# HELP extremely tiny white bugs???



## dirtbomb

hey guys most likely some of yall have encountered these before.
the best way to describe them is they are a very small white spec maybe the size of a grain of sand. i tried very hard to magnify them but they very small-. i sprayed down the area with rubbing acohol i think it killed most but some are coming back. Do yall think these are mites ? if so what should i do? i can see them crawling around plants but they are mainly gathered on some clay pots. 

thanks yall


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## james67

sounds like mites to me.

in a tank, and depending on the type of mite, i would leave it alone unless they start showing up in quantities that could negatively affect the animals.

james


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## Pumilo

Sounds like mites. Mites are everywhere and sooner or later, every viv will most likely end up with mites. Generally, it's no big deal. I do strive to keep them under control in your cultures.


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## TropicalDartFrogs

I agree with Pumilo. Just watch your cultures as they'll be a pain in the butt if they get to your food production.


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## james67

TropicalDartFrogs said:


> I agree with Pumilo. Just watch your cultures as they'll be a pain in the butt if they get to your food production.


they are in your food production now. i can almost guarantee it.

james


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## dirtbomb

thanks guys. i had a hunch they were mites thats probaly also why the alcohol didnt fully kill them all i read that mites are considered hard body and wont really be affected by the alcohol.. okay cool. no worries for me then since i decided this tank wont be for any animals.


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## KeroKero

Are they more round or long? Gathered around your plants rather than around your FF cultures makes me wonder if they actually are mites (springtails are also a possibility - they are longer than they are wide typically and not all jump), or if they ARE mites, of the thousands of species are they predatory mites that may want to go after your FFs (like some of the other posts have assumed) or if they are mites interested in your plants instead (which is something a plant grower fears just as much as a FF producer).

Take a look a plant pest pages to see if they look like any of the same critters.


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## Hornet

I'm going against the grain and i'm going to say spring tails, only tiny white things i've ever had are spring tails, mites tend to be brown


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## KeroKero

Yeah, white bugs on the pot around plants sounded like springs to me too which is why I brought up the shape... but mites do come in a rainbow of colors. Then again... so do springs! That's why the shape can be important... generally the springs are about twice as long as they are wide, while a mite will be more even and look round... or at least rounder. I regularly have little silver and white springs around, and a number of times I've had to do a double check to make sure they aren't mites (especially if they don't hop when I blow on them).

Even if they ARE mites, you'd still have to figure out what they feed on... plants? fungus? insects? That can determine if they are worth dealing with or not. 

Even if they are mites, that doesn't mean the frogs won't eat them... it's just not a good thing when there is a population explosion and the frogs can't get away from them. After all, one species of PDF had a toxin traced back to mites, and another is supposed to have mites as a big part of it's diet in the wild...


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## dirtbomb

hey guys after long examination and cross referencing and straining over them with a magnifying glass, i strongly believe they are not spring-tails. they look mostly like grain mites. should i be concerned with them? is there any safe way of dealing with them? this viv isn't for animals but it does have some nice plants in it lol.

thanks guys im going to try and read about them


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## ZookeeperDoug

"I say nuke the site from orbit, its the only way to be sure"

Seriously though, short of tossing everything, bleaching the tank, and starting over, you'll likely never fully be rid of them and as has been mention, they are probably already elsewhere, in your cultures, other tanks, etc...

Mites are not really a reason not to have animals in the tanks unless they have reached plague porportions at such a level that they would stress your frogs. Many smaller frogs will just eat them like they would springs or isos.


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## KeroKero

It sounds like this falls under "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". If there isn't damage to your plants and they aren't having a population explosion (showing that there IS something in the tank they are feeding on and they may become an issue) then you may just want to leave them be. One way to deal with the mites would be what ZookeeperDoug mentioned - completely gutting the tank. There are some (rather nasty) concoctions for treating various plant mites but they won't be very effective in a tank completely planted out (usually involves me completely repotting a plant... so basically you're back to gutting the tank and then individually treating the plants) - which may not really even do much for this mite since it's not a plant pest mite. I REALLY hate going that route unless you have no alternatives but having your plants die and infest everything you have... which it doesn't sound like a grain mite would do. I mean... they're grain mites. They like grains. 

Grain mites are a type of food mite that you can find in low populations in many places where people are and I've had them get into tanks many times (well, various food mites). They are most likely attracted to the humidity and hoping for some mold to munch on. Yes, they can probably have a population explosion in your tank (they have done this to me in the past). Do you have a cleaning crew in your tank, aka Springs and/or Isos? Giving them some competition for food can keep their populations down, I didn't have infestation of a tank containing springs even though I had a tank right next door get infested. I now introduce springs to all my tanks (even if just for plants) and try for a variety of species. You may end up playing catch up at this stage and go through a nasty period of the mites having a population explosion but eventually the population will even out.

Further reading if you haven't found it already: Grain Mites | University of Kentucky Entomology


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## Hornet

could always introduce predatory mites


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## MosquitoCoast

ZookeeperDoug said:


> "I say nuke the site from orbit, its the only way to be sure".


I'm hoping I won't have to do that, Corporal Hicks...

I just removed a piece of sheet moss from on top of a piece of Mopani wood and there are quite a few tiny little white bugs running around. They are longer than they are wide. My tanks are barely two months old and I haven't seeded them with Springtails yet. I have never seen a springtail in real life so I can't tell if that's what they are or if they are mites. When I move a leaf away and the llight hits them they run away fast.

These things are really tiny. Everything is growing great in my tanks and really don't want to tear anything up.

Any suggestions.


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## KeroKero

Do they bounce around if you blow on them? Not all springtails do, but that is how the group got their name  They are usually white, silver, bluish grey, dark grey, or pinkish tan. You can google pics of them, but realize they are usually 1-2mm long.

Longer than they are wide makes me think they could be springs, most of the mites I see are around the same width as length and some of the fungus ones look like little balloons with legs LOL.


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