# New Culture with MITES !



## Faceless (Sep 11, 2008)

Has anyone ever got a new culture of
anything, only to have it full of mites ?
Well i did, i bought a Tropical Springtail
culture from a vendor and when i got it it 
was full of brown mites... i mean LOTS of them...
i literally could only see like maybe two springtails.
there was even a couple isopods rummaging
in the soil also... what a disappointment...
i wrote the vendor and never got a return email...


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

if you have a mite infestation they will get into yoru cultures rather quickly so use mite spray if you can to try and keep the mites under control.


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## Faceless (Sep 11, 2008)

Well its a completely new culture from
a vendor... i am basically just gonna trash it...
i already had moved it to another location
as a just in case so i should be good


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

I've had that happen. The substrate was some organic. I flooded the CX and with a turkey baster, transfered some springs to another container. I use lump charcoal. Before you toss it, you could try transfering some to a new container with charcoal and seperate it. Watch it for a month to see if the mites reappear.


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## HappyHippos1 (May 7, 2007)

Dump the entire culture in a viv. The frogs will eat the mites right up.


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## Stefan Skans (Dec 13, 2007)

Yes, I've done the same, "dumping them to the frogs" and the love them,
but will it get them more poisonous?

Toxic Frogs Get Their Poison From Mites


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## Faceless (Sep 11, 2008)

I have just always thought that mites
were bad to have in your tanks and can 
become menacing, especially the orange ones...
which looks to be like the Oribatid mites in
that National Geographic Article...
According to that the mites help the frogs
secrete alkaloids that help fight infection...
Maybe there is something beneficial here..
I wonder why i haven't heard or read anything
here about this ?? I'm going to start a new post
about this in feeding 

thanks for the input !

Justin


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## Dave Covington (Oct 3, 2008)

Can somebody post a picture of what these "mites" look like? I'm new to the hobby and am not sure what to look for.


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## Faceless (Sep 11, 2008)

Well im sure there are many species of these mites
but here is a general image of what these ones look like:
But from what i just read they are very very tiny and you
pretty much need a microscope to see them...


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## Lucky (Jan 15, 2007)

I have the white mites in my tanks, and from what I have read here they are not (the white ones) harmful to the frogs, they help clean up the dead stuff in the tank and the frogs will eat them. I have also read that people have tried and tried to get rid of them and have failed. As for the other kind of mites I do not know. They are also in one of my spring tail cultures but they dont hurt the springs, I see them both sitting next to each other eating away.


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/27733-springtails-toxic.html#post254408

I have since isolated a pure populations of the larger springs and threw out the smaller ones.
-mark


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

Send me a PM w/the vendor so I can avoid them, please.


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

earthfrog said:


> Send me a PM w/the vendor so I can avoid them, please.


When I brought up my concerns with the vendor, the vendor refunded my money entirely, which meant I ended up getting the culture for free.


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

HappyHippos1 said:


> Dump the entire culture in a viv. The frogs will eat the mites right up.


They also might ingest the coco fiber, which can block their bowels from moving and kill them. I don't recommend doing this---additionally, it's best to cover cocofiber with moss on the floor of your viv for this same reason.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

earthfrog said:


> They also might ingest the coco fiber, which can block their bowels from moving and kill them. I don't recommend doing this---additionally, it's best to cover cocofiber with moss on the floor of your viv for this same reason.


 
whooow now. A basic and much used substrate for vivs is coco, I've got it in 60+ tanks so I cant say I agree with that statement.

Perhaps dry media?? but personally I wouldnt implicate coco as a strong potential hazard at all...

now back to the thread question....

I've dumps plenty of mited cultures into vivs. The frogs eat them ravenously. 

You can also outcompete the mites by feeding your springs heavily and adding a thick layer of leaf litter to the spring culture. Putting it into larger 190cc containers also favors springtails over mites. I rarely give up on a mited springtail cx, as the mites are usually short lived if conditions favor the springs [moisture, good food source, leaf litter]

S


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## basshummper (Jan 13, 2008)

i never knew springtails could outcompete mites, i always thought they were like a virus always pouncing when populations of springtails were up. so these mites arn't realy eatting the springs? Shawn, do you think high moisture is bad for the mites or just that the springtails can take better advantage of moisture?


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

sports_doc said:


> whooow now. A basic and much used substrate for vivs is coco, I've got it in 60+ tanks so I cant say I agree with that statement.
> 
> Perhaps dry media?? but personally I wouldnt implicate coco as a strong potential hazard at all...
> 
> ...


I'm glad you have not had any frogs harmed by the cocofiber---I have talked to other froggers and vendors who agree that it can harm the frogs if ingested in too large a quantity---biopsies were done and coco-impaction of the bowels were found as the cause of death. The issue was when the coco wasn't covered by another substrate to prevent the frogs from ingesting it---I too use cocofiber in my tanks, but cover it with sphagnum and other mosses. Hope this helps. Didn't mean to offend anyone, as usual...


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