# How do I use CO2 to kill mites in my tank



## Dart girl (Sep 25, 2013)

Maybe this is self explanatory maybe not . I have a tank that I found mites in. I have removed the inhabitants and sealed the top. My question is how do I get the canister with CO2 open? Or is there any easier way? What product has everyone used that is simple.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

You can either do the dry ice thing where you'd put an open container of it in there and let it completely flood the viv or rig up something where you use a few 2L bottles of sugar water and yeast to feed the viv with CO2. Maybe use aquarium air line piped into the viv top or maybe tubing from home depot or something.


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## Dart girl (Sep 25, 2013)

Thanks


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## Parkway Drive (Aug 21, 2009)

the mites will be back. I wouldnt waste your time and money trying to get rid of them unless the population is extremely large that it could stress out your frogs.


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## Dart girl (Sep 25, 2013)

I'm gonna try the yeast and sugar water. These are items I have at home. 


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## bsr8129 (Sep 23, 2010)

Something quicker then yeast and sugar water. Is baking soda and vinegar much quicker way to make a lot of CO2.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Mites are everywhere. Mites are in every vivarium, everywhere. Mites are widespread across the planet. You will NEVER eliminate them from your vivarium permanently. 

Here it comes again...Show me a vivarium without mites, and I will show you a frogkeeper in need of a good pair of glasses.

Choose your battles and give that one up now. Save the warfare for something that matters, and for something that you have a prayer of winning. Instead, worry about your culturing areas, which are NOT right by your frog tank, right? You need a "clean" area to culture in, set up with mite paper. Flies in one spot, springtails and isopods in another, ideally _at least_ separated by a shelf. 

To sum it up in one sentence, "Keep the mites out of your cultures (or at least in control), and for the most part, you simply don't have to worry about the mites in your vivarium.".

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/beginner-discussion/95267-mites.html
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/172514-mites.html
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/160474-mites-tank.html
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/94177-mites-viv-need-help.html


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## Dart girl (Sep 25, 2013)

I have fruit flies in a seperate room on mite paper thAt I change every 3 months or so. And no place near my frog room. My spring tail cultures are seperate from flies and frogs. I do realize that environment is full of mites however these seem to be attacking my plants. They are so bad I am considering scrapping the entire Viv. None of my other tanks seem to have them. I have isolated this tank just incase. I think they hitch hiked on some new plants that I put in there. This was even after my treating the plants with light bleach soak. 


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

In case it wasn't mentioned already, your frogs EAT mites! They love them, so just let frogs do what they do best, and eventually your mite population will dwindle down substantially


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## nish07 (Mar 16, 2008)

Wouldn't worry about mites unless they're eating your plants. You won't get rid of everything with CO2. It really needs to remove all the oxygen and can't because bubbles of it will be stuck in the substrate regardless. Maybe if you pulled out all the substrate but honestly I wouldn't go that far unless you had things like centipedes or slugs.

-Nish


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

If they are spider mites then I would definitely worry about them b/c they will destroy your plants. It is unlikely they are spider mites in a dart frog viv (b/c they like drier conditions) but its not unheard of.


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## JPccusa (Mar 10, 2009)

Like others have said, mites are inevitable and will actually feed some of your frogs. If you still want to CO2 bomb your tank, read here: http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/care-sheets/57367-building-using-co2-generator.html


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## tODDski (Jun 7, 2013)

I've had vivariums for decades, and what Pumilo said is spot on. Mites thrive in vivarium conditions, but are also a prey item to frogs. Slow down the mites food source, let the frogs do their thing, and take some Xanax or something - chill out, you're fine.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

I'm gonna chime in one more time b/c clearly some of you don't understand the threat of spider mites...

If they are spider mites, do something about it. Any other mite, let it be b/c they are a food source like everyone here has mentioned. Spider mites are particularly dangerous b/c they not only destroy plants but they are rather sessile which will not make it easy for a frog to see them in order to actual prey upon them.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Frogtofall said:


> I'm gonna chime in one more time b/c clearly some of you don't understand the threat of spider mites...
> 
> If they are spider mites, do something about it. Any other mite, let it be b/c they are a food source like everyone here has mentioned. Spider mites are particularly dangerous b/c they not only destroy plants but they are rather sessile which will not make it easy for a frog to see them in order to actual prey upon them.


Don't spider mites have problems reproducing in high humidity environments? 

Some comments 

Ed


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Ed said:


> Don't spider mites have problems reproducing in high humidity environments?
> 
> Some comments
> 
> Ed


Yeah they do which is why I made this comment earlier.



Frogtofall said:


> If they are spider mites then I would definitely worry about them b/c they will destroy your plants. It is unlikely they are spider mites in a dart frog viv (b/c they like drier conditions) but its not unheard of.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Frogtofall said:


> Yeah they do which is why I made this comment earlier.


Oops sorry, I missed it when I scanned through the thread. Multitasking sometimes gets the better of me. 

Thanks for the correction. 

Ed


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## Dart girl (Sep 25, 2013)

I don't know what type of mites they were. I tried the sugar and yeast bomb suggested earlier. It seemed to kill enough that when I re introduced the frogs they took care of the rest. 


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## Steverd (Sep 4, 2011)

How about something that eats Mites (besides frogs) like:
Mite Predator, Phytoseiulus persimilis, Pirate Bugs, Ladybugs and Green Lacewings. Is this an option?


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