Crap, my new E's brought in some mites. **microscope pics!!

tnt4eva · Post by **tnt4eva** » Sun May 15, 2011 1:57 am

Cool microscope photos!! Did the mites your ordered arrive OK?

wolfnipplechips · Post by **wolfnipplechips** » Sun May 15, 2011 12:27 pm

They unfortunately didn't make it to Fairbanks by friday.

So I will collect them Monday and hopefully all will be ok. I would hate to ask the guy to please send another tube. I think he would have a heart attack.

Silver Buttons · Post by **Silver Buttons** » Thu May 19, 2011 9:07 pm

Those mites are freaky looking!

zippity · Post by **zippity** » Fri May 20, 2011 9:19 am

Thanks! These pics take me back many years to college microbiology class! Very interesting! Please let us know how the predatory mites work out!

Kathy Freer · Post by **Kathy Freer** » Sun May 22, 2011 8:53 am

Those pics are great!!Have your predatory mites arrived?
Kathy

wolfnipplechips · Post by **wolfnipplechips** » Sun May 22, 2011 11:39 am

They did arrive. I dumped the whole tube (claiming ~25,000) in the tank. They have DRASTICALLY reduced the food mite population in the tank, but not sure about those other mites yet. They are hard to get numbers on since I can only see them on the crab antennas, and crab antennas never really stop moving. The good mites prefer to eat the eggs (rather than the adults) of other mites, and I am not sure where the bad mites lay their eggs. If they lay them on the crabs, I'm not sure that the good mites will really find them. I'm guessing it could take a while before I know. If I see progress, I'll report it.

tigermoon89 · Post by **tigermoon89** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 6:37 pm

How did everything go? How long did it take for the bad mites to disappear?

wolfnipplechips · Post by **wolfnipplechips** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 7:26 pm

There are less of them, and some crabs don't have any at all. But they still exist...

tigermoon89 · Post by **tigermoon89** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:25 pm

The bad mites or H. Miles?

wolfnipplechips · Post by **wolfnipplechips** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:32 am

The bad ones. But H. miles are still hanging out in the tank! Keep the food mite numbers WAY down.

kgbenson · Post by **kgbenson** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:44 am

tnt4eva wrote:Is it just me or do they all appear to have their heads/mouths positioned over the joints of the antenna?

It's not you. I suspect those buggers are feeding on hemolymph.

I would kill them (As you are doing), manual removal may well take care of it. Many mites have a temperature dependent life cycle and it is generally about 10-14 days depending on the species. That means that if you kill all the adults today, try killing them weekly so as to not allow any to mature and lay more eggs, eggs being the form most difficult to eliminate. In essence, kill the larvae and adults, let some eggs hatch, kill them before they are reproductive and repeat that 2-3 times (3 being better). The key is to never allow a generation to get old enough to lay more eggs. In vertebrates this is done by treating the animals at some interval designed to interrupt this cycle, tougher to do with inverts.

Keith

SoulLonely · Post by **SoulLonely** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 1:08 pm

Crazy awesome pics! Good luck with everything!

wolfnipplechips · Post by **wolfnipplechips** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:46 pm

How do I remove them manually? I can't really grab hold of the antennas and scrape them off. They are really stuck on there, and my crabs will not cooperate for this anyway. Can't imagine cutting all of my crabs' antennas off.

Alma · Post by **Alma** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 12:20 am

I can't imagine being in your shoes.That's my nightmare, getting bad mites. I heard dipping ur crab in saltwater a few times a day so the mites will fall off works. Spray everything with saltwater to kill them

sdevine · Post by **sdevine** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:39 pm

Hey----Tiger or Wolf can you easily see your hypos? Just got mine and have put about half of the container split between the 70 and the 120 gallon tanks and I don't see squat, well except the food mites that were already in the tanks!

HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Crap, my new E's brought in some mites. **microscope pics!!

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Re: Crap, my new E's brought in some mites. **microscope pic

Re: Crap, my new E's brought in some mites. **microscope pic

Re: Crap, my new E's brought in some mites. **microscope pic

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Re: Crap, my new E's brought in some mites. **microscope pic

Re: Crap, my new E's brought in some mites. **microscope pic

Re: Crap, my new E's brought in some mites. **microscope pic

Re: Crap, my new E's brought in some mites. **microscope pic