Mites ; Can't ID

For the discussion of any creepy crawlies that may have taken up residence in your tank, including mites. Please note that isopods have their own forum.
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-K-
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Mites ; Can't ID

Post by -K- » Tue Apr 10, 2018 11:20 am

(Not posting in emergency thread because I don't really think it's an emergency)

I can't tell if they're food mites/wood mites that just happen to be on my crabs - or crab mites that happen to be elsewhere in the tank.

I have 3 palm-sized crabs, one is buried - I'm not sure if he's molting but I'm kind of worried.
I've had my crabs for two months. Almost three. I've never noticed the mites before.

Nothing new has been added to the tank within the past week, no left-in food aside from their dry daily-mix.
No mites were found on or around the food.

The tank is kept in optimal condition tempurature-humidity wise

I've already removed affected hides and sand, I didn't see mites anywhere else in the tank.
I put the two surface crabs in iso for bathing, and to keep them safe while I remove the rest of the decorations and clean them. Because of my buried crab, there's a lot of deeply buried decorations I can't remove yet.

The mites:
-Tiny white flecks that run around quickly.
-I didn't find any attached to my crabs anywhere, and there were only 2-3 on each crab. (There might be more in their shell though)
-I also found the mites(More than what was on my crabs) on their favorite drift-wood hide, but nowhere else in the tank. Not on the food or in the water.
-My crabs also have a habit of burying their poop as I found out, under the drift-wood hide; and there were mites on the buried poop treasure also. (I usually skim the top of the sand to remove poop but my crabs had been burying it much deeper than I go.)
(Poop and affected sand were removed.)

I still keep garden terrariums, that have dirt/food mites and my toad that i had previous to the crabs also had dirt/foodmites. (Different tank)
I'm no stranger and I know foodmites are harmless, but it worries me they're on my crabs given the crab-mites are so dangerous.

I am leaning toward food mites but I really want some second opinions;
I'd appreciate any input, thank-you much ;;
:crabblush:

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wodesorel
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Re: Mites ; Can't ID

Post by wodesorel » Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:00 pm

Crab mites are found primarily glued on the crabs so you can rule those out. Food mites are not fast, they mosey around. I am thinking probably springtails, but it could also be the predatory mites that people purchase to clean up problems as they are naturally occurring as well!
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Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2018 10:22 pm

Re: Mites ; Can't ID

Post by -K- » Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:43 pm

wodesorel wrote:Crab mites are found primarily glued on the crabs so you can rule those out. Food mites are not fast, they mosey around. I am thinking probably springtails, but it could also be the predatory mites that people purchase to clean up problems as they are naturally occurring as well!
Whoops, I must've remembered it backwards ; with the food mites. It probably is springtails or the predatory mites. I'm not sure which is the 'dirt mites' I have here already/naturally, probably both. I know the 'dirtmites' around here like to eat decaying plant matter and damp wood (which there's a lot of, damp driftwood and cholla wood)
Good to know that they aren't harmful to my crabbabies.

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