# Sluggo, collateral damage?



## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

I have a 55 gallon viv which has been up and running for about 4 months. A major emphasis when constructing my viv was allowing a high load of microfauna, with the intentions eventually not feeding my frogs. I had been having some success until recently. My viv had been covered in two species of springs, and my frogs were never hungry. They would just jump around the viv and on the glass, eating the bountiful springs. 

Yesterday I noticed that my frogs were hunting all around the viv and not finding any food. I looked closely to find that my springtail and mite populations have been decimated. Before, the glass was covered in many species of mite and tons of springs. Yesterday I was able to find a single spring and no mites. And I blame Sluggo (Iron phosphate). A few weeks ago I applied a generous amount of sluggo to my viv after noticing that my slug population was increasing and eating my orchid roots. I haven't seen slugs lately, but also haven't seen much else in microfauna. 

Sluggo is thought to cause problems with slime secretion and is known to kill worms, slugs and snails, but I have never heard of it killing arthropods. When I get some free time I will do a controlled study on the effect of Sluggo and springtails, but until then I would be cautious when using this product. If anyone has any info on the mechanism of action by Sluggo or on collateral damage other than on worms, please post them here.
-mark


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## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

Mark,

I've been using sluggo for months in a few of my systems and it doesn't seem to have affected my microfauna populations. After I use it I flush my system out by heavily misting, just because it is a fertilizer and my plants wouldn't appreciate too much of it. Nemerteans on the other hand, which sluggo does not work on, have decimated the springtail populations in some of my tanks. The controlled study would be the best way to confirm your suspicions, but I can't say I've noticed any in my tanks. I'd be interested in helping with the study as well.

P.S. sorry for the delay, got your package out today.


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

Thanks Michael. I wouldn't be surprised if nemerteans are not effected by it merely because they don't eat it; I know studies on earthworms showed that sluggo would kill them if ingested, but that it usually wasn't ingested in high enough quantities to kill. I applied some about a month ago and its was insufficient to kill off all of my slugs, so this time I added more and didn't wash it away. I noticed that the pellets were covered in springtails, so perhaps the springs consumed way too much. Tonight I'll wash away the rest of it. Of course, it's still quite possible that sluggo has nothing to do with the disappearance of my springs, but I can only work with one hypothesis at a time.
-mark


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