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07/16/2007, 01:52 PM | #1 |
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Vermetid Snails Harm Coral
Hey all,
I just came across this. According to a conference being held by the Ecological Society of America on reef restoration: Vermetid snails reduce growth and survival of corals and shift coral species composition. Affected species include Pocillopora, Montipora, and some Porites species primarily. More info here: http://eco.confex.com/eco/2007/techprogram/P7313.HTM |
07/16/2007, 01:58 PM | #2 |
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Interesting.
Wish there was more detail on the species of snail and how they removed them.
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80g Aiptasia dominated reef tank.. with fish and now a bunch of berghia! Current Tank Info: 80g tank, re-starting a reef after a zoanthid nudibranch plauge, followed by months of steady and unstoppable STN/RTN, crashed; stayed FOWLR for a couple years, currently an aiptasia dominated reef tank with fishies and BERGHIA |
07/16/2007, 02:00 PM | #3 |
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Bad news for my tank..lol I am full of them.
Though despite the HUGE numbers, I have only seen them use their nets once or twice, which I find to be odd. |
07/16/2007, 02:04 PM | #4 |
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I have quite a few myself. I have seen posts in the past in which people swear they are harmful to Zoos, which is why I started looking at the problem. I have a colony of Zoos that is suffering and the only thing I can think of is vermetids. It's the only colony suffering and the only colony with vermetids.
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07/16/2007, 02:24 PM | #5 |
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I have been aware of the problems that people have had but have yet to see it myself. To date, my only problem coral are certian Ricordia Yumas I have, and it is a flow/lighting issue IMO.
When I first became aware of vermitids being "bad" I concluded that there must be different species that look very similar. Because my rocks are literally covered in the small ones that are reported to be bad, yet no problems. But like I said, I have not even dealt with much mucous at all.. which is odd because it seemed this was reported even in cases where they did no harm. The two or three times I have seen them all throw out the nets was on random times when I was blowing of rocks etc.. I have not seen it at night either.. In fact, I have watched corals grow over them (some montis), not receed from them as I have also seen reported.
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80g Aiptasia dominated reef tank.. with fish and now a bunch of berghia! Current Tank Info: 80g tank, re-starting a reef after a zoanthid nudibranch plauge, followed by months of steady and unstoppable STN/RTN, crashed; stayed FOWLR for a couple years, currently an aiptasia dominated reef tank with fishies and BERGHIA |
07/16/2007, 02:29 PM | #6 |
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I haven't had much of a problem with this even though my tank is riddled with them. Vermetids are at the very least an annoyance, that's for sure.
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07/16/2007, 03:04 PM | #7 | |
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Quote:
the sad part is that it's pretty hard to completely remove the whole snail without taking the rock out and they grow right back if you just destroy the portion that shot out. |
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07/16/2007, 06:19 PM | #8 |
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That's not really shocking news at all. I've seen many a coral grow away from vermetid tubes, if not recede. Also, keep in mind they're talking reduced growth in general, not necessarily recession. Snails catching all of that food before it gets to the coral doesn't help growth. That effect won't be nearly as noticeable in our tanks though since there is so little food for the corals in the first place.
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Some say the sun rises in the East. Some say it rises in the West. The truth must be somewhere in the middle. Current Tank Info: tore them down to move and haven't had the time or money to set them back up |
07/16/2007, 06:38 PM | #9 |
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is there a natural predator?
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One of the most frustrating thing about this hobby? The blind leading the blind. |
07/16/2007, 07:39 PM | #10 | |
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Yup. Critter with a built-in straw. Gotta love it. |
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07/16/2007, 07:42 PM | #11 |
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I crush them every few days with my Gerber multitool, I know for a fact they were making my clam angry with their nets I know it must irritate corals someone had mentioned hermits before but im not sure how likely it is
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07/16/2007, 08:13 PM | #12 |
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Interesting info. Kind of makes sense though. I had a vermetid on the side of my frogspawn that was constantly irritating it. After I made the snail go bye-bye, the frogspawn has been growing much faster and is more full.
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Chris "A Closed Mouth Gathers No Foot" - Unknown Some people are like Slinkies . . . not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs. Current Tank Info: 120 gallon, Ecosystem 3612, 6X54 TEK light, Tunze Osmolator, Lifereef dual overflow all down |
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