Vermetid Pest Elimination

[HippieSmell]

If your tank is infested with them, take out the rock and let it dry for a few days. Don't do it all at once, because you'll cause a cycle, but it will work every time.

[jjcool]

Good idea, but if they are in your plumbing they will be back in a few months. We need something that will remove them from the plumbing as well, which leads me to believe our only option is chemical removal.

[o.c.d.]

Chemical just sounds scary,Gastropod sensitivities are salinity changes,aquarium supplements medications, temp shock and oxygen deprivation,warm is worse than cold. I'd try swinging the params before chemical.

[jjcool]

I think you may have something with the temperature swings. My tank used to run pretty hot before I got a fan for my halide and I never had any vermetids. Now it runs at 76 with my fan and I'm starting to see more and more of them. Trouble is xenia hates high temperatures as well. So I'd have to remove it before doing something like that. Do you know of any other corals that don't do so well in higher temperatures? I wonder how long you'd have to leave your temperatures up before all the vermetids would die off?

[o.c.d.]

I'd set up hosp.tank and pull everything,and inspect everything pulled.Verms are very hardy your temp swings may have to be major, after all they survive LR transport.

[jjcool]

you think the bacteria will survive the temp swings so the tank doesn't cycle?

[o.c.d.]

I think you'll have alot of dieoff from most living organisms,after 30 degrees the nitrification process changes.I think you should treat it like a restart,testing the water will answer some question.I know bacteria are tough but I don't know the survival rate from temp swings.I'd be prepared for the worst

[jjcool]

well, I don't think I'm ready for something like that. If a restart were an option then I'd just empty the tank and let it sit a while. I'm looking for something I can do that won't harm the corals or bacteria in the tank.

[JargonMan]

Well, I tried the peppermint shrimp. He ate some aptaisia I had but he didn't touch the vermetids. Then he died :-(

[CleveYank]

This is intersting.

I've had them in every tank I can even recall.
They are in all 4 of my current tanks.
I have zoos and such that are growing like mad.

Anything that is alive and kicking...they are around but things flourish. IS this really the root of all evil parasite? I find once in a while the tubes go into my fingers when my hands are water logged and that stings a bit with the saltwater...but other than that...doesn't seem to be too big a deal.

[qfrisco]

Originally posted by CleveYank
This is intersting.

I've had them in every tank I can even recall.
They are in all 4 of my current tanks.
I have zoos and such that are growing like mad.

Anything that is alive and kicking...they are around but things flourish. IS this really the root of all evil parasite? I find once in a while the tubes go into my fingers when my hands are water logged and that stings a bit with the saltwater...but other than that...doesn't seem to be too big a deal.

You do have to wonder. I was concerned earlier as I found a couple of these guys, and I managed to get them out quickly.

Then I spotted these guys (pic below) - they look like sticks in between the zoa colony and the feather duster. When you look real closely, the "sticks" are actually very thin tubes, and sometimes two antennae will be sticking out of the ends of them.



I started an ID thread and one guy ID'd it as a vermetid. But as you can see, the zoas right next to them look pretty healthy. Now I really don't know what to think, unless these guys really aren't vermetids.

[CleveYank]

Well,

I went down to my tanks after posting to confirm and checked photos I took just last night.

I have very slow growing encrusting SPS that has 2 of these stranded in it's tissue (tanish deal with lavender tips)
IT GREW RIGHT OVER THE TOP OF ONE. I know this since the encrusting is too thin to be a finger of the coral. It's too straight and too small. And it matches this growth pattern and not that of the coral itself.

(you will see the vermetid in the upper center of this coral in the pic...and just above it is the overgrown one...almost paralell...only apparent up close there is the overgrown one)






And I have another coral...where you see the little bit of mucous...and it's been that way forever (well since I've had it) and the coral is unphased.

Now...I think that if water parameters plummit...I bet the tubes take hold...survive and the corals can't compete...and maybe for the breeding phase the vermetid needs great water...but if they are there...they will subsist and of course impede corals and polyps. Just a thought...based upon my above observation of the slow growing SPS I meantioned.

[john rochon]

the answer is there is NO one thing at this point that will eradicate them especially with out harming the tank.
either manual removal or,
start over and QT EVERYTHING from now on.
water quality is also an issue. more food, faster reproduction.
filter socks on returns and a good skimmer+ water changes will help.
this is just like most pests, once you have it, you have to control it

[AquaKnight407]

Yep, have a ton of these, well over a thousand in my 29. It's jammed packed (or was) and definitely is nutrient rich.

Anyway, I have official lost a coral to them, my octopus coral (some type of Euphyllia). They were growing on the base and grew long enough to cause the coral to pierce itself on the tube with the current. It brown-jellyed out and died. Luckily I caught them on my frogspawn as well and only lost most of one head. Probably 15 or so on just the only 3"x3" 3-headed frogspawn.

They're encrusting everything, powerheads, magfloat. I'm starting trying to cut back n feedings, etc, and get the water quality better. I just go over every coral every couple of weeks and clean them off. I have a few growing between my acan's heads now