Snail tank mites (food mites)

[snailmum]

I have recently noticed my snail tank has mites, they’re extremely small and round. Very slow, they barely move.

I haven’t noticed any on the snails but they seem to like their poop! From what I can tell they are food mites (probably from a snail mix).

I’ve heard food mites are not harmful to snails (although I would like to get rid of them) Does anyone have any experience with this type of mite? 

Thanks

[morningcoffee]

Mar 25, 2021 1:50:29 GMT snailmum said:

I have recently noticed my snail tank has mites, they’re extremely small and round. Very slow, they barely move.

I haven’t noticed any on the snails but they seem to like their poop! From what I can tell they are food mites (probably from a snail mix).

I’ve heard food mites are not harmful to snails (although I would like to get rid of them) Does anyone have any experience with this type of mite? 

Thanks

If they aren't on the snails then they shouldn't be harmful mites.
It's quite difficult to completely get rid of them in the long term, doing a tank clean (while keeping some of the old substrate) can reduce their numbers for a while.
If you want to completely eradicate them, you could try adding predatory mites to the tank (Hypoaspis miles) which you can buy online from garden supply stores etc. However, the predatory mites die out once they've eaten all the mites/bugs in the tank, so it's unlikely to keep them away permanently. Tiny mites, springtails etc seem to always be able to find their way into snail tanks sooner or later.
If they're not bothering your snails at all then it may be better just to do some mild cleaning to reduce their numbers every now and then and learn to live with them if possible.