Bad Mites

[gotta-crab-em-all]

Ralts, one of my newbies, came up from molting. So I was having my usual post-molt photoshoot (for ID purposes) when I noticed that after she came out to say hello, there were three or four little orange bugs coming out of her shell. I squished the ones that I saw and bathed her and sure enough, more bugs. I didn't see any mites on her or Weedle when I got them home and bathed them originally, but I know it must've come with them because my other crabs have never had them, ever... unless they somehow came with the Zoo-med moss I got recently (but that wouldn't make any sense, although I have noticed springtails and woodlice in my tank ever since I got the moss). I grabbed Weedle and Clauncher (Shuckle hasn't come up for the night yet/ might be molting and Omanyte is molting and/or dead) and bathed them too and didn't find any mites on them. So far it seems to be only Ralts. I bathed her three or so times in a row and didn't find any mites in the water the second or third time, but I'm still worried. She's in iso right now with some shells and I'm hoping she'll change & leave the mites behind in her old shell. If only it were that easy, but at least that might get rid of some of them :roll: I cant afford predatory mites right now and I have one-two molters down, I don't have enough substrate to replace it, and my parents are adamant that I'm *not* putting dirt in "their" oven. Is there anything else I can do besides keep giving her baths? I'm afraid I wont always be able to find her to do that If I kept her in a KK inside of the main crabitat until the mites are gone, would the mites be able to climb the KK and into the main 'tat? I know the mites thread says to keep the iso away from the main tank but I have no other heaters and couldn't heat an iso. I've never had any problems that required an iso being kept outside of the main tank before and heaters are expensive

Are these even actually crab mites, or could they be something else? I know they match the description for crab mites, but the thread said this kind might be a harmless kind but nobody is sure. Is that information still accurate? I might be able to get predatory mites at the end of the month if I suck up to my parents, but $50 for a tube of bugs is pretty steep and Christmas season is broke season for my family.

I tried to get pictures of the mites but I don't have a macro lens

[gotta-crab-em-all]

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but do mites molt? Today her baths didn't have any orange mites but there were what looked like clear, empty mites like an empty exo or something?

[YYWW]

........ Thats so odd! Maybeeeeee they dont molt, but you're seeing the mites that have hatched but not matured enough. Not that i know, just a guess. Anyways that would be a good explanation, as it could represent their defeat by your hands.
Are the flushed mites decreasing in numbers?


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[gotta-crab-em-all]

They were the same size as the orange mites, maybe even a little bigger I could be mistaking little pieces of the powder food she has in with her as mites I guess because now I'm paranoid! But its been 24 hours and her baths today didn't have any orange mites at all whereas yesterday they were crawling out of her shell. I've given Weedle and Clauncher baths yesterday and today and neither of them had any mites. Shuckle and Omanyte haven't been up (Omanyte's been down for 3 months, Shuckle a few days) so I haven't been able to check them yet. I did hear underground chirping twice today and I'm worried because last time I heard chirping, Anorith showed up soft and naked and ended up dying For all I know the chirping was totally coincidental, but still.

[YYWW]

Did you get more of one type of mite, overall? Like a bunch of orange and only several white/clear.
Does this chirp and that chirp sound the same?


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[gotta-crab-em-all]

A bunch of orange and a few white/clear.

I'm pretty sure it does? I don't remember exactly what the chirp sounded like when Anorith showed up naked and I don't know how much variation individual PPs have in the way their chirps sound? If its the same crab chirping that time and this time, it definitely wasn't Anorith before like I thought it was, because he didn't make it. Omanyte was down last time there was chirping too, but she's been gone for 3 months so far, after being gone for back to back molts for 4 months that left her dull and thin so I haven't been expecting her to show up again.

[gotta-crab-em-all]

Okay so apparently my father was gonna order predatory mites for his plants already and when I mentioned the crab mites he said I could use some of his. Only problem is I don't see their species listed on this place that he bought it from unless I'm overlooking it. They just say "predatory mites", so I don't know if its h. miles or not?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050QK6OO/ref ... TE_3p_dp_1

[YYWW]

I'm not sure that'll work it seems to say all the right things, but how many would you use? Would it be enough? Would you need multiple doses? How can you tell if it worked? How do you know to use a second round or not?
Dang, if you could only reserve them and breed them! That way they can thrive off food mites and hang around to eat all the predatory mites. But i feel like they just die really fast and you cant be sure.
If you can ask for the money, stick to the tried and true member recommended source of h.miles. If you cant i cant really see the benefit of shaking a couple mystery mites into your tank, unless you bathed/killed most of them off anyway.


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[gotta-crab-em-all]

Apparently my father already ordered those mites even though I told him I needed h. miles specifically (which would work fine for his plants too). He's not going to be happy when he wakes up and I have to tell him he dropped $45 on mites I'm wary of putting in my tank since I don't even know what they are. My bet is he'll make me put them in anyway and say "they'll be fine", or just use them all for his plants and say "too bad, they're just crabs" as usual

[gotta-crab-em-all]

Well I talked to him about it and asked him why he didn't make sure they were the right species when I told him they needed to be h. miles. He got very angry and defensive and essentially said "FINE, they'll work for what I need them for, I'll just use them all. They're just crabs anyway". Nailed it.

[YYWW]

Lol i dunno if that was worth asking. Hopefully when he cools down you guys can patch it up and you can just put in a spoonful, and the mites would have been gone anyway, but you can act like he was a big help


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[gotta-crab-em-all]

I'm not putting them in my tank until I get some kindof confirmation that they're h. miles and not something harmful. The package came today and there was absolutely no label at all, just an ice pack and bugs in clear plastic vials. I got a friend with an Amazon account to post a question on the listing about what species they are (dad wouldn't let me use his to ask) but I kindof wonder if anybody will actually know since it doesn't say anywhere

Good news is Ralts changed shells last night, into my tiniest tapestry that I love so much and nobody has used. Bathed her old shell and found no mites, bathed her and also found no mites. First full day of no mites...

[gotta-crab-em-all]

I just found out that its been Ralts chirping every day ever since I iso'd her. I thought it was in the main tank but I just now tracked down the source of the chirping. Now I feel bad because in my head, she's lonely and calling out for her friends D:

[YYWW]

Awwww! Its possible. Can you get a huge pic of the mites?


Crabbers unite!!!

[gotta-crab-em-all]

The pics in the original post are as good as I'm gonna be able to get since I don't have a macro lens :/ Or do you mean the mites my dad bought? I don't know if I could get pictures of those without opening the vials, and my dad would flip if I opened them and mites escaped because of how expensive they were. I can see if I can see any through the vials though.

Edit: Checked the vials and they're packed in little gravel rocks??? I cant see any mites