vermetid snail eradication

[langley reefer]

So, I have a beautiful branching frogspawn that has slowly become more and more infested with vermatid snails. It has now started to become annoyed with all the vermatid snails and is not opening as much as it should. During my water change tomorrow I plan on doing some work to remove these snails. Anyway, just wanted to hear how all you reefers deal with getting rid of vermatids. What are your methods?

[Tn23]

Heres a good read about these guys.
Get rid of them if you can, good luck!

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/vermetid-snails-harm-coral-reefs-with-multiprong-attack

[asylumdown]

My fragging kit came with a stainless steel dowel with a very pointy tip. It makes short work of vermatid snails. Spear them right through the opening, it's not hard to crush that little cap thing they have and puncture the shells enough to well and truly kill them.

[albert_dao]

Yah, just mangle them with a screwdriver or something. They're not like Aiptasia. They die if you cause enough physical trauma.

[whatcaneyedo]

I deal with them not through manual removal but through aggressive skimming and filtration. They have been present in my reef almost since day one without causing any problems. I actually kind of like them as they add to the biodiversity of the system. I know there is more than one species out there, mine are about 1/16" in diameter and grow no longer than 1/2". SPS coral encrust over them and the LPS outgrow then smother them. I have also seen a type that grows quite large +1/8" diameter and ~2" long, are those the type you are dealing with?

[Duckhams]

Hey langley reefer, sorry to hear about your frogspawn! Vermetid snails are a real pain to get rid of. I've dealt with them in several tanks before (in one 90 gallon, they covered every square inch of the rock work!-not my tank-).
The only sure fire way to prevent them from taking over is to stop feeding flakes or anything that fills the water column for a while (the goal is to remove a food source for them), stick to pellets and target feeding mysis etc. Keep the tank clean with regular water changes, wet skimming and start clipping them off with a pair of small bone cutters/pliers when you do your regular water changes and they'll soon die out. Manual removal alone is not enough.
I had them in my current tank about a year ago and im pleased to say they're all gone.