[james67]

they are mites.
they are not spider mites.

they are considered a nuisance.
Co2 bombing will almost certainly not kill them as the gas will not penetrate deep enough into the soil to kill them.

james

 

[james67]

hmm brandon goes offline and alije makes their first post....

anyway, the mites tend to hold the front 2 limbs forward (look at other pics online) so at that angle and resolution it would be difficult to detect them.

james

 

[james67]

i didnt draw any connection, just thought it an odd place to start posting.

welcome to the board alije
james

 

[james67]

not ticks i assure you. the mite spray wouldnt be a good choice for anything inside a tank. mite spray (even those which say they are safe for use ON reptiles) shouldnt be used on frogs or in their enclosures.

if there were frogs in your tank they would be eating them and keeping the population controlled, but since there arent i fear that they might become so bountiful that when frogs are added the stress could kill the frogs.

like i mentioned earlier, bombing the tank with Co2 may put a damper on the mites, but it wont kill them all of as they can seek refuge in areas of the substrate where the gasses wont reach

i dont see any possibility of starving the mites. your pretty much stuck with them.

james

 

[james67]

They will not hurt PDF as the feed off the plants but they could stress the PDF's in mass amounts however they are good food for PDF's mine eat them all the time.

i have seen first hand frogs die of stress related to microfauna. stating that it will be fine isnt entirely accurate. they might be ok, but they might not.

i doubt seriously that what you have are spider mites. its more likely that the web like things that your seeing are mycelium and completely unrelated to the mites.

james

 

[james67]

the structure in that pic doesnt look like webs to me....

factiod:
mycelium is what comprises the main structure of one of the most widespread lifeforms on the planet, fungi, of which there are roughly 75,000 species.

also, ever consider that the bugs came from elsewhere? they didnt HAVE to hitch a ride on a plant. they could have been brought in on anything, or even just wandered in. i promise you that roaches were never brought in to my tanks, but living in the south, ive had to kill off roaches in virtually every tank i have.

james

 

[james67]

Either way spider mites or grain mites aren't a threat.

this is a blanket statement that isnt necessarily true. large populations of ANY microfauna can and will stress frogs to death. i have witnessed it first hand.

just something to consider.

james

 

[james67]

I meant a threat as for their well being, as in the mites attacking or feeding on the frogs.

death of an animal is death regardless of cause. its important to remember that your threads are public and available for others who may be having a similar issue. your satisfaction related to the question being answered is secondary to the plethora of other users who may find this thread in an attempt to seek answers to their questions as well.

I know about the dangerous of stress and there isn't even enough springs in there for the frogs even to get stressed and I haven't seen anymore mites.

its very easy to stress frogs to death with microfauna. and without having kept dart frogs, i cant see an accurate way to determine what is or isnt enough (in terms of population size and density) to cause fatal levels of stress.

you are just nitpicking.

im stating an important consideration that could potentially help other members who stumble on this thread and read

Either way spider mites or grain mites aren't a threat.

. which may or may not be the case. in fact there was a recent thread where a new hobbyist introduced 3 otherwise healthy frogs to a vivarium with too much microfauna and they died within 24 hours. this is important information, whether or not you choose to see it that way is unrelated to the importance of the dissemination of correct and useful info.


james

 

[james67]

I prefer to think of it as correcting misinformation. It's not about you. It's about other people reading the thread.

great minds.....

 

[james67]

please review the thread and recognize that the only posts not relating to the topic are your comments directed towards the "they". (who, unlike yourself have remained on topic and made no comments relating to the poster, but rather to the post and its content)

james

 

[james67]

that was one of the instances i was referring to mark. thanks.

shawn, im not singling out a member (i replied to the thread and am subscribed, i check back and respond like i do with any other thread) in fact ive been very careful to word my responses in a delicate way with this particular user so as not to offend him.

also, when talking about microfauna related stress being a non-life threatening issue i said:

which may or may not be the case.

my response was not an attack in any way, rather it was in reference to my own personal observations. i would ask you if, then you would place a frog into the booming culture that has less microfauna than the leaf litter? of course not. animals in small enclosed spaces react differently than those in the wild, to many stressors, like microfauna or temperature variation. both of which are deadly at different ranges in captivity(IME).

james