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So I've been culturing tropical white springtails with almost no problems, but I'm having some major issues with the pink ones (R.I.P). I keep them both the same way -- on charcoal with about an inch of water, and I've been feeding them both exclusively yeast. Today I open up my pink culture and they're all dead (I'm sure it was CO2 because everything was dead). Anywho, here are the problems I've been having, and maybe somebody knows some helpful tips for dealing with them...
I guess the first problem is mites (which also perished via CO2). I had these huge globular and really slow moving white mites in the culture. They couldn't have been praying on the fast springtails, so I have a few theories as so what they've been gorging themselves on: the pink's eggs, the yeast, or the pink's shed exoskeletons. I think it's the last option. So maybe they've been doing a clean-up duty for my clean-ups?
On a similar note, another type of contamination I've been getting is from my white springtails. I've read that they can travel from one culture to another, which is probably how this has happened. Maybe putting both cultures on mite paper would kill two birds with one stone?
I guess the second problem/oddity with my pink culture was the water. My white culture has clear water in it which I've never done anything to. My pink's water however is this yellow urine color. Does anyone else experience this? Is it supposed to be this way?
My last problem might be related to the water. The culture REEKED. Now, I understand that springtail cultures aren't supposed to smell like roses. My white springtail culture doesn't smell either way in my opinion.... it just smells kinda yeast-y, or mildew-y. When I opened my pink culture it smelled of death and decay; like the smell of something that went bad in a tupperware in your fridge, but then you forgot to throw it away for several months. It smelt so bad, my girlfriend commented on the stench from across the room instantly as I opened the (now dead) container. Something is definitely wrong with this picture.
I seeded these guys into my viv, and when I did some remodeling 2 days ago I found plenty of them in there. Any way to start a culture from springs in my viv?
Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated!
I guess the first problem is mites (which also perished via CO2). I had these huge globular and really slow moving white mites in the culture. They couldn't have been praying on the fast springtails, so I have a few theories as so what they've been gorging themselves on: the pink's eggs, the yeast, or the pink's shed exoskeletons. I think it's the last option. So maybe they've been doing a clean-up duty for my clean-ups?
On a similar note, another type of contamination I've been getting is from my white springtails. I've read that they can travel from one culture to another, which is probably how this has happened. Maybe putting both cultures on mite paper would kill two birds with one stone?
I guess the second problem/oddity with my pink culture was the water. My white culture has clear water in it which I've never done anything to. My pink's water however is this yellow urine color. Does anyone else experience this? Is it supposed to be this way?
My last problem might be related to the water. The culture REEKED. Now, I understand that springtail cultures aren't supposed to smell like roses. My white springtail culture doesn't smell either way in my opinion.... it just smells kinda yeast-y, or mildew-y. When I opened my pink culture it smelled of death and decay; like the smell of something that went bad in a tupperware in your fridge, but then you forgot to throw it away for several months. It smelt so bad, my girlfriend commented on the stench from across the room instantly as I opened the (now dead) container. Something is definitely wrong with this picture.
I seeded these guys into my viv, and when I did some remodeling 2 days ago I found plenty of them in there. Any way to start a culture from springs in my viv?
Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated!