Post
by Guest » Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:34 pm
Yartac, I've been giving your situation a lot of thought, a lot of thought and I've come up with another idea for a mite infestation as bad as yours.
When you bathe the crabs, I assume you bathe them the "standard" way, in a bowl of standing water, right? Well, I was thinking--a known problem with getting rid of mites that way is that they can jump back on as easily as they were washed off. Why don't you try bathing them under a stream of water (dechlor, of course). Thus, I suggest that you try this (I've never tried it myself, but it seems safe and might be an experiment worth doing): place either crab in a kitchen strainer/drainer/colander thing, and then slowly and gently pour water over them, alternating fresh dechlor and salt like you've been doing). This will work even better if you can coax said crabbie out of his shell a bit. That way, any mites will be washed down the drain with the water instead of just sitting in the water ready to jump back on--seems to me this might work.
Also, with your problem of the mites back in the shell, I think the syringe is a great idea. When you use it, though, try to have Bhaal angled so as the water shoots back into his shell, when it runs out it brings the crabs with it--once again, avoiding just driving them further back.
Best of luck!
ktm
) I'm still worried sick about all the mites though... it's only a mather of time until they hit the other tank... I have so much crab stuff infected with mites now.... It's impossible to keep it all away from the other tank...
and try not to irritate his belly too much... he may jump out of his shell again!