I combined my 3 thriving springtail cultures and now the entire thing seems dead???

1431 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by EvilLost, Jul 11, 2011

EvilLost

Discussion Starter · Jun 23, 2011

Not exactly sure what I did wrong....

I had 3 separate springtail cultures in 32oz containers that I had been alternating supplementally feeding/seeding tanks with for over 2 months and all were booming. Yesterday I put all 3 of them into one large container, added some fresh broken up 100% wood charcoal and some grains of rice like normal...

today I can barely even FIND springtails in the culture....yesterday the entire thing was practically white. The few that I do find seem dead (they don't move/react).....

no clue what I did wrong....or more interestingly, where all those springtail bodies went....

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Dendroguy

· #2 · Jun 23, 2011

since you put them in a bigger container they have more room and are all spread out in the culture,if you dig down youll probably find them

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Pumilo

· #3 · Jun 23, 2011

Did you presoak your charcoal? If not, they are probably at the very bottom, trying to find some moisture. The charcoal chunks take a while to really get saturated and springs will avoid a dry substrate like the plague.
The other possible cause is suffocation.

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EvilLost

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 28, 2011

@Dendroguy: yea i put it in a larger container but even when I dig down I can only find a few....my old cultures were literally hopping out the top!

@Pumilo: I did wash my charcoal twice but did not soak it.....however there is at least a 2" deep water layer....I can imagine what you are saying though; hopefully it will saturate and they will come out of hiding soon

The lid is not fully sealed and has ventilation so I don't think I suffocated them...but just incase i'll take it off and see if that fixes; if so, i'll have to make another vent

thx for replies

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oddlot

· #5 · Jun 28, 2011

If you combined them together yesterday I would highly doubt they are suffocated.Most of my spring cultures are in sealed containers(some are vented).I open them once or twice a week to burp them as I call it and to feed them and have never had a problem.How big were the original cultures and the new one.If you put too many together they will stop producing but they wouldn't just disappear overnight.

Lou

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8686jacksmith

· #6 · Jul 11, 2011

I did the same thing and they are all dead now too.

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EvilLost

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jul 11, 2011

@jacksmith: my colony has been recovering....I guess they are just really spread out now, but before I was feeding off those 3 cultures for about a week and a half straight without any problems of them recovering; since i've mixed them there is barely enough growth (and if I didn't have flies ti would not sustain a week of continuous feeding out of it)

not sure what happened but for now i made a few small cultures and i'm just going to wait out the big one

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