it is insoluable. So Im wondering is there any other chemical that is insoluable but deadly to the snails. I wouldnt try this, but maybe if you mixed it with water threw it in the tank it would attach to the snail's web and they die ingesting it. Just an idea, maybe some reefing company could make a product like this.

There may be, but I do not know what it might be.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sorry i just looked at your reply again and you mention fresh water might kill them. I wonder if i should pull out a piece i know has some on and bath them in fresh water(would you recommend RO/DI or just tap). It would be alot safer and easier doing FW then bleach or acid. I do have extra tanks downstairs in fish room that i will transfer everything to. Then start water change with FW. See im glad i asked you, i never would have thought about FW.

Testing on a sample sounds good. I'm not sure how long it might take.