Are these mites?&Are these springtails macro pics

23228 Views 84 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Ed, Dec 18, 2011

DragonSpirit1185

Discussion Starter · Dec 8, 2011 (Edited)

I was looking at the springtails in my viv then I noticed what seemed to be tiny spiders crawling around and when i got a closer looked the first thing that came to mind was mites.
these guys are amber colored and are dark at the head and loose there color as you look down them.
here is some macro pics...the best I could get out of my dad's camera..

macro pics of the mites I zoomed in on lol, you can also see the springs in question.

here is a really good one I messed with paint and zoomed in then screen shot it lol.

if they are mites are the predator mites and do I need to get rid of them.
idk how I got them or where they cam from but they have just showed up

I'm pretty sure these are springtails(99.99%).....just wanted to post some pics of them and see what if thought others thought they were too.
I have posted another thread about these lil guys but until now I have never had such good pics.
I know they are local and they hitch hiked on some plants from Lowes.
here are some pics of me messing around with paint and zooming in on the macro pics....

they look white but really they are like a dull silver...metallic gray?lol
gray or silver springtails maybe?

thanks for your help

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Ed

· #41 · Dec 11, 2011

DragonSpirit1185 said:
If these aren't what you are referring to then please provide me with a pic of what you mean.

If you had scrolled down the google image search further you would have found a number of mycelial growths that look exactly like webs in your enclosure. see Mushroom Ecology

Spider mites require live plant materials on which to feed and if not provided will either starve or leave. Dying leaves that are not attached to the plant are a poor source of food for spider mites.. They are extremely unlikely to be in the springtail cultures... Inside humid enclosures of any kind, you can see mycelia growths that readily imitate webs as there isn't the same kinds of pressures on them to develop into thicker structures.

Detrivore mites are extremely common and typically are introduced with substrates or plant that have not been adequately cleaned. It doesn't tale a lot of soil or substrate to add them to something. In a planted enclosure they are inevitable.

Ed

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DragonSpirit1185

Discussion Starter · #42 · Dec 12, 2011 (Edited)

Ed said:
If you had scrolled down the google image search further you would have found a number of mycelial growths that look exactly like webs in your enclosure. see Mushroom Ecology

Spider mites require live plant materials on which to feed and if not provided will either starve or leave. Dying leaves that are not attached to the plant are a poor source of food for spider mites.. They are extremely unlikely to be in the springtail cultures... Inside humid enclosures of any kind, you can see mycelia growths that readily imitate webs as there isn't the same kinds of pressures on them to develop into thicker structures.

Detrivore mites are extremely common and typically are introduced with substrates or plant that have not been adequately cleaned. It doesn't tale a lot of soil or substrate to add them to something. In a planted enclosure they are inevitable.

Ed

the Ivy wasn't always dead and the web does't look like the fungus....it looks like actual spider or spider mite web.
The ivy was alive about a week or so ago(maybe longer) and here recently I noticed the spider mites and just the other day I went looking around and found the ivy dead with the webs on it.
I don't see the ivy often cause I had it tucked behind other plants.
I can see a difference in mycelia and what looks like web

Trust me it was web.
Here is a pic of a leaf on my aglaonema and it appears to have mycelia yet what I saw on the ivy looked nothing like it and it is incomparable.

What was on the ivy looks absolutely like nothing you and James have shown...it looked like actual spider web.

What i saw on the ivy looked exactly like this:

DragonSpirit1185 said:
Spider Mites > Bonnie Plants > Pest Identification

you can see the white spots I mentioned and from the old mister(wich was too powerful) I used it would loosen up the EcoEarth and that's that's where I think the black/brown spots came from.

I have since used a hand sprayer since that sprayer was removing EcoEarth fragments.
This is also why my my viv stayed a bit too moist as mentioned in the peperomia thread cause it was high pressure and not a fine mist, i was kinda drenching instead of misting. It is a Round Up spray canister.

btw the only plants I didn't treat brought in the springtails but there was never any mites and for the other plants I did a 10% bleach solution.
The plants that brought the springtails in have been around for a long while and I think I would have seen the mites by now.
The plants I did the bleach solution with came from fieldnstream and itsott but I highly doubt the mites came from them and the mites would have appeared sooner as well cause it has been since Oct 15 since I out them in there.
The Substrate is ABG that I bought off fieldnstream. I am sure the mites didn't come from there.
The mites just showed up not to long ago and I have no idea where they came from.

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james67

· #43 · Dec 12, 2011

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

DragonSpirit1185

Discussion Starter · #44 · Dec 12, 2011

Brotherly Monkey said:
you'd be surprised. I've seen people confuse the two on numerous occasions. But if they are in your spring cultures, I doubt they are spider mites, unless you have plants in there

they are in my viv
well was I removed the webs and what looked to be like eggs.
I stood there forever looking for some and squished everyone I could see and I haven't seen any others yet.

jbherpin

· #45 · Dec 12, 2011 (Edited)

james67 said:
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

James you made a great point. I am by no means a biology major(never went to college in fact...), so I appreciate the knowledge nugget. Also, it seems to me, anytime I had an unwanted visitor to my viv(s) it was due to a mistake I made. Either I was hasty in cleaning/preparing a plant/wood ornament/etc., or I left the viv uninhabited on the floor and allowed things to creep in by accident(my theory at least for that particular viv). I think in closing, you should except the corrections as help rather than feel insulted. People really do come here to help others, and not solely to learn. I am a bit green, and still learn quite a bit, but I have always appreciated opinions and help, instead of feeling threatened or insulted. That is key to moving forward in the hobby. All my best to you!

JBear

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DragonSpirit1185

Discussion Starter · #46 · Dec 12, 2011 (Edited)

james67 said:
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

I have already said that they may have come from inside the house or something.
i was replying to Ed's suggestion that they may have came from untreated plants.

DragonSpirit1185 said:
the structure in that pic doesnt look like webs to me....[/img]

on these here? cause they most certainly do look like webs!

DragonSpirit1185 said:

Spider Mites > Bonnie Plants > Pest Identification

Click to expand...

or if you meant on the plant leaf pic I showed then yes I think that might be mycelia but what I saw on the ivy was NOT mycelia and looked nothing like any pics of mycelia I have seen and trust me the most common pics are available so I think I would have seen a resemblance by now.
What I showed that was on the anglaonema looks nothing like what was ont he ivy and looks exactly like the spider mite pics.

btw I found a couple mites walking around in the web

Any further discussion on mycelia or mycelium will be considered derailment/hijacking and will be reported. I have ruled it out.

James you and Ed come around and bicker with me about things on my threads and bicker with me on other people's threads and I'm tired of it.
This is why I ask you two(along with Pumilo and B-NICE) to stay off my threads.
You keep derailing it.
I don't want any more hijacking on my thread please.
Cause if it doesn't pertain to the mites then it is hijacking.

Brotherly Monkey

· #47 · Dec 12, 2011 (Edited)

double.................

DragonSpirit1185

Discussion Starter · #48 · Dec 12, 2011

jbherpin said:
James you made a great point. I am by no means a biology major(never went to college in fact...), so I appreciate the knowledge nugget. Also, it seems to me, anytime I had an unwanted visitor to my viv(s) it was due to a mistake I made. Either I was hasty in cleaning/preparing a plant/wood ornament/etc., or I left the viv uninhabited on the floor and allowed things to creep in by accident(my theory at least for that particular viv). I think in closing, you should except the corrections as help rather than feel insulted. People really do come here to help others, and not solely to learn. I am a bit green, and still learn quite a bit, but I have always appreciated opinions and help, instead of feeling threatened or insulted. That is key to moving forward in the hobby. All my best to you!

JBear

Hey JBear I have completely figured it all out yet he wants to come aroud pushing issues and not reading things fully.

Idk where they came from but the time of them showing up doesn't match with any plants going in.
Plus i got the plants from trusted members here on DB.
The other plants like I said that tracked in the springs were put in there a while ago when the viv was first built back in August and those plants are't even around anymore and the mites would have shown up by now.

I did do some yard work and raked some leaves and other stuff and I came in cause it was time to mist my viv, maybe they came in that way...idk.

I do not feel insulted. I am irritated cause they think I don't know what I saw JBear and I know what I saw and it was a web.
There was even a couple spider mites walking around in the said web.

The ivy had just died and there was a bit of web on the plant next to it like they was moving over.

It's not that I am not listening or anything but in this case they are wrong.
It happens even to the smartest people in the world.

Please do not take this subject matter any further and please stay on topic.

Thanks

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Brotherly Monkey

· #49 · Dec 12, 2011

DragonSpirit1185 said:
they are in my viv
well was I removed the webs and what looked to be like eggs.
I stood there forever looking for some and squished everyone I could see and I haven't seen any others yet.

If I remember correctly, I doubt you would be able to see spider mite eggs, unaided

OurVeggieGarden > Garden Care > Insects > Spider Mites

also, the mites in your picture look like the type I get in my fly cultures, which are general grain mites (which tend to be larger than spider mites)

DragonSpirit1185

Discussion Starter · #50 · Dec 12, 2011 (Edited)

Brotherly Monkey said:
If I remember correctly, I doubt you would be able to see spider mite eggs, unaided

OurVeggieGarden > Garden Care > Insects > Spider Mites

also, the mites in your picture look like the type I get in my fly cultures, which are general grain mites (which tend to be larger than spider mites

maybe not but I said I believed them to be eggs and if you look at the pics of the web I found there is the same white spots I mentioned and even specks of dirt.

these guys were really tiny.....I had to put the camera on macro and stick the lens all the way up to them and still yet I had to blow up the macro pics just to get a better look. Tehy were about half the size of the ball in a ball point pen maybe a bit larger but not much more.

and for further clarification about the mycelia suggestion this is a better pic of what I saw minus all the spider mites except 2 lol

btw I'm guessing since the grain mites are in your culture they are frog safe, right?
I don't wanna freak out when I start FF culturing if see them

and what's up with this post haha

Brotherly Monkey said:
double.................

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Ed

· #51 · Dec 12, 2011 (Edited)

DragonSpirit1185 said:
I have already said that they may have come from inside the house or something.
i was replying to Ed's suggestion that they may have came from untreated plants.

Actually, I didn't say they came from untreated plants.. I said they can come from inadequately cleaned plants. Unless you rip off every stem where it attaches to the leaf, scale or node of the plant, you cannot ensure that your cleaning method was effective.

DragonSpirit1185 said:
or if you meant on the plant leaf pic I showed then yes I think that might be mycelia but what I saw on the ivy was NOT mycelia and looked nothing like any pics of mycelia I have seen and trust me the most common pics are available so I think I would have seen a resemblance by now.

I posted a link to a mycelia growth that looks just like spider web and pointed out that under conditions of low air movement and high humidity, that mycelia can easily look like a web. The problem with the statement of "common pictures" is that given all of the variations of mycelia growth, you could easily be misidentifying it.

DragonSpirit1185 said:
btw I found a couple mites walking around in the web

Which actually doesn't mean anything.. while spider mites do walk around on webs, detrivore and mushroom mites walk around on mycelia.

Ed

DragonSpirit1185

Discussion Starter · #52 · Dec 16, 2011

Well it has been a bit and I have not seen anymore spider mites since the removal of the ivy they was feeding off of and hunted a few down and killed them.

Hopefully no more show back up

Brotherly Monkey

· #53 · Dec 16, 2011

DragonSpirit1185 said:
and what's up with this post haha

double post

The grain mites should be fine. In fact, I think they are rather ubiquitous in fly cultures

But spider mites are tiny. When I had them in my plant collection I could barely see them and only noticed the webs

PS I have seen various molds and fungus that have looked exactly like mite webs. Hence my earlier post about easy confusion

DragonSpirit1185

Discussion Starter · #54 · Dec 16, 2011

Brotherly Monkey said:
double post

The grain mites should be fine. In fact, I think they are rather ubiquitous in fly cultures

But spider mites are tiny. When I had them in my plant collection I could barely see them and only noticed the webs

PS I have seen various molds and fungus that have looked exactly like mite webs. Hence my earlier post about easy confusion

and these spider mites where tiny as well.
I did all the research necessary to rule out grain mites and fungus.

jbherpin

· #55 · Dec 16, 2011

Can we just have a mod bring the final word of, "we'll never agree", and close this one out? In the end, if it were spider mites, questions were answered, if it were grain, etc mites... again questions have been answered...

JBear

DragonSpirit1185

Discussion Starter · #56 · Dec 16, 2011

jbherpin said:
Can we just have a mod bring the final word of, "we'll never agree", and close this one out? In the end, if it were spider mites, questions were answered, if it were grain, etc mites... again questions have been answered...

JBear

Well JBear it's like you say hey I saw a wolf in the woods and I saw are you sure it wasn't a bobcat. Yeah Brandon I'm sure it was a wolf.
Simple as that cause I can't tell you what you saw or suggest what you saw

We don't need no mod to come in and close it cause until the mites are gone for sure then I might need to ask some questions.

Anyway no one talked about the springs I am pretty sure they are springs but I have had my doubts tho.
They are a bit metallic and whatnot and look like they have an exo skeleton with the naked eye.

What do you think JBear?

JimO

· #57 · Dec 18, 2011

I found mites that looked identical to your original photos in my spring cultures when I fed them fresh mushrooms. I assumed their eggs were attached to the mushrooms. As far as the frogs go, I actually feed them to my obligates and have never seen any mites at all in my vivs.

I'm surprised that you are so upset with James and Ed. Your thread title is asking a question. If you did research and answered it yourself, then why ask it in the first place. People disagree all the time with species ID and there are so many species of mites that nobody can ID them from a few photos. If you don't want opinions from certain people, then perhaps you should ask your question in a PM to those you want an answer from.

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DragonSpirit1185

Discussion Starter · #58 · Dec 18, 2011 (Edited)

JimO said:
I found mites that looked identical to your original photos in my spring cultures when I fed them fresh mushrooms. I assumed their eggs were attached to the mushrooms. As far as the frogs go, I actually feed them to my obligates and have never seen any mites at all in my vivs.

I'm surprised that you are so upset with James and Ed. Your thread title is asking a question. If you did research and answered it yourself, then why ask it in the first place. People disagree all the time with species ID and there are so many species of mites that nobody can ID them from a few photos. If you don't want opinions from certain people, then perhaps you should ask your question in a PM to those you want an answer from.

Um I found the research after the thread was posted.
I said I know it isn't fungus and they wouldn't have it.
They were trying to force there opinion on it being fungus yet I know what I saw and it was webs.
They were the ones not listening to me. Trying to tell me what I saw when I know what I saw lol.

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

Now please drop it.

james67

· #59 · Dec 18, 2011

DragonSpirit1185 said:
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

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Pumilo

· #60 · Dec 18, 2011

True enough, James. There are reports of it all over the board.

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