# Plant killing mites?



## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

My plants are dying and I have been noticing tiny webs all over the plants. Any ideas? Can't really see them










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## charlesbrooks (Oct 18, 2009)

I believe it's a strong possibility they're spider mites If true, you can use predatory mites can to control them. You order predatory mites from any good place that sells natural pest control.


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

It's confirmed that there are mites in the viv. Saw it with my own eyes and they gave yellow eggs. They are about 1/3 size of a springtale. Anything else I can do? I don't want to get preditory mites and have them eat the springtales 


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## BlueRidge (Jun 12, 2010)

webs are spider mites. I have them on my Hibiscus.


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

I am co2 bombing this bastards. Excuse my French. They killed my jewel orchid 


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## charlesbrooks (Oct 18, 2009)

Damon Ryan said:


> It's confirmed that there are mites in the viv. Saw it with my own eyes and they gave yellow eggs. They are about 1/3 size of a springtale. Anything else I can do? I don't want to get preditory mites and have them eat the springtales
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Well, it's best to remove your frogs temporary. You wouldn't want your frogs to eat the good guys. Start a separate refugium for micro-fauna. Then introduce predatory mites to your vivarium. When the coast is clear, you can reintroduce your frogs, and your micro-fauna.
Using predatory mites is the best of a bad situation. Because you wouldn't want to use pesticides. You can also try raising your humidity level in your vivarium.


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

charlesbrooks said:


> Well, it's best to remove your frogs temporary. You wouldn't want your frogs to eat the good guys. Start a separate refugium for micro-fauna. Then introduce predatory mites to your vivarium. When the coast is clear, you can reintroduce your frogs, and your micro-fauna.
> 
> Using predatory mites is the best of a bad situation. Because you wouldn't want to use pesticides. You can also try raising your humidity level in your vivarium.




I do not have frogs in this viv yet. Just introduced some plants, I was told that co2 bombing would be best. I don't want to get predatory mites because they will eat the springtails I think.... 


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## charlesbrooks (Oct 18, 2009)

Damon Ryan said:


> I do not have frogs in this viv yet. Just introduced some plants, I was told that co2 bombing would be best. I don't want to get predatory mites because they will eat the springtails I think....
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Well, a Co2 bomb will kill all of your micro-fauna, including your springtails. At least using predatory mites and more targeted.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

I would be rather surprised if it were spider mites simply b/c they do not and can not reproduce in such moist conditions. Spider mites are bright red and move rather slowly, easy to distinguish. If you are seeing mites, they are likely some other species.

What your photo looks like is mold to me. I see some brown sections of leaf and vine in that photo and if the viv is somewhat new (less than a month for sure), you would experience a bit of a "mold cycle" where the ecosystem is trying to right itself. Another reason is that typically, spider mites leave the leaf surfaces rather scarred. You'd see lots of white or faded greens.

My advice would be to remove as much dead foliage as you can and just let nature do its thing. Make sure the viv is ventilated to some degree, that will help immensely.


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

I wish I can say this is mold but I don't think it is the way it is only near plants and the leaves are falling off. I cannot see any mites what so ever. I may try to culture them to see if I can see a larger infestation. Or ride it out and see what happens. 


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I think Antone is right, the conditions are not suitable for spider mites. Recent transplantation or even movement can cause various plants to drop their leaves and stressed plants are susceptible to attack by molds. 

some comments 

Ed


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

Ed said:


> I think Antone is right, the conditions are not suitable for spider mites. Recent transplantation or even movement can cause various plants to drop their leaves and stressed plants are susceptible to attack by molds.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I have a tank that I will let the infestation happen and then maybe I can see what's going on.


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## MELLOWROO421 (Feb 21, 2007)

My spider mite experiences have always produced a much finer webbing than that in your pictures and I have never had them inside a vivarium. I even had a plant get completely infested with spider mites that was about 6' away from a vivarium and they never established themselves inside the viv. I have some small spiders in some of my vivariums that produce webs exactly like those pictured, especially the first pic you posted. My guess would also be that you have something other than spider mites.


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

MELLOWROO421 said:


> My spider mite experiences have always produced a much finer webbing than that in your pictures and I have never had them inside a vivarium. I even had a plant get completely infested with spider mites that was about 6' away from a vivarium and they never established themselves inside the viv. I have some small spiders in some of my vivariums that produce webs exactly like those pictured, especially the first pic you posted. My guess would also be that you have something other than spider mites.




I am dumbfounded right now... I can't see anything and it's killing my plants. I thought there were multiple types of spider mites that spin webs? Maybe I got the luck of the draw. This is driving me crazy 


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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

Listen to your elders lol

Seriously, have you removed the "webs" manually or by spraying with water? If so, when you do so do they reappear over night? If so this is probably mold.

If you keep a new tank too wet mold can come on strong and kill all your plants. It can come in waves. 

I don't know the science but from my experience it acts like a mycelium from mushrooms. It stays just below the surface and out of site then grows when conditions are perfect. This is usually when the lights are out in a tank that is too wet.

Keep in mind that it is alive in the substrate, inside any wood in your tank and inside any dead matter in your plants. The only thing you can do is let things dry out. This will take some time. If you use a fan you can get rid of it faster.





Damon Ryan said:


> I am dumbfounded right now... I can't see anything and it's killing my plants. I thought there were multiple types of spider mites that spin webs? Maybe I got the luck of the draw. This is driving me crazy
> 
> 
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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

cam1941 said:


> Listen to your elders lol
> 
> Seriously, have you removed the "webs" manually or by spraying with water? If so, when you do so do they reappear over night? If so this is probably mold.
> 
> ...




I would take the plants out and rinse them down removing the webs, I had a fan on inside the tank and the webs came back in less than 24 hours 


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

I'm subscribed...am curious as well.....perhaps there are two things going on and we are assuming it is only one...would that be logical at all? Could the OP provide a larger picture of the viv, the temp, misting schedule, substrate...more details might provide better clues...the webs are really interesting...never seen any mold quite like that one....I have daddylonglegs in mine...and other small spiders--but no complicated webs like that...


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

Judy S said:


> I'm subscribed...am curious as well.....perhaps there are two things going on and we are assuming it is only one...would that be logical at all? Could the OP provide a larger picture of the viv, the temp, misting schedule, substrate...more details might provide better clues...the webs are really interesting...never seen any mold quite like that one....I have daddylonglegs in mine...and other small spiders--but no complicated webs like that...




I had a thread going called my new 54 corner tank. I will transfer some pictures. I ended up tearing down the whole tank because of this plague. Here is my experimental set up:









Already have some action:








This is just the beginning so I could get some more infested pictures. Misting schedule is 5 times a day for 12 seconds. I was told to keep the humidity up to keep them from laying eggs if they are in fact mites. 

Later in my experiment I might place a fan in there and see how it affects the webs. 








The tank is next to my two other tanks housing some Pumilio, I noticed webs in all three of these tanks. Not so bad with the frogs and it's only with certain plants. We will see what happens. Thanks for your interest, it has been very difficult, it has killed many of my nice plants such as my jewel orchid. It almost like they decapitate the plants by the stems... I'll add more pics. 


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

Here is the center of a bromiliads that was infected. Not the highest quality picture... there were purple flowers in the center, not sure what that white stuff is though but there are some webs on the outer edges










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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

That's the point, its in the substrate and the wood and any dead part of the plants. 

Think of your substrate harboring a big mold bloom just out of site. Just because you remove the plants and rinse them off doesn't mean you've gotten rid of the mold bloom hiding in your substrate. 

Think of the mold as fire. The substrate is completely on fire inside and out. You took the plants out of the fire and put the fire out on the plants themselves. Then you place the plants back in the fire and expect them not to burn. Make sense?

The wood and substrate needs to dry out enough so that the mold does not have ideal conditions anymore. Then it can't spread to your plants.

Edit: Those tanks are too wet... Misting 5 times a day is way too much... Go easy on the misting lol Don't mist until the mold stops happening.



Damon Ryan said:


> I would take the plants out and rinse them down removing the webs, I had a fan on inside the tank and the webs came back in less than 24 hours
> 
> 
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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

cam1941 said:


> That's the point, its in the substrate and the wood and any dead part of the plants.
> 
> Think of your substrate harboring a big mold bloom just out of site. Just because you remove the plants and rinse them off doesn't mean you've gotten rid of the mold bloom hiding in your substrate.
> 
> ...




Makes perfect sense, the plants were not in soil though, there was a tub of soil in there but the bromiliads were mounted on a piece of wood which was no where near the soil, forgot to mention that. 


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

My previous set up








I moved most of the plants to a bucket of water and I am drowning them for 48 hours and then quarantining them to see if that changed anything... 

More infested pics










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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

Don't know what else to add... But those tanks are def to wet and that is mold. You even have some nasty looking green mold in there. 

Did you keep the tank really wet for a long period of time when you set it up? I do this to get the moss going before I add plants and a lot of the times this happens. 

I just let it dry out before I add my plants that don't need as much water.

If you add your plants while the mold is going strong it will just consume them.



Damon Ryan said:


> Makes perfect sense, the plants were not in soil though, there was a tub of soil in there but the bromiliads were mounted on a piece of wood which was no where near the soil, forgot to mention that.
> 
> 
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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

cam1941 said:


> Don't know what else to add... But those tanks are def to wet and that is mold. You even have some nasty looking green mold in there.
> 
> Did you keep the tank really wet for a long period of time when you set it up? I do this to get the moss going before I add plants and a lot of the times this happens.
> 
> ...




I wasn't misting that much during the time the pictures were taken and that is not green mold that was some aquatic moss mix that I just threw in there and I think it died. I think it was because it was right next to my internal fan so that's why I don't think it is mold. It could be mold, im not entirely sure. That viv is down now. 


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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

LoL okay, carry on...

That green stuff on the wood in this picture is the nasty green mold I was talking about.

Good luck.



Damon Ryan said:


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

Oh my bad, yeah that was strictly on my new ghost wood. Cut down misting quite a bit. I'll see how that effects my mold. Appreciate your input 


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

am hoping for some more imput on this interesting (yah...cold comfort...) thread...hopefully some of the plant experts will chime in...let's make an effort to keep this thread alive to give more infrequent posts a chance to see it...hey...where are all the plant people??? Mike, Antone??


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

The stuff in the center of the bromeliad, fungus( possibly fungi). 

The damage to the leaves, probably a fungus, those necrotic lesions are way too big for spider mites (which should leave small stippled marks). 

The damage you described to your jewel orchid, not spider mites, if the plant was damaged, potentially isopods, fungal infection, bacterial infection, slugs. If the stem didn't melt then it should resprout and can recover. 

The fine webs elsewhere, mycelia. 

You have to keep in mind that you can have multiple species of fungi going crazy in those tanks and that each time you disturb the plants to "deal" with the mites, your causing damage and stressing the plants while adding more moisture to them, end result increased chance they won't be able to resist the mold. 

Fungi and molds are part of the natural cycle in the enclosures as you cannot exclude them and they are going to have boom and bust periods particularly when the enclosures are first set up and if there aren't many other microbes with which they have to compete. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

I would bet money that what you are going through is just your tanks normal cycling process gone haywire due to way too much misting in the very beginning. You've basically infected everything in your tank with that mold/fungus.

Another way to help avoid this in the future, besides less misting, is to impregnate the substrate with a beneficial fungus. This way the good fungus has a head start and will out compete all of the nasty plant killing types.

Since I was too lazy to make my own, I ordered clay substrate from glass box tropicals for my second tank. As an added bonus it came with a bag of fungus spores called white widow or something like that. Your supposed to put it in the substrate in order to out compete the more nasty types of various blooms. 

Don't quote me but I believe it not only out competes the nasty versions but it also makes certain nutrients more readily available to your plants. 

My second tank is filled with aquarium plants and moss so in the beginning I way over watered since I was acclimating them to terrestrial growth. I never had a nasty bloom, I'm assuming because of the white widow but who knows. Def worth a try though and I will be using it from now on as a precaution.

If you go to a hydroponics store they sell this stuff separately and I now know where they get the names for some of that primo shite lol... This joke is only applicable in CO, CA, MA, and NV.


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

cam1941 said:


> I would bet money that what you are going through is just your tanks normal cycling process gone haywire due to way too much misting in the very beginning. You've basically infected everything in your tank with that mold/fungus.
> 
> Another way to help avoid this in the future, besides less misting, is to impregnate the substrate with a beneficial fungus. This way the good fungus has a head start and will out compete all of the nasty plant killing types.
> 
> ...




Well I really hope you are right because I heard that spider mites were really really bad. The reason why I was misting so much is because I initially thought that they were spider mites so I bumped up the humidity. 


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

Cam...can you suggest some hydroponic sites that might have the beneficial spores--if they are called that...


I may be in Maryland...but now I get it...or would like to..........lol


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## FoliaFatalis (Nov 11, 2016)

Hi, I haven't read every single response here, but if your setup doesn't have sufficient air-flow/drainage you could have root rot.

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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

LoL... Judy its actually called mycorrhizae inoculate. Here is the info that came with the clay substrate I bought:

Clay Substrate - Calcium Bearing 1lb

I wanted to add this since he says "If you use it"... Sounds like there may be pros and cons. I did use it and had no ill effects.

The first time I heard of it was in Pumulio's thread on clay substrate and there is some discussion on the topic if you read through it:

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/63732-clay-substrate-how.html

If you are sold, here is one type I saw offered for sale. Its enough to last you a lifetime for $20:

Xtreme Gardening Mykos 2.2 lb | 50% Off Discount Hydroponic Supplies

Hopefully someone with more experience with mycorrhizae inoculate will add their 2 cents...








Judy S said:


> Cam...can you suggest some hydroponic sites that might have the beneficial spores--if they are called that...
> 
> 
> I may be in Maryland...but now I get it...or would like to..........lol


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

How 'bout: https://www.4hydro.com/white-widow-mycorrhizal-inoculant

interesting website regardless....lol thnx


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

A quote from the site you recommended:

Mykos grows the biggest and best fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herb! 

HAHAHA


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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

Cool I didn't see that in my search... That's the stuff Mike includes with his clay substrate...



Judy S said:


> How 'bout: https://www.4hydro.com/white-widow-mycorrhizal-inoculant
> 
> interesting website regardless....lol thnx


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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

Correct! Only the finest LoL





Judy S said:


> A quote from the site you recommended:
> 
> Mykos grows the biggest and best fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herb!
> 
> HAHAHA


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

This is making me think it is mold:








May be hard to see. I appreciate everyone's input, I realize that I have been over misting everything, I cut misting off completely so I can allow time for things to dry a bit. Keep you posted 


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

Mites are in fact in the vivarium. Not sure what kind though. I can take a picture but I followed these lines that appears on the glass and there are white mites. Some of them look like they have a dark V shape on them. No they are not spring tales, quite smaller and more round.










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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

since you do not have frogs in the viv....maybe you can kill the mites, and any other unwelcome critters with CO2...looks like slug trails as well....put some lettuce leaves in and check first thing in the a.m. Keep us posted...


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

Judy S said:


> since you do not have frogs in the viv....maybe you can kill the mites, and any other unwelcome critters with CO2...looks like slug trails as well....put some lettuce leaves in and check first thing in the a.m. Keep us posted...




I do have frogs in these vivs, and I tried c02 before and it didn't kill everything, many springs survived also. I'm investing in a microscope to see what I can see.


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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

LoL Bro you're freaking out... Your tank is just cycling!

This is all normal stuff... If you just leave everything alone and stop misting all will be well. 

This is you're first tank right? You've already gotten a lot of good advice from people with experience; its not going to resolve itself in 30mins. You need way more patience. 

Just stop misting and leave the tank alone.

You may be too high strung for frogging LoL jk



Damon Ryan said:


> I do have frogs in these vivs, and I tried c02 before and it didn't kill everything, many springs survived also. I'm investing in a microscope to see what I can see.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

You should read this thread:

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/284049-help-fungus-killing-my-plants.html

It should help you understand whats going on...


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

cam1941 said:


> You should read this thread:
> 
> http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/284049-help-fungus-killing-my-plants.html
> 
> It should help you understand whats going on...




Not to be rude but you told me this many times in this thread and I said I understand. I also said that I cut down on misting. I like to research every possibility that I can.


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

Mite under microscope








Don't believe this one is a spider mite... but very interesting. 


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

Next contestant, different kind of mite I believe.










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## cam1941 (Jan 16, 2014)

Yeah, but it didn't seem to be sinking in and I was actually trying to save you some cash on a completely unnecessary microscope but no worries... Do your thing.




Damon Ryan said:


> Not to be rude but you told me this many times in this thread and I said I understand. I also said that I cut down on misting. I like to research every possibility that I can.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

cam1941 said:


> Yeah, but it didn't seem to be sinking in and I was actually trying to save you some cash on a completely unnecessary microscope but no worries... Do your thing.




thanks, I wanted one regardless. Picked this bad boy up on Craigslist for 40 dollars so I'm happy 


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## Lukehartung99 (Aug 27, 2016)

Damon Ryan said:


> thanks, I wanted one regardless. Picked this bad boy up on Craigslist for 40 dollars so I'm happy
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




I love that you got a microscope, how cool! I hope you can solve the problem


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## czpana (Aug 13, 2016)

Lady bugs


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## FoliaFatalis (Nov 11, 2016)

Neem oil should take care of your mites without harming your plants.

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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

FoliaFatalis said:


> Neem oil should take care of your mites without harming your plants.
> 
> Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk






czpana said:


> Lady bugs
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




Don't think these are really that bad, they don't seem to be spider mites.


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

Really nasty looking one. Much more hairy than the others and significantly larger. This one was in my spring tale culture. 


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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

Soil mite that was found in one of my new ISO cultures that I bought. Will be trying to get rid of these asap.










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## Damon Ryan (Nov 13, 2015)

No sing of the spider web stuff! I'm thinking that it was in fact mold so thank you to everyone who said that. I do have mites though. May be good or bad in some situations 


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## JPP (Mar 25, 2015)

Damon Ryan said:


> I do have mites though. May be good or bad in some situations.


There are mites of some kind in most every viv. But many frogs will eat them, just like they eat springtails and other types of microfauna. Bigger dart frogs like terribilis will ignore mites, but tincs and anything smaller will eat them.


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