# Are springtails toxic?



## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

I am in the process of seeding my terrarium with invertebrates, with the hope of establishing a robust enough ecosystem to support my frogs without me introducing food for them (I haven't yet added the frogs). More on my setup http://www.dendroboard.com/parts-construction/topic37299.html.
I have been trying to introduce bugs from the wild, but am very selective about what I add, so as not to introduce predators or inedible inverts. I know some people here use springtails as food, so I order some online. The springtails that came were only identified as "tropical springtails", but I suspect that they are Folsomia candida. Here is a page with some pictures of F. candida. _F. candida_ are small (2 mm), white, parthenogenic species, common throughout the world in houseplants, and are cultured by the scientific community, so it's not surprising that they have made it into the dart community.

What concerns me is that the scientific community considers these toxic :shock: , based on studies using wolf spiders. Here is a link to the abstract of one such study, and if anyone can get the whole paper, shoot me a PM. Essentially, they fed baby wolf spiders several different foods and measured their growth rate. When fed a _D. melanogaster_, or the springtail _Heteromurus nitidus_, spiders grew fastest. When fed _F. candida_, the spiders grew the same as those which were not fed any food. Additionally, when _F. candida_ was added to a diet of _D. melanogaster_ and _H. nitidus_, the survival, growth and development was strongly negatively affected. 

So the question is, has anyone noticed that "tropical springtails" have caused a growth impact on their frogs? I know that some of you grow up your babies on springtails, has anyone grown them exclusively on _F. candida_, with success or failure? The paper also notes that the spiders did not decrease the consumption of _F. candida_, implying that they could not tell that the prey was toxic. The paper also notes that some the aphid species they used also caused growth defects.

So with that, let's get a discussion going.


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

Most of my pumilio get nothing but trop springs for the first month or so and grow very well.


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

are they the little white ones?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Have you reviewed the entire article? 
The abstract posted posited that the prey may be toxic or of *low quality* for wolf spiders. To assume that the springtails in question are toxic based on the abstract is a bit of a leap. 
I would suspect that they may be imbalanced for spiderlings as a food source (they could be deficient in some fatty acids for example..) or the amount of calories expended in capturing and ingesting the springtails is insufficient compared to the calories that gathered from the springtails (for the spiders). 

Some comments,

Ed


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

Ed,
For that article I could only get the abstract, but it does have this relevant information


> Adding F. candida to the mixed diet consisting of H. nitidus and D. melanogaster resulted in a *dramatic decrease* in overall food quality. *Survival, growth and development of spiderlings decreased strongly.* The results document that the nutritional quality for generalist predators differs significantly between prey species. Mixed diets may be beneficial but also detrimental. P. lugubris appears to be unable to recognize and refuse detrimental prey species in mixed diets. The presence of toxic or low quality prey species may therefore counteract the benefits of mixed diets for generalist predators.


What concerns me the most here, is that I infer from this that eating springtails would be worse than eating no springtails, and if that is the case then I would rather not introduce them into my viv. That said, these studies (there have been other studies as well) all use wolf spiders as the predator. I haven't found any studies that use vertebrates. If Aaron (or anyone else) can raise froglets exclusively on F. candida, then clearly they are not having the toxic effects on frogs and I will go ahead and add them into my viv. When I read this, it just made me think back to reports of people consistently having froglets die without determining the cause.

I should also note that during my research into food quality of predators, I came upon a couple papers that referred to E-flies, which were "enhanced Drosophila melanogaster" which meant that dog food was mixed into the fly media. Some researchers found that predators grew better on E-flies than on N-flies (normal Drosophila).

Thanks for the discussion guys. Does anyone else have any insight?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

markbudde said:


> Ed,
> The presence of toxic or low quality prey species may therefore counteract the benefits of mixed diets for generalist predators.





markbudde said:


> What concerns me the most here, is that I infer from this that eating springtails would be worse than eating no springtails, and if that is the case then I would rather not introduce them into my viv..


If the springtails are insufficient in one or more of the following items for a wolf spider, one or more amino acids,fatty acids, or calories, you could easily get a result that is the same as the spiders not consuming springtails. You really can't make the jump from the nutrient requirments for a spider to a vertebrate as there are significant differences in the required nutrients... 




markbudde said:


> When I read this, it just made me think back to reports of people consistently having froglets die without determining the cause...


We are making progress towards working this out... but keep in mind that when dealing with egg feeders the loss of froglets could easily be directly correclated to adult nutrition as the is what the reserves for the froglet are going to be based on at metamorphosis. For a theoretical example, pretty much the majority of the vitamin D3 (unless you supplement with UVB) and vitamin A (as retinol) are going to be from maternal sources... and these can easily result in the losses seen.... There are multiple other possible scenarios.... 



markbudde said:


> I should also note that during my research into food quality of predators, I came upon a couple papers that referred to E-flies, which were "enhanced Drosophila melanogaster" which meant that dog food was mixed into the fly media. Some researchers found that predators grew better on E-flies than on N-flies (normal Drosophila).
> quote]
> 
> Yes straight commercial ff media is known to produce ffs that are deficient in carotenoids, and amino acids. All becuase the flies grow on it, does not mean that it produces the best fly for predators. This why the ff media sold by the various vendors has those amendments in it.....
> ...


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## edwardsatc (Feb 17, 2004)

I have the full PDF. Shoot me an email or PM if you would like me to send it to you.


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

So I looked over the full paper (thanks Donn), and I will briefly summarize relevant data. The got baby spiders, and fed them every three days with an amount of bugs equal to 1/3 the weight of the spider. The survival of the spiders fed different foods is as follows, with time in days:

no food: 12 days
Tropical Springtals: 10.9 days
Drosophila: 74.1 days
H. nitidus: all lived
(Mix 1)H. nitidus + Drosophila: all lived
(Mix 2)H. nitidus + Drosophila + Tropical Springtails : *22.4 days*

If the springtails were merely not nutritionally balanced, we would not expect these results. Since the total weight of food was kept the same, we can assume that even if the springtails had no nutritional value, the nutritional content of Mix 2 would be 66% of Mix 1, and we would not expect them to die off so quickly. We can conclude from this that the springtails are toxic to wolf spiders. 

That said, Aaron has data that they are not toxic to frogs, and are in fact sufficient as a sole nutritional source for froglets, so I think that trumps any experiment done in invertebrates. I noticed they other day that I have some brown springtails growing in my viv. I would be interested to here how many varieties are used in the hobby. I found some large springtails in the forest the other day, similar in appearance to H. nitidus, so I would like to try those also. 

Thanks for the discussion everyone. 8)


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I wonder if they died sooner because of expended engery hunting and digesting (or attempting to) the springtails vs. not being fed? Just a thought...

Pumilio and reticulatus both need small food items when they first come out of the water, and springtails is the most commonly cultured feeder invertabrate that is fed to them. There have been cases where frogs have been fed them exclusively to adulthood on them... cuz the darn things wouldn't eat anything else :? They are likely not the most nutritionally balanced, but many PDF species, as well as other frogs like Mantella, have been raised on these as starter foods. Their growth is very good, but the "mysterious" deaths were an issue... and as Ed stated, not exactly figured out but supplementing the froglet's diets as soon as possible has helped, since there is obvious nutritional properties lacking in the springtail diet... calcium was one major suspect which is why some give calcium drops on the froglets' backs and have had great success after that.

Also keep in mind... PDFs are well known for eating toxic buggies and banefiting from it. They are not toxic to these guys or they wouldn't be in such demand in the hobby. If they didn't like to eat them, they'd still be benefitial to the tank flora and the frogs would just ignore them. Unfortunately the frogs love them which causes problems in keeping the population in the tank high.

It's much like all the toxic plants we toss in their tank... it's all about the definition of "toxic" (our frogs are not apt to chew on the plants) and how it relates to the specific case, in this case the frogs.


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

OK, a follow up to this post. I ordered some "Tropical Springtails" about a month ago, and when they arrived, they were heavily contaminated. When I looked at them under the scope, there were at least one species of mite and nematode, and at least two species of annelid. Although this bothered me and there was no way I was using this to seed my tank, I decided I would try and isolate out the springtails rather than trying to get demand another culture (which would probably also have some degree of contamination). I looked at the springs under a microscope and they appeared to me to be F. candida, as described above. Well, today I tried to reisolate a new sterile population from the contaminated starter culture, and there was clearly another species in there. So maybe the F. candida were just contamination in the culture I got, and no actually what was sold to me as "tropical springtails", explaining the results above. So, for any of you who have looked at your "tropical springtails" magnified, which look like hwat you feed your darts?

Springtail A--









OR

Springtail B--









Any input is greatly appreciated, as always.
-mark


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

markbudde said:


> OK, a follow up to this post. I ordered some "Tropical Springtails" about a month ago, and when they arrived, they were heavily contaminated. When I looked at them under the scope, there were at least one species of mite and nematode, and at least two species of annelid. Although this bothered me and there was no way I was using this to seed my tank, I decided I would try and isolate out the springtails rather than trying to get demand another culture (which would probably also have some degree of contamination).
> 
> Any input is greatly appreciated, as always.
> -mark


Mark

Why are you concerned about the contaminents in the culture? 

Ed


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

Ed, there are 2 species of springtails in my culture, and I don't know which is the contaminant.
I also would rather not introduce worms into my tank. The fact that springtails seem to be the minority occupants of my culture is a little unsettling to me. For all I know, the contaminants are eating my springtails or their eggs.


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

Tropical springs most likely won`t establish in your tank, they are generally used as a feeder and cultured. Other types of springs such as temperate whites, blues and silvers are best for culturing in tank or "seeding" a tank. I even have a couple tanks w/ blacks in it which I`ve had a hard time culturing in plastic containers. The temperate, smaller whites and silver are best for seeding tanks.
I wouldn`t worry much about the worms and other mites, they get in there one way or another. I feed trop springs often and seed silver springs a couple times a year.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

markbudde said:


> Ed, there are 2 species of springtails in my culture, and I don't know which is the contaminant.
> I also would rather not introduce worms into my tank. The fact that springtails seem to be the minority occupants of my culture is a little unsettling to me. For all I know, the contaminants are eating my springtails or their eggs.



Hi Mark,

With respect to the worms.. unless you are growing all of your plants from sterile seeds using sterile media then they are already in the enclosure. This is why I was curious as to why you were concerned about them.. pretty much its going to be virtually impossible to keep soil nematodes and small annelids out of the tanks unless you are sterilizing everything that goes into the tank (and you may have to treat the frogs to keep them from transfering with the frogs). It is possible that the other invertebrates are competing with the springtails but it can also take a little while for springtail cultures to really bloom. Try feeding the culture with baker's/active yeast as this may (and I stress the may) be more geared to the springtails than the other invertebrates. 

Ed


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

frogfarm said:


> Tropical springs most likely won`t establish in your tank, they are generally used as a feeder and cultured. Other types of springs such as temperate whites, blues and silvers are best for culturing in tank or "seeding" a tank. I even have a couple tanks w/ blacks in it which I`ve had a hard time culturing in plastic containers. The temperate, smaller whites and silver are best for seeding tanks.
> I wouldn`t worry much about the worms and other mites, they get in there one way or another. I feed trop springs often and seed silver springs a couple times a year.


I have had good success establishing springs in my tank when adding enriched cornmeal to the substrate and spraying it down, then adding corkbark as a refuge from the frogs.


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## MrGerbik (Dec 18, 2006)

This is actually interesting that worms came up. I have a morph out tank with water cups in them for some tads. One tad is almost morphed out but i found another dead. When i used my little eyepiece to see it closer i noticed worms coming out of its mouth. Possible cause of death? Maybe. These too were "tropical springtails"


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Possibly but I would lean more towards those being harmless detrivore scavengers than parasites. 


Ed


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

MrGerbik said:


> This is actually interesting that worms came up. I have a morph out tank with water cups in them for some tads. One tad is almost morphed out but i found another dead. When i used my little eyepiece to see it closer i noticed worms coming out of its mouth. Possible cause of death? Maybe. These too were "tropical springtails"



It is possible that the tadpole died of causes that were not of worms and later on some grindal worms (scavengers, not parasites) got a hold of it---or it may have had a worm infestation. I seriously doubt that tads eating springtails, their natural prey, would hurt them---I have seen a tad gobble a springtail floating on the water with relish. I would look at it under a microscope to get a better idea. Roundworms may not be visible with the naked eye---possibly pinworms? In any case, have Dr. Frye check it out----and don't use tap water to raise tads in if you can help it. It sometimes carries parasites and can cause tads to grow more slowly due to the toxin load.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

earthfrog said:


> It is possible that the tadpole died of causes that were not of worms and later on some grindal worms (scavengers, not parasites) got a hold of it---or it may have had a worm infestation. I seriously doubt that tads eating springtails, their natural prey, would hurt them---I have seen a tad gobble a springtail floating on the water with relish. I would look at it under a microscope to get a better idea. Roundworms may not be visible with the naked eye---possibly pinworms? In any case, have Dr. Frye check it out----and don't use tap water to raise tads in if you can help it. It sometimes carries parasites and can cause tads to grow more slowly due to the toxin load.


I am pretty sure frogs don't get pinworms. They can get hookworm and lungworm, which can be harmful, but not pin.

Do you know which parasites are found in tap? I know there's chemicals that can be harmful, but are you sure about the parasites?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Tadpoles and frogs do get pin worms. In at least bullfrogs (and it is known from other species) pinworms were shown to be beneficial to the tadpoles. 

See Pryor. G.S. & Bjorndal, K.A. "Effects of the nematode Gyrinicola batrachiensis on development, gut morphology, and fermentation in bullfrog tadpoles (Rana catesbeiana): a novel mutualism". J. Exp. Zool. 2005. 303A: 704-712.

There is the potential that oxyurids found in adult frogs may help with the digestion and breakdown of prey items that contain a lot of chitin (similar to how digestion of ant prey is facilitated in horned toads (Phrynosoma). 

Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I would really lean towards harmless detrivore nematodes as these are very common.... 

Ed


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

otis07 said:


> I am pretty sure frogs don't get pinworms. They can get hookworm and lungworm, which can be harmful, but not pin.
> 
> Do you know which parasites are found in tap? I know there's chemicals that can be harmful, but are you sure about the parasites?


I'm mainly talking about bacterial parasites and protozoans that form cysts and can survive water purification processes----sorry I didn't make that clear. Here's a good article for you---
Giardia lamblia and Giardiasis: The Common Waterborne Parasite that Causes Beaver Fever

The pinworms I suggested since they were one of the few visible to the naked eye---I suggested it with a question mark since I wasn't too sure on that issue. Do the frogs get tapeworms, too?


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

Ed said:


> Tadpoles and frogs do get pin worms. In at least bullfrogs (and it is known from other species) pinworms were shown to be beneficial to the tadpoles.
> 
> See Pryor. G.S. & Bjorndal, K.A. "Effects of the nematode Gyrinicola batrachiensis on development, gut morphology, and fermentation in bullfrog tadpoles (Rana catesbeiana): a novel mutualism". J. Exp. Zool. 2005. 303A: 704-712.
> 
> ...


Ed, is this recent news? About 2 years ago I was talking to Dr. Frye about worms in amphibians and I quote

"pinworm infection (oxyurids,)while common in humans and reptiles, isunknown in amphibians. I would guess that the worms seen were either hookworms or lungworms, but it would be a guess."

So this is what I was going off of before, not sure what the current status is. 



earthfrog said:


> I'm mainly talking about bacterial parasites and protozoans that form cysts and can survive water purification processes----sorry I didn't make that clear. Here's a good article for you---
> Giardia lamblia and Giardiasis: The Common Waterborne Parasite that Causes Beaver Fever
> 
> The pinworms I suggested since they were one of the few visible to the naked eye---I suggested it with a question mark since I wasn't too sure on that issue. Do the frogs get tapeworms, too?


That makes more sense now, thanks for clearing that up.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

That reference was 2005 (it is only recently that pinworms have been recognized as potentially being beneficial in herps). 

Pinworms (oxyurids) have been known to occur in anurans for decades (see Fotedar, D. N. and R. Tikoo. 1968. Further studies on the life cycle of Cosmocerca kashmirensis Fotedar, 1959, common oxyurid nematode parasite of Bufo viridis in Kashmir. Proceedings of the Indian Science Congress Association 55:460. ) for one reference. 

and for a 2003 reference for O. histrionica see Helminths of two anuran species, Atelopus spurrell...[Parasitol Int. 2003] - PubMed Result

Ed


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