DOUBLE wammy!!! I have mites!!!

[sdevine]

Please let me know how that goes, we did another round of baths and found another big fat mite on one of the violas. I think they want to pinch me.

Also, how many did you order for you big tank?

[tigermoon89]

I just ordered the 1 canister that contains (minimum) around 25,000 mites! So it's the one that is $30.

[sdevine]

that is really not too bad, I was reading up on them this morning wondering if I could divide one cannister between the 70 gallon and the 120 gallon tanks to treat them both. I haven't seen in the big tank but hey, might as well just in case I have missed them.

[tigermoon89]

I divided it between my 125gal, a 40gal breeder, a 5 gal, a 10gal, and a 20gal. I still have half a canister left- I'm adding the rest in a few days later in hopes that the mites will live to treat any molters that come up. It's a large canister about a foot long and a few inches wide. IT's filled with substrate that contain the mites you just use a spoon to distribute it.

[piccolo41099]

What do the mites on your straws look like?

My straws came with bugs that remind me of big fruit flies, but they do not seem to fly and are not red.

I have been giving baths every day since Thursday last week and today was the first day I have found nothing. I really want to get them into the main tank soon. How many days do you think I should give it? LHC said 3-5 days after a clean bath to give them another bath. I sure hope they are gone.

[tigermoon89]

The mites on my straws were tiny and white- but completely different from food mites. Food mites are more plump. I also saw a few red mites.

[tigermoon89]

My Jumbo PP(still in iso) that was in with the straws- ended up streaking today. I rinsed out his old shell with dechlor water and quite a few mites came out. Some adult, some babies. I wonder if an egg just recently hatched and caused him to streak. I re-shelled him but he didn't make it. My other purple pincher that I found mites on still has mites (baby- I only saw about 2).

I decided to check the straws (which were in my main tank) I found one on the straw that had been in iso the longest (the one with the weird excrement). I decided to put the straws back in iso. A couple of red things (not moving but looked odd enough) came off of two others. It's such a pain, all of their baths turned up clean I did however just get a magnifying glass for better inspection so it's possible that I may not have caught the babies- those things are freakin tiny and impossible to spot without a magnifying glass!!!

I placed an order for 2 bottles of H. Miles. I'm going to do a partial clean to help get rid of any mites that may be on the top of the substrate- I think since H. Miles doesn't dig down farther than 1/2 an inch then the bad mites probably don't either. (Does anyone know)?

I'm going to bake, boil everything and throw out all the moss. Since I'm only taking out about 4inches of the substrate- I hope that I can check on molters without disturbing them too much- I'm trying to handle this in the least invasive way possible. I don't want to lose anymore crabs to these mites.
My straws are pretty stressed out- they have been through sooo many changes, the harvest from the wild, 2 weeks at LHC, 1 week in a sterile tank, 1 week in a normal iso tank, 3 baths a day, then placed in the main tank for 4 days, then moved back to the iso tank. 1 for sure needs to molt and has a molt sac. A couple are pretty lethargic.

Any other suggestions/ insight into this plan?

[CrabAddict99]

Hey sorry about your jumbo pincher. I had mites from lhc in January thru mid February. I agree with you they are tiny buggers! Make sure to look at the mouth parts and leg joints (under the crab) these are favorite mite hangouts. Air bubbles form in those spots preventing the mites from drowning/ detaching. Your battle with the mites won't be an easy one as you know. Be consistent and you will win, but you may lose a couple of crabs in the fight. One tip I can suggest that helped me a ton is giving them shells to change into. Once they changed and I was around, i'd remove the old shell and rinse it with hot water asap. I think this helped kill eggs/mites deep in the shell. Some of my straws had beat up shells with semi collapsed turbos, the water never reached some areas of the inner shell. The hot water helped but the shell was tossed regardless. After the shell swaps I never saw those nasty things again.
I hope you rid your crabs of the mites quickly.

[spotsy99]

Hi, Crystal

I can't offer any advise, but I sure am sorry to hear about your jumbo.
We are all pulling for you and I've been thinking about your fight every day. I feel your latest steps will do the trick for you.

Take care
Denise

[SoulLonely]

I'm so sorry about your loss. *huggles*

[tigermoon89]

Thank you everyone for your support!

[Kathy Freer]

I am so sorry this is happening to you!I hope you can get rid of those awful mites.I'm sure if anyone can , you can!!No one trys harder than you.
Kathy

[tigermoon89]

Thanks Kathy!

Last night I found that the most recent purchase of H. Miles brought in gnats and maggots! I have a mini plague in my bedroom! So gross! So far it looks like it's only in the 20gal iso tank with the straws. I cleaned the maggots out- here's hoping that there aren't any more! I have to check through the other tanks later today. To top it off (All of these discoveries occured around midnight- after I had just finished baking and washing all of the climbing items) A thick black spider with white spots on its back, the size of a quarter decided to make an appearance right next to my 125gal tank. I hate these spiders- they are really really fast and aren't afraid to bite- if we miss spraying I always end up with bites when I wake up. Thankfully my dad took care of it, I was at my pest invasion limit!

Things have to get better soon!

[tigermoon89]

>double post<

[wodesorel]

Ugh, that's awful! I hope things get easier for you soon. *hugs*
Did you order the mites from the same place as before? Will the give you a refund due to the maggots?