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Post by deadmansfinger on Dec 5, 2005 20:07:05 GMT
I just found all my choc swirell snails covered in little white mites. They were all deeply retracted and their shells were totally covered in these mites. They were fine when I fed them last night! The setup was a compost substrate with a piece of curio wood and some moss for decor. I bought new tanks for all the snails today and 5kg of sphagnum moss so I washed the mites off and put the snails into there new tank with the moss. Within a few minutes they were all out eating again and I can't see any more mites on them. These mites seemed to only be on the snails and not on anything else. Any idea what they are or what causes them? The tank is cleaned daily so I would doubt it was a cleanliness issue.  all other tanks are unaffected. Thanks for any info given, Brian. |
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Post by deadmansfinger on Dec 6, 2005 14:47:30 GMT
no-one have any idea what causes these?  I checked this morning and only found 1 mite on 1 of the snails and this was quickly disposed of. Brian |
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Post by sezzy5889 on Dec 6, 2005 14:49:51 GMT
sorry we've had these threads so much and we don't know what causes them to suddenly appear :-(
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Post by deadmansfinger on Dec 6, 2005 14:54:27 GMT
These were my most recent snails, think I have had them about 6 weeks. I also believe they were wild caught. Could they have came in with them? All my setups had compost from the same source and all have the same food so that's what confused me about these mites as I would assume that they would affect all my tanks Brian  |
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Post by Paul on Dec 6, 2005 15:14:41 GMT
More than likely they came with your wild snails or snails from others tanks with mites in it. That is what happened to me. My first tiger had mites and they spread right through the tank. I killed the mites, washed the snails and then a week later they were back. They hide under the shell rim and in the pneumostome. I think washing can help a lot, perhaps get rid of them in rare cases but nearly everyone I spoke to, said they came back with time. I bought some Hypoaspis miles predatory mites and these were fantastically successful. They picked the snails clean, inside the pneumostome also (I saw them running in). But they are not cheap, like £16.99 for 10000, and that is the minimum you can get. I tried to keep them alive and they lasted a few months. One for all chipping in methinks. What would be good is if you could get the eggs, dry so they could be stored for much longer and you only hatch what you need. If you search the problems board you'll find numerous threads about the mites and the predatory ones.
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Post by Paul on Dec 6, 2005 15:15:45 GMT
Oh, and you have to knock the mites off with jets of water from a plant sprayer because they can and will swim back onto the snail if you just sit them in a bowl and splash them.
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Post by deadmansfinger on Dec 6, 2005 16:43:01 GMT
I washed them off with the showerhead!  I might look into getting those predatory mites if I cannot wash this lot away. thanks, Brian  |
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Post by deadmansfinger on Dec 6, 2005 16:56:37 GMT
just found those predatory mites, they were £19.95 for 10,000 which seems like maybe too many for a 20litre tub?!?!?!?!
do these not cause any stress to the snails?
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Post by deadmansfinger on Dec 6, 2005 18:48:13 GMT
just checked when I got home and couldnt find any mites. hopefully I got them ;D
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Arno
Archachatina puylaerti
Posts: 1,493
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Post by Arno on Dec 6, 2005 19:00:23 GMT
you mean you don't got them  |
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Post by deadmansfinger on Dec 6, 2005 21:27:30 GMT
haha yeh! ;D
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all other tanks are unaffected.
