# Are these harmful mites?



## heli (Oct 17, 2013)

I just started keeping my first pair of dart frogs and I got a melanogaster culture from Josh's this monday. It appears that there are a ton of small mites on the walls of the cultures, are these the harmful type? I got a different culture from a local store that also appears to have some form of mite but they are much larger than the ones in the culture from Josh. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
Here is a pic: http://i.imgur.com/SMyuKnL.jpg


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## SpaceMan (Aug 25, 2013)

I don't think they're harmful, I get the same mites from my cultures from Josh's frogs. A little disappointed but I guess it's a reality. 

I started creating new cultures, and with the short reproductive cycle of the Melos, you can get ahead of the mites end up with almost mite-free cultures after a few weeks. Just make sure you use the most recent producing cultures for new ones.


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## Reef_Haven (Jan 19, 2011)

Dust the flies and allow them to clean themselves a couple times before making new cultures with them.
Those mites are not predatory but they will compete with the flies for food and production will be limited.


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## heli (Oct 17, 2013)

Thanks for the help everyone, so I should dust flies in calcium/nutrients before starting a new culture. Should I just toss the culture from Josh?


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## Tincman (Jan 18, 2013)

heli said:


> Thanks for the help everyone, so I should dust flies in calcium/nutrients before starting a new culture. Should I just toss the culture from Josh?


THose mites are harmless scavengers in the sense that they wont directly harm frogs & not parasitic ones that attach to reptiles & such..As another member stated they will compete for flies food & shorten the life of a culture though. Mites are really annoying when you have multiple cultures, If you have a place where you keep your fly cultures take a look at that area with a flashlight, theres a good chance theyre all over the shelf or area you keep the Cultures as they crawl all over the place. I have literally 20 Cultures going all the time so once mites get introduced Im literally just trying to keep them under control Since Im not going to throw them all out & rebuy that many. First thing you do is get a good MIte spray or Disinfectant & spray down the area you keep your cultures....If you just have one or 2 you can chuck your culture & just get a new one. Pat from Saurian says his cultures are virtually mite free..(I find this amazing by the way!lol) Make sure you clean the fly area well because it wouldnt help you at all to put a fresh culture onto a mite infested area..Try these steps always... *Make new cultures from newer cultures *as they will have less mites typically. *Yes definitely Try the Calcium Dust trick* to help prevent as many mites from adhering to the flies as possible during transfer to new cultures as another member stated.. *When you make a fresh culture Always use a fresh Freezer bag *or whatever you transfer with as Anything used to feed or transfer in the past will have mites in it..You can *try the mite paper*, I dont believe it works effectively for long, but I *spray the mite paper every week or 2 around the bottom of my cultures* to sort of recharge the paper. Try making you cultures earlier & throwing out old cultures by week 4 as the old cultures will have more mites... If all this fails & you only have a few cultures just chuck them & try the guys claiming to have no mite cultures.. I would try but IM not willing to Buy 10 or so & have them get MItes anyway from just being in my frog room...Good luck!


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## frogfreak (Mar 4, 2009)

Are they moving? It looks like media to me.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Looks like the white, globular, VERY slow moving mite. In my experience, they are the most troublesome. They breed the fastest and can be quite invasive, spreading from culture to culture.
It will take some effort, but you can defeat them. Mite paper or spray, changed regularly, and dust your flies HEAVILY before you start a new culture. They start your new culture with a SMALL amount of flies from the TOP. The goal here is to use so much old dusting powder that it is knocking the mites loose from the flies. The mites get knocked DOWN, thus you ONLY use a small amount of the flies from on top (well away from the mites).
Religiously remove old cultures from the room at one month old.
It may seem like it's not working for a while, but if you continue, you should be able to get a hand on it.


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## oldlady25715 (Nov 17, 2007)

SpaceMan said:


> I don't think they're harmful, I get the same mites from my cultures from Josh's frogs. A little disappointed but I guess it's a reality.
> 
> I started creating new cultures, and with the short reproductive cycle of the Melos, you can get ahead of the mites end up with almost mite-free cultures after a few weeks. Just make sure you use the most recent producing cultures for new ones.



Its nice to have mite free cultures, but this thread suggests mixing some old and new cultures.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/131801-ed-right-fly-cultures-stuck.html


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## hillblazer (Jul 1, 2013)

Pumilo said:


> Looks like the white, globular, VERY slow moving mite. In my experience, they are the most troublesome. They breed the fastest and can be quite invasive, spreading from culture to culture.
> It will take some effort, but you can defeat them. Mite paper or spray, changed regularly, and dust your flies HEAVILY before you start a new culture. They start your new culture with a SMALL amount of flies from the TOP. The goal here is to use so much old dusting powder that it is knocking the mites loose from the flies. The mites get knocked DOWN, thus you ONLY use a small amount of the flies from on top (well away from the mites).
> Religiously remove old cultures from the room at one month old.
> It may seem like it's not working for a while, but if you continue, you should be able to get a hand on it.


I had the same mites and this worked great for me.


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