# mites?



## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

i looked at my imi today and it was "scratching" it's back, like it was trying to get something off. so i looked really closely and i saw little white things moving. they are almost microscopic. when i way microscopic i mean like about 10x smaller than sprigs. i have a pair of imi's and i jsut treated them for worms, whats going on? is there a treatment/what is it for them? could it be something else besides mites? the frogs seem ok, they used to be a little chunkier, but both are still very fat. 

where do mites come from? ff cultures? in another culture a week or so ago i noticed some white things that i didn't see before, so i ditched it. don't darts usually just eat the mites? please help, i have no idea what to do.


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## flyangler18 (Oct 26, 2007)

Before you start thinking mites, they might just be very very small springtails. I have a culture booming right now with hatchling (for lack of a better word- is 'instar' right in this case?) springtails all over the place. 

As for as the source of mites, they're pretty much everywhere and only become apparent when conditions are right- like FF cultures especially.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

are there mite that are that small? i put sprigs in the tank a monthish ago and haven't seen any since. but i know what sprigs look like, and these guys are sooooo much smaller, and they have a more circular body shape, from what i can tell. i have 20/20 vision and i was 6'' away and i could barely see them moving. too small to see any legs or means of locomotion. dont' want to flip out (well, too late) unless i need to, but i really don't think they are sprigs.


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## Catfur (Oct 5, 2004)

Mites come in all sizes from preggo tick on down to "need an electron microscope to see clearly." There are mites that parasitize amphibians, don't know about darts in specific. Yes they could be springtails, remember that springtails don't just poof into existence as adults, they start out from eggs far smaller than the naked eye can see. Three disjoint sentences do not a paragraph make, nor does a fourth pointing this fact out remedy this, sorry to go all Tor Linbo on you.

If you really want to know, you should contact a vet. Nobody here (unless someone has developed omniscience while I was in the Quad Cities) is qualified to say for sure what almost too tiny to see things crawling around on your frogs are. Even if they are mites, they could just be the vegetarian/detrivore type but getting everywhere.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

what do i ask the vet?/i don't want to bring the frogs in. arn't mites usually something darts eat though?


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## flyangler18 (Oct 26, 2007)

Ed would really be the one to comment here (or Dr. Frye through Rich), but I don't think that your frogs are infested with mites directly, but rather the mites are present in the viv by some other means. I sometimes get mites in my springtail cultures, particularly when I feed things other than yeast.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

ok, thanks a lot fly!


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