# mites in my isopods and springtails!



## neddy191 (Sep 29, 2009)

I've been keeping several large cultures of springtails and about 7 different isopod species for the past 6 months or so. I've had no issues until about the past month. I keep them in rubbermaid tubs with DE (bulk bag I bought at the pool supply place). They are on the bottom shelves on my racks. One of my springtail master cultures was overrun with mites a few weeks ago so I ended up tossing it and starting a fresh culture. There were a few mites in my second culture so I tried filling it with water and trying to drown the mites but I just checked and the mite population is starting to build in it too. I'm planning on tossing it as well.

My other issue is my isopods. I have several species and they now have mites crawling around in them as well. I'm planning on sorting out all the larger species (zebra, giant orange, dalmations and peach) from their substrate and starting over their cultures. 

My issues are with the smaller species (dwarf purples and whites). My cultures are just now starting to really boom. I dont think I can sort them out. Any way I can farily easily sort out enough to restart cultures?

Can I use the dwarf whites/purples to reseed my vivs with all the mites? If I do do I need to worry about the mites killing off the springtail populations in my vivs?

Is pool DE good enough to try to prevent a recurrent mite infestation? I'm planning on moving my tubs to the top shelf so nothing can jump down in them.

Amazingly my FF cultures haven't had mite issues yet.


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## Hercrabit (Oct 6, 2016)

No expert by any means but I doubt the mites came across the DE to your culture. My cultures sit in DE and I've had no issues. From what I know mites are on most surfaces so if you laid the lid down while feeding it might of picked up a few. Or perhaps they rode in on the food for the culture. I usually feed my springtails brewers yeast and fresh sliced mushrooms. Some people use rice but it is known to have mites. Just a couple of possibilities.


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## Entomologist210 (Apr 24, 2014)

As someone who *is* an expert on acari, I'm still skeptical about the effectiveness of DE on most mites. Either use "mite paper" or an acaricide. Mites have waxy cuticles that repel water so drowning them is pointless as they float. Moreover the ones that do sink into water can absorb oxygen directly from the water for a very long time (days/weeks) (Even large ticks can do this). Without knowing what kind of mites you have, I can't venture a guess as to whether you'd risk bringing them into a viv or whether they are in fact predatory and will feed on your micro-fauna. However, if isopods can tolerate (for a short period of time, maybe six hours) a humidity drop to around 40% or below, most mites will die off from dehydration. I don't know if they can, and they probably can't, but that would definitely wipe out most mites.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Entomologist210 said:


> As someone who *is* an expert on acari, I'm still skeptical about the effectiveness of DE on most mites. Either use "mite paper" or an acaricide. Mites have waxy cuticles that repel water so drowning them is pointless as they float. Moreover the ones that do sink into water can absorb oxygen directly from the water for a very long time (days/weeks) (Even large ticks can do this). Without knowing what kind of mites you have, I can't venture a guess as to whether you'd risk bringing them into a viv or whether they are in fact predatory and will feed on your micro-fauna. However, if isopods can tolerate (for a short period of time, maybe six hours) a humidity drop to around 40% or below, most mites will die off from dehydration. I don't know if they can, and they probably can't, but that would definitely wipe out most mites.


Gotta agree with this. Mite paper, (not paper sprayed with mite spray...real mite paper), seems to be much more effective than DE. I'm loving seeing an entomologist back this up! In my experience, DE will also fail to kill wasps that crawl over it. It simply doesn't kill everything that walks across it, contrary to what you hear about it. 
Remember that your cultures cannot touch the walls on your bug shelf, unless you paper those also. Your cultures cannot touch each other, or mites will crawl from one cup to the next.
Water does nothing. While I'm no entomologist, I've done a lot of work with frog related microfauna. I've tested the effectiveness of drowning mites. I scrapped this idea very quickly. Mites that had been floating for at least several days, were still cursing the world with their presence. I looked closer, and I swear every one of the buggers was flipping me off! 
There are certainly predatory mites out there, and you read plenty of warnings about them here on DB. I have yet to meet a frogger who had a confirmed case of predatory mites. Sure, they can occur, but our cultures set up the perfect conditions for detritus and grain eating mites.
Further, if it is, in fact, a case of predatory mites that has reached infestation levels, it seems very likely that your springs and isos will very quickly be wiped out by them. A culture with a large number of both mites, and isopods, in my opinion, points towards grain or detritus mites. This should make them safe for seeding vivs out. On the other hand, if it is just starting, small numbers of mites, but large numbers of isos and springs, does not necessarily point to "safe" mites. 
Finally, if your mites are spreading through your cultures, it's pretty likely they are in your vivs already. Transfer is so easy, it's probably already happened. Do you wash your hands every time you touch a culture, before you enter the frog room? Even if your answer is yes, you could transfer mites to the faucet handle when you turn it on to wash. When you turn it off, you can transfer right back to your hands again, and you are off to the frog room... 
Did you ever touch a culture, then run your fingers through your hair, or adjust your glasses? That's going to take a full shower before you are truly "safe" to enter your frog room.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/fo...clean-your-mite-contaminated-springtails.html

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/79208-pumilo-dougs-bugs-my-new-closet.html

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/94348-3-micron-filters-why-how-where.html

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/66991-how-culture-isopods-woodlice-springtails.html

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/157202-giant-orange-isopod-reproduction-speed.html


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