# Unexplain Springtail Death



## froglet (May 18, 2005)

*A Bloomind Culture of Springs that just suddenly died. I have a few more springs next to them so its not heat or cold.... and def not mites. This just happened overnight. Any explinations ? *


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

LOL ok never mind all springs came back to life haha
I guess too much carbon dioxide hehe


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## kj (Jan 15, 2006)

froglet said:


> I guess too much carbon dioxide hehe


 :lol: :lol:


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## nburns (May 3, 2005)

I don't spend a lot of time with my springtail cultures so compared to mine that thing is amazing. Maybe I should start adding food more often!


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## Marty (Feb 27, 2004)

That looks great.. even dead 

I had that problem few times, overnight they would jsut croak. Happened after feeding them yeast, so definite CO2 problem.

Glad to see that they recovered, seems like a great culture

what u feed these guys ? 


M.


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

Just Rice, nothing else. Just a bit of rice, i think ill have to put some holes on top now so this wont happen again =0......


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

is that black plastic atop your substrate (and what is that substrate, btw)?


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

The substrate is charcoal, the best springtail media there is.


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

pastorjosh said:


> The substrate is charcoal, the best springtail media there is.


What make it better than the others, though? I've used coco, but I've never had results like that...


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2006)

:shock: Wow, that's a *booming* culture, how long has it been going?

I've heard about the problems with co2, glad to hear that's all it was.


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

Well the culture was given to me by a friend, but there is a large difference in charcoal and cocoo... huge difference. I will never use cocoo again.... charcoal will give it that blooom..


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

is there a specific type of charcoal that you have to use, or can you burn your own wood and use it? I know that sounds odd, but I go camping ALOT, and I wouldn't see why it wouldn't work.


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## back2eight (Dec 19, 2005)

I use orchid mix. I have fed mine potato flakes, and baby oatmeal cereal flakes, and then spray with water. They seem to thrive on this. I haven;t fed them anything else.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I've kept springtails on a variety of media, and while some might do better than others the main difference for me between medias was some were way easier to feed off of than others!

I've currently got cultures that are booming just like pictured, the key is feeding them! If you feed them enough to support the population, the population will boom. As the population booms, I increase the amount of food to balance it out. I've gone from feeding fish flakes once every week or two, to feeding a couple times a week to keep the cultures at the peak. The young springtails are getting to the stage where the culture is perfect to feed out of or split. Now I've just gotta figure out what Dunner made the sludge out of that they love so much so I can replicate it


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

Corey- in your opinion, what's the best media for them, then, if you've tried so many?


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Whatever is easiest for you to feed them off of! That's one of the reasons I like charcoal, you could just pick up a piece and either tap it on the side of the tank, or gentley blow on it to get them off. 

The coco fiber is next to impossible to feed them out of, unless you have something like oak or magnolia leaves in the culture (slow to break down) sitting on top of the media, and you use the leaves in the same fashion as the charcoal (but I tend to not get much this way). I don't think its that this media produces less, its just that the springtails tend to be IN the media rather than ON the media, so you see less of the population.

I got some springtail cultures from Dunner a couple months ago that basically have sludge for media (like a typical soil mix that is just kept so wet its mud) and they love it. Its also very easy for me to feed them out of, I just have the culture over the tank at an angle, blow on it, and the springies will blow right off the surface of the sludge.

You can get equal production off any of these media with various foods (I just use fish flakes, tho rice, couscous, and special springtail foods will work as well) its just judging when to feed. If you don't feed very often, you will have a lower population. If you feed more often, you can support a higher population, and the culture will explode. To keep that higher population, just keep feeding them more often. I wait til the fish flakes I fed before have disapeared to feed again, with higher populations this takes less and less time.

** on the original topic, I've had this happen to my cultures as well, its one of the reasons I keep smaller cultures that I feed often, so I open the cultures a couple times a week and I'm less inclined to just "let them sit" and have the CO2 build up.


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## Frank H (Nov 3, 2005)

Froglet, Nice culture!

I have some springtails in some leca balls and water about half the height of the leca. Lots of springtails in there. Also have some springtails in mud. Lots of springtails in there too. My point, I think they will grow in anything, like KeroKero said: choose a substrate that you like to feed out of.
Tip: 
Try a few small cultures of a couple different substrates and they will all grow more springtails.. then try feeding out of each of em and choose what you like best. 

quick questoin:
Will mites take over springtail cultures just like fruitfly cultures? I have mites in my flies and am just curious about my springtails. 

-Frank


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

40zDicTator said:


> Froglet, Nice culture!
> 
> I have some springtails in some leca balls and water about half the height of the leca. Lots of springtails in there. Also have some springtails in mud. Lots of springtails in there too. My point, I think they will grow in anything, like KeroKero said: choose a substrate that you like to feed out of.
> Tip:
> ...


YES. I've lost all of my springtail cultures (5) to mites. I need to buy new ones now... it sucks. MITES SUCK.


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## EDs Fly Meat (Apr 29, 2004)

I recommend cocofiber. Springtails are detritevores. Their job in the ecosystem is to break down rotten organics. They love fungus, and molds. They like moisture and tight spaces. Springtails normaly live in soils. They love soils. I used to use charcoal which is good, but I have found cocofiber to be better. A clean soil substitute if you will. The cocofiber makes lots of little pockets that are perfect for springtails. They have their own space to eat and breed, the cocofiber absorbs moisture, and they do really well. 

Springtails can feed on lots of things, as long as it makes fungus and is organic. Grain mites are an unfortunate FACT of the hobby. They are everywhere. EVERYWHERE. And they enjoy the same conditions that springtails do. We have played around with a few mixes of springtails and have found one that really works well for us. Rice works fine, as does Brewer's yeast. I have heard cous cous, banana peels and fish food. All of those are obviousl organic and break down and springtails can use them. If that works well for you then do it.

As for the why the culture crashed. Who knows. If you use yeast then sometimes the yeast can activate and starts fermenting. You get a huge CO2 build up an there you go. There is also something to be said about populations. There is a great ecology experiment where they used mice and gave them infinate food and water but limited space. The graph of the population is really interesting in that it grows really fast until all the space is used up and then CRASH! They all die. So far the really interesting thing is that the mouse graph looks like the human popualtion graph. But I digress.
Crashes happen, keep at it. Obviously your doing well with your insane yeilds.
Dave


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