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Unread 11/01/2010, 08:06 PM   #1
goldmaniac
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Vermatid snails vermetid worms predator -

Hey everybody!

I listed two spellings of vermatid snails in order to help others' searches.

I think I found a predator of vermatid snails!
For those of you not familiar, consider yourself lucky. mine are 1/4" long hollow tubes of shell, created by vermatid snails, who function similar to a featherduster, except they just emit sticky threads that cover rock, zoas, and other corals. They are not technically a pest, as they don't prey on anything other than passively catching bits of food/detrius in the water.

they look like this:



and the tubes cover/covered my live rock. Imagine handle live rock with lots of thumb tack points all over them. They're ugly, too. thousands of them.

In 3 or 4 or 5 threads on RC, there's never been a solid solution. Well, I think i MAY have found an example to a solution.... this is my experience, but my YELLOW CORIS WRASSE (Halichoeres chrysus), seems to have eaten them all. I've had him for about 2 years now and there aren't even any hollow shells left on the rock. I've noticed that they've been gone for at least 6 months, but I moved last week and I took the tank apart and was able to get a good look at the live rock. No punctures from the snails' tubes, and none visible on the rock.



This is only my experience, and there have been occasional stories of other carnivores taking care of these things, but I believe that my statement here is as definite as any other witness account that I've seen on the Internet, let alone RC.

I hope this helps the cause of spionid snail destruction.

Eric G.


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Unread 11/01/2010, 08:14 PM   #2
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This would be great news, I hope you are right! Can anyone else give some insight to this? I have heard of other predators possibly being emerald crabs and coperband butterflys.

I hate these things with a passion.


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Unread 11/01/2010, 09:26 PM   #3
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My Yellow Coris Wrasse has not touched any of my Vermetids. I wish he would!!


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Unread 11/01/2010, 11:04 PM   #4
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edit: VERMATID snail destruction.


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Unread 11/01/2010, 11:08 PM   #5
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Very interesting! What and how often are you feeding your wrasse?


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Unread 11/02/2010, 07:41 AM   #6
goldmaniac
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Yes, I have seen a report or two of each of these eating vermatid snails, but still the majority of reports saying they don't eat any -

CBB
red scarlet hermits
emerald crabs
peppermint shrimp

Klepto: I feed the tank pretty heavily, actually. I'm not starving the wrasse, or anything.
Formula One flake
Spirulina flake
Cyclop-eze freeze dried
occasional frozen Formula A or Mysis shrimp


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Unread 11/02/2010, 07:46 AM   #7
goldmaniac
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and before I moved last week, here's a list of the fish in my tank. as you can see, none of these other fish are a realistic candidate for eating vermatid snails:

3 ocellaris clowns
blonde naso tang
chocolate mimic tang
Lamark's angelfish
flame hawkfish
twinspot blenny
firefish
spotted mandarinfish
and the yellow coris wrasse




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Unread 11/02/2010, 08:25 AM   #8
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is the yellow coris wrasse reef safe? I have a yellow tang,Bristle tooth tang,six line,yellow tail damsel, and a clown fish, would they get along? I also have a huge population of those snails.Ive been considering getting a copperband.


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Unread 11/02/2010, 08:49 AM   #9
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yes, the yellow coris is reef safe. I have SPS, LPS, zoas, snails, all is well.

I can't vouch that the yellow coris won't fight with those other fish, especially the 6-line. he's pretty docile, though... he doesn't mess with my firefish or my little twin spot blenny or my mandarinfish. Th


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Unread 11/02/2010, 08:56 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kendo View Post
is the yellow coris wrasse reef safe? I have a yellow tang,Bristle tooth tang,six line,yellow tail damsel, and a clown fish, would they get along? I also have a huge population of those snails.Ive been considering getting a copperband.
The six line wrasse will probably harrass the coris wrasse. Might even kill it.


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Unread 11/02/2010, 09:06 AM   #11
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Ok thanks.
Maybe I'll try the copperband, hopefully my yellow tang wont harass it too much.


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Unread 11/02/2010, 09:30 AM   #12
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Careful with the copperband. Like most butterflies they are "Reef caution", not realy "reef safe". They have been known to munch on SPS , anemones, and polyps. They are also difficult to feed. If you get one, make sure you see it eat at the lfs first. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...212&pcatid=212


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Unread 11/02/2010, 09:45 AM   #13
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So, those that think the Yellow Coris could be a good fish to eat these vermetid snails, do you think it's specifically halichoeres chrysus or would any of the halichoeres would be good for this type of maintenance?


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Unread 11/14/2010, 09:24 PM   #14
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Interesting.... I have lots of.vermatids... if you lax on tank.care the webs or the.broken ones will collect green slime off the glass. What I want to know iabhas anyone Actually SEEN the fish eating them?


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Unread 11/15/2010, 08:40 AM   #15
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My claim that I found something is eating vermatids is focused on my Halichoeres chrysus. I have not had success with any other wrasses, and I've had a a tank for about 11 years.

I have watched my yellow coris wrasse picking at the rock constantly, but I never paid attention to WHAT it was eating. I bought it for pest control, as I had purchased some corals and just wanted to make sure that I wasn't importing flatworms or acro eating nudis or red bugs or something. I didn't hope or expect it to affect the vermatid population.

Hey - I don't even claim that Halichoeres chrysus is a species that eats vermatids, only that THIS yellow coris wrasse is eating vermatids. It has been such a problem finding ANY predators for these things through the years that I don't want to make any claims that I can't back up.

As it would happen, this thread is 2 weeks old and this yellow wrasse jumped through the screen on my tank and dried out this weekend. RIP. Now I'll be able to see if the vermatids come back, or if they're gone completely, or if there's no change at all and something else has demolished the population. I'll report back. More to come.



Last edited by goldmaniac; 11/15/2010 at 09:03 AM.
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Unread 11/15/2010, 11:31 AM   #16
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tragic. Sorry to hear about your jumper. It looked like a lovely fish. Even more lovely if it was indeed keeping your vermetids under control. Thanks for sharing your experience. I have been interested in this species for a while...


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Unread 11/15/2010, 12:59 PM   #17
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Thanks Klepto

other than carpet surfing, this fish is pretty much bulletproof. I have a surprisingly difficult finding them for sale. I highly suggest one -


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Unread 11/15/2010, 01:01 PM   #18
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My pistol shrimp does a really good job of cleaning vermetids off all the rocks around his burrow. I don't know if he's eating them or just house cleaning, but he manages to keep his burrow entrances cleared.


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Unread 11/15/2010, 02:06 PM   #19
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Hmm very interesting! I've got too many vermatids in my 37g. I'd love to get rid of them before upgrading tanks. Would the yellow coriss wrasse be a threat to my stomatella snail population? I've got like 80 of them, up to 0.5" in length.


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Unread 11/16/2010, 09:34 AM   #20
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I don't know if the stomatella snails would be dinner for this guy. Keep in mind that he IS a coris wrasse, and they are pretty predatory genus. I didn't see mine eating my bumblebee snails or nassarius (sp?) snails.


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Unread 11/16/2010, 12:46 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by goldmaniac View Post
other than carpet surfing, this fish is pretty much bulletproof. I have a surprisingly difficult finding them for sale. I highly suggest one -
only one problem in my case... My tank is BB right now.


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Unread 11/16/2010, 01:25 PM   #22
klepto
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Quote:
Originally Posted by goldmaniac View Post
I don't know if the stomatella snails would be dinner for this guy. Keep in mind that he IS a coris wrasse, and they are pretty predatory genus. I didn't see mine eating my bumblebee snails or nassarius (sp?) snails.
I was under the impression that this (Halichoeres chrysus) species is not a true coris. They will prey on some inverts- worms (flat,tube etc)and shrimps, but they don't destroy all of your invertebrates like many species in the Coris genus will.


Goldmaniac,

After looking at your picture a little closer, I realized that your fish looked slightly different from H. chrysus. It's looks like it could have been a Halichoeres leucoxanthus to me. Your fish was likely a juvenile judging from its uniformed yellow color. But the spots on the dorsal fin match up with H. leucoxanthus.


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Last edited by klepto; 11/16/2010 at 01:37 PM.
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Unread 11/16/2010, 02:09 PM   #23
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That's just a stock photo that I put up after a Google search for Yellow Coris Wrasse. that isn't my exact specimen, but instead I wanted to show what the fish looks like.

It does look like you are correct about the picture; 3 dots instead of two points to a different species. I hadn't noticed that.


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Unread 11/16/2010, 03:07 PM   #24
klepto
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Quote:
Originally Posted by goldmaniac View Post
That's just a stock photo that I put up after a Google search for Yellow Coris Wrasse. that isn't my exact specimen, but instead I wanted to show what the fish looks like.

It does look like you are correct about the picture; 3 dots instead of two points to a different species. I hadn't noticed that.
This is where the latin comes into play. "yellow coris wrasse" is just way too general IMO.


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Unread 11/16/2010, 11:08 PM   #25
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I did list the scientific name in my initial posting so a GIS doesn't derail this thread. The point is that I'm sharing a report of vermatid control. There isn't much on the subject.

Quote:
Originally Posted by goldmaniac View Post
Hey everybody!

I listed two spellings of vermatid snails in order to help others' searches.

I think I found a predator of vermatid snails!
For those of you not familiar ...
... Well, I think i MAY have found an example to a solution.... this is my experience, but my YELLOW CORIS WRASSE (Halichoeres chrysus), seems to have eaten them all. I've had him for about 2 years now and there aren't even any hollow shells left on the rock....

...I hope this helps the cause of [vermatid] snail destruction.

Eric G.



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