Total Infestation...help! Black mites?

[Minerva037]

I haven't posted on here for a while, but have been quietly doing my hermit crab thing, while checking in occasionally.We just returned from a 10-day vacation, and I noticed that the crab tank is TOTALLY infested with VERY tiny greyish-black mite-looking things. They are crawling everywhere, although you have to look very hard to see them. We have EE substrate 6" deep on one side, and sand on the other, in a 20g Long tank. 3 crabs, nobody is new. Had them all for a year. One just came up from a molt, the other has been up for a good while (months?) and the other hasn't been seen for a good few months.The housesitter didn't clear food from the tank, so I don't know if these are food mites or not. I'm scared to do a full cleaning, if one crab may be down for a molt.But, it's gross and gives me the heebie-jeebies just looking in there.What to do??

[Laurie LeAnn]

Some foods can have mites in it, check the food that you had them put in there first to see if that is where it came from. Are you sure you have mooted down?? Do you have a iso tank? Get the crabs and one by one bathe them dipping them a few times in their water change it and dip them again, do this for each crab then put them in the iso tank. Take all the toys, climbing stuff plants etc out of main tank. Try scooping off the top layer of substrate and wipe glass down w damp paper towel. This will help get some of them. Leave the crabs in the iso tank for a week or so, if they are food mites they should die off or I would think they would. Make sure there is no food in the tank.. I have had infestations to from wood not prepared right, ants, gnats etc..very hard to get rid of..eventually you will have to change it out if you can't get rid of them. Do they fly? If so this is a drastic very dangerous method. I did this with gnats. My tank is 55 gallons. I took Tom cats sticky ants traps, mouse traps and duct tape and taped one up high making the tape go on the out side of the tank and taped to the trap flipped to the inside of the tank. Made sure my crabs couldn't get to it I got rid of my gnats this way