Ok seriously people help!

[sezzy5889]

I am having a serious problem with mites, now i know you lot have heard this thousands of times before but this is getting out of control I can't get rid of the damn things and i am beginning to regret ever getting snails. I love them and all but i just can't handle this all the posts i have read on this subject, people have said oh change substrate regularly, bath snails regularly, try changing to moss, capillary matting, coco liner etc etc etc, believe me i have tried everything and it's just not working, my snails are suffering from the ichyness, their shells are becoming brittle and they are losing weight maybe snails just aren't the pet for me. I just looked at my tanks closely and there is literally a coating of mites all over the sides of the tank, and you have to believe me when i say literally! I just don't know what to do and have had myself in tears over it i don't want them to suffer yet i just look at the tank and give up and walk away

I just feel like...urgh!.....

[apple]

I don´t know how to help you ..
Maybe someone.
I feel really sorry for what happened...
Don´t worry that it must exist a solution.

[section8angel]

Ohh Sarah Don't feel like that. It isn't your fault!

All I can think to say is kep them in the bare tanks and keep washing them. I know you've been doing everything you can, but you just have to keep going.
There must be something there that keeps bringing them back and keeping them alive. We just have to figure out what it is.

[Stacey]

not sure how well it would work with snails or even where to get them from, but predatory mites would eat all of mites in your tanks? has anyone tried this......maybe someone else has some more info. its just a suggestion but somebody else might know more for sure
i cant think of anything else to sugest

[Paul]

Existing threads on the efficacy of Hypoaspis miles predatory mites:

petsnails.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=pests&action=display&n=1&thread=4352
petsnails.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=pests&action=display&n=1&thread=4355&page=1

[Deleted]

aww dont feel like that sarah...snails ARE the pets for you don't doubt that, its not your fault, you love your snails very much. yes i think just put them in a bare tank, change the food every day, and introduce predatory mites. maybe even put the tank in another part of the house?

kind regards

mike

[sezzy5889]

Well i can't really afford predatory mites at the moment,
A lot of you are telling me to keep the snails in a bare tank but i'm not sure whether that would work because i am using moss at the moment, the mites are in the moss but all over the bare sides of the tanks, not necessarily in the dry areas but where the snails have been, in the slime trails, clumped onto the pooh and on the snails or where ever the snails have been, it's awkward.

[section8angel]

Well I know nothing about the mites but this is what my thinking is:

If the tank is bare then they have no where to breed, as I didn't think they bred in/on the actual snails. 'Cause that should in theory be easy to see if they did. And if you clean to poop and slime and change the food as often as you can then they can't breed in that either.

I don't know if that's how it works though.

Also, are there any places in the uk selling these mites? Google isn't working for me today.

[Paul]

Yeah, they're not cheap. Is there anyone else who is suffering similar problems who would goes halves with you?

When you clean everything, do you find the mites are significantly reduced, only for them to start appearing in large numbers a few weeks later as their population builds back up? That's what it was like for me, so the mites were an attempt to stamp them out once and for all. It worked for me. Christabel took half of my mites, they worked and killed the problematic mites but eventually the mites came back.

I can't think of any other solution. Have you been cleaning the snails a lot more than you used to? I've been reading a science paper on Achatininae and they did an experiment which proved that over-hygiene will kill the snails eventually coz they need bacteria. They stop eating, become inactive and die. It sounds similar to the retraction problem so I'm wondering if the snails are ill because you have been sterilising everything to kill the mites.

[section8angel]

Oh now come on that isn't fair. Trying to kill to mites but it can kill the snails?! How is that fair
Stupid mites!

I really hope you get it sorted Sarah. And I hope no one else gets this stupid problem. >=/

[Paul]

I'm not saying it will affect the health, because the paper isn't focussed on that but it certainly may be a factor. I've had a few die with the retraction problem. I can't help wondering if I made the situation worse by being too concerned with hygiene.

The problem with these mites is that they hide on the snail, in the breathing hole and under the shell lip. And they can swim so bathing doesn't necessarily get rid of them.

If the snails were put in a bare tank, it would only need a handful of hypoaspis mites to pick them clean. If only you could buy a few hundred instead of 10,000 at a time. It wouldn't be so bad if they were eggs that could be stored for a long time, you could just hatch what you needed. I tried to keep a population alive so I would have them available, but without constant food they die and if you put them in soil with food in, it soon becomes hard to be sure they're still the beneficial ones, coz they are so small.

[sezzy5889]

i'm definately not over cleaning them in fact i'm affraid that i am under cleaning them.
How often does everyone else clean theirs out?

[section8angel]

Sorry didn't mean to sound like I was saying you were. It just REALLY sucks if that can happen though.

Those mites sound horrible.

Can anyone post me some links of english sites selling these helping mites? (well sites selling them in £) Google is still down and me and msn search fell out ages ago lol

[gail]

Ok this is what I would do....not saying it will work, but it would help.

Take all the snails out of tank, wash them under running water not cold, just tepid.

Empty out the tank get rid of everything in it, wash tank thoroughly under running water. Make sure you can see no mites, dry it. Then replace substrate with moist kitchen towel not dripping wet just enough to keep it humid, keep washing snails as often as you can and replace kitchen towel everyday so there are no droppings for the mites to live on.

Keep tank warm if you can, this is for the snails they can get a bit cold in a glass tank especially with just kitchen towel and wetness. I dont know about plastic tanks, have had bad times with snails getting too cold.

Dont know if you want to do this, its just an idea but it may help or give you some idea of how to handle it yourself.

Gail

[sezzy5889]

you don't mean kitchen roll do you because the snails will eat that

[sezzy5889]

do predator mites live in certain country cuz i swear i just saw one in my bag of soil, is was about twice the size of the annoying mites with longer legs, quite fast and a more yellowy colour

[section8angel]

My snails don't each kitchen roll I have it at the bottom of the holding tubs and none have eaten it yet.

[gabi]

Mine too don´t eat "Bounty-Kitchenroll" but they eat normal paper you can write on. ;D

[Deleted]

what is meant by washing the snails too much? i wash my snails once or twice a week, cus when i clean them out i dont want them to get soil everywhere, and it looks pretty if theyre all clean and shiny ;D

[section8angel]

Ooo bounty Posh lol we have a cheapo one.

I think washing too much would be every day? Even several times a day?

I only wash mine when I clean the tanks. There's only matting and moss so they don't get very dirty and don't need cleaning more than that.

[Val]

Sarah, you asked for help before about this mite problem, but when you showed us pictures of your snail tanks although they looked beautiful there is no way you could keep on top of the mites with all those nice furnishings!! If you are seriously asking for help, then I would seriously suggest that you do exactly as Gail suggested i.e. take EVERYTHING out of the tanks, wash etc and then put the WASHED snails back in on damp capillary matting!! Nothing else!! As far as I am aware the mites cannot survive just on matting. Wash the matting pieces every day, rinse the snails as well every day, if you see some poo - pick it up. Keep the tanks very bare and very clean, if you keep this routine up you WILL win the battle I am sure.
Please don't give up on your snaily pets they cannot help themselves can they? They are at your mercy!! Attack those mites with a vengeance!!

Val

[section8angel]

Yes. GO SARAH GO! GO GO GO! GET THOSE MITES! GO SARAH GO!

;D like my cheering?

[sezzy5889]

ok i cleaned like hell yesterday, first i evacuated the room of snails and insects oh and plants, then i hoovered the floor (that prob doesn't have anything to do with it, but it needed doing anyway) then i dis-INSECT-ed my room with an insectacide spray that you spay all round the room, close all windows and doors then evacuate for 10-15 mins (you should have seen all the little flies scattered everywhere after that) then i jet cleaned all the tanks with the hose, and all the stuff that was in the tank, then i put a bit of moss in the microwave (i can't help thinking they need something comfy to bury in) and then all i put back in the tank was a plant pot and a water bowl, and for the biggies just a waterbowl, and i put a bit more ventilation in the lids so that the smell doesn't build in there. Then i sprayed and heated the tanks, while i was waiting for that i cleaned all equipment i use for feeding and cleaning the snails, and then last of all i, well not bathed but showered the snails and scrubbed with a toothbrush one by one and placed them into the tanks with some fresh food, and they stayed active all night which they haven't done in a long time :-)

My room is officially sterile....................................for now!

[gabi]

So now you are the cleaning-champ! ;D Good to hear, that the snailies do better!

....and if you are bored one day, come over, there are lot´s of rooms here to be cleaned.... ;D ;D ;D

[sezzy5889]

lol

i am having a lazy day today, i am in my pj's with a cuppa and it's 11:50am lol