Post by crabbycrystal on Sept 7, 2011 21:28:52 GMT -5
Hello everyone,
I've been away for quite a while due to school, work, and dealing with harmful mites in my 125gal tank (that meant bathing about 40 crabs multiple times a day)!
Through my dealing with mites, I've found that there isn't much information out there. There are various different types of mites and I want to give a key way to clarify whether or not the ones found are harmful or not.
- If mites are found primarily on the substrate or food and look like a fat round white grain of sand- then they are more likely to be food mites/ aka: wood lice. They are not harmful to the crabs (they will eat dead crabs), however, if left unchecked they reproduce rapidly and can be a pain to get rid of. A deep clean will help get rid of them or you can introduce H. Miles (predatory mite that eats other mites- detailed later in the thread).
- The harmful mites will be found primarily on the crabs and one of the main ways to find out if your crab has these mites is a bath in salt water. Turn the crab upside down so that he/she will have to pull water into their shells when they turn to stand upright. Gently lift the crab and tilt them to allow the water to poor out from their shell. Inspect the water with a bright light and magnifying glass (the babies are next to impossible to spot without a magnifying glass). The mites will look like tiny grains or white or red sand with legs. I've noticed that the mites found on exotic species such as C. Perlatus are more tolerant of salt water.
Here are a few things that I've noticed throughout the treatment of my tank (includes C. Perlatus (from livehermitcrabs.com- came with mites), c. compressus, and c. clypeatus.
Mites are a natural occurance in the wild and unfortunately sometimes cannot be avoided. The c. perlatus that I received from LHC had a few mites on them and I just wanted to post a couple of additional tips that I have found to work.
First I followed the advice given from Livehermitcrabs.com.
“Isolate all new crabs for at least 5 days. Bathe the crabs in luke warm, double strength salt water prior to placing them in iso.
If you don't find anything, bathe in dechlorinated water to remove excess salt and repeat in 3-5 days.
- If you find mites, bathe 3 times a day with double strength dechlorinated salt water for 5 days. Keep crabs in a sterile tank. I've been keeping them on wet paper towels, with a fresh and salt water dish, and containers cut into hide aways. Following the salt water treatment, bathe in dechlorinated fresh water (Using a stress coat dechlorinator). Stress coat should only be used for the hermit crabs when treating for mites. After treating for 5 days, leave the crabs in Iso and re-check for mites in 5 days”
When I first bathed my crabs- I didn't see any mites, none in the water and none in the back of the shell or on the crabs. I put them in a 20gal iso. I also placed spare shells in with them. They immediately inspected them and a couple of the crabs switched.
I decided to rinse out the old shells that the crabs had been wearing as one final test to see if they had mites. Unfortunately- 4 fell out of one shell and 1 from another.
So I stuck to the schedule as LHC outlined.
I also periodically place clean shells into the tank and wait for the crabs to show interest and change shells. This way you have more of a chance of getting mites out of the tank by removing the old shell and checking for mites.
After each session I soak the shells that were placed into the tank in double strength salt water. Check to see if any mites rinse out of the shell. This will help give you an idea as to how severe the infestation may be. Rinse the shells with dechlor water before placing them back in the iso tank. I did this after each bathing session. I also change out the paper towel substrate and rinse the hides in hot water nightly.
Another option for treating mites is H. Miles, a predatory mite that hunts down and eats other mites. Their lifespan is about 2 weeks. They will reproduce as long as they have a food source- other mites or mite eggs. They will also eat other forms of insect larvae.
Here is a site that sells H. Miles and gives more information about them:
greenmethods.com/site/weblog/201 ... hypoaspis/
Here are some additional tips that I've found to work:
When keeping your crabs in a sterile environment give them as many hides as you can (plastic bottles cut into caves, butter tubs, etc. You can even put wet paper towels in a nest shape to help them feel like they are partially underground). Change paper towels and water every day. Rinse off objects in tank if you notice mites on them.
If your are dealing with a sensitive species or hermit crab or crabs that came from poor conditions:
I chose to use H. Miles (the predatory mite that eats other mites) with my C. Perlatus and a large Purple Pincher. They were starting to become very lethargic due to all the stress of being in a new and sterile environment as well as from dealing with all of the baths.
Note: H. Miles can only dig down about 1/2 an inch into the substrate- if you feel that you have too many of the bad mites and it would only prove detrimental to allow the crabs to molt with a large infestation, stick with the sterile environment method and introduce H. MilesI mixed H. Miles into the coco bark- I highly recommend using this substrate- it's light weight and you can easily mix H. miles into it without having to worry about killing them.
The cocobark will work well with any molters or destressers- the H. Miles will still be able to get to them when mixed into the substrate and hopefully eat any mites on the crabs. I've been doing this with my C. Perlatus since their re-introduction into iso due to a mite egg hatching- and so far it has worked quite well.
I had 3 very lethargic crabs: 2 large C. Perlatus and one Large Purple Pincher. They have been in iso with the coco bark substrate mixed with H. Miles for about a 3 weeks-4 weeks. This has allowed them time to destress. I have reduced bathing to 1-2x per day depending on if mites are spotted. Without this method, I'm sure that I would have lost the three hermit crabs mentioned.
I would also like to add that since dealing with mites (babies as well as adults) you will definitely want to use a magnifying glass and bright light- the babies are incredibly hard to spot- if near impossible without these tools! I've also noticed that the babies literally walk across water!
Also: You can tell the difference between H. Miles and the bad mites.
`H. Miles is a mix of brown and white in coloring and thier bodies are more angular.
` The bad mites are more circular, bright white or red, and look like tiny grains of thin sand with legs. The babies look like an opaque white.
I've been away for quite a while due to school, work, and dealing with harmful mites in my 125gal tank (that meant bathing about 40 crabs multiple times a day)!
Through my dealing with mites, I've found that there isn't much information out there. There are various different types of mites and I want to give a key way to clarify whether or not the ones found are harmful or not.
- If mites are found primarily on the substrate or food and look like a fat round white grain of sand- then they are more likely to be food mites/ aka: wood lice. They are not harmful to the crabs (they will eat dead crabs), however, if left unchecked they reproduce rapidly and can be a pain to get rid of. A deep clean will help get rid of them or you can introduce H. Miles (predatory mite that eats other mites- detailed later in the thread).
- The harmful mites will be found primarily on the crabs and one of the main ways to find out if your crab has these mites is a bath in salt water. Turn the crab upside down so that he/she will have to pull water into their shells when they turn to stand upright. Gently lift the crab and tilt them to allow the water to poor out from their shell. Inspect the water with a bright light and magnifying glass (the babies are next to impossible to spot without a magnifying glass). The mites will look like tiny grains or white or red sand with legs. I've noticed that the mites found on exotic species such as C. Perlatus are more tolerant of salt water.
Here are a few things that I've noticed throughout the treatment of my tank (includes C. Perlatus (from livehermitcrabs.com- came with mites), c. compressus, and c. clypeatus.
Mites are a natural occurance in the wild and unfortunately sometimes cannot be avoided. The c. perlatus that I received from LHC had a few mites on them and I just wanted to post a couple of additional tips that I have found to work.
First I followed the advice given from Livehermitcrabs.com.
“Isolate all new crabs for at least 5 days. Bathe the crabs in luke warm, double strength salt water prior to placing them in iso.
If you don't find anything, bathe in dechlorinated water to remove excess salt and repeat in 3-5 days.
- If you find mites, bathe 3 times a day with double strength dechlorinated salt water for 5 days. Keep crabs in a sterile tank. I've been keeping them on wet paper towels, with a fresh and salt water dish, and containers cut into hide aways. Following the salt water treatment, bathe in dechlorinated fresh water (Using a stress coat dechlorinator). Stress coat should only be used for the hermit crabs when treating for mites. After treating for 5 days, leave the crabs in Iso and re-check for mites in 5 days”
When I first bathed my crabs- I didn't see any mites, none in the water and none in the back of the shell or on the crabs. I put them in a 20gal iso. I also placed spare shells in with them. They immediately inspected them and a couple of the crabs switched.
I decided to rinse out the old shells that the crabs had been wearing as one final test to see if they had mites. Unfortunately- 4 fell out of one shell and 1 from another.
So I stuck to the schedule as LHC outlined.
I also periodically place clean shells into the tank and wait for the crabs to show interest and change shells. This way you have more of a chance of getting mites out of the tank by removing the old shell and checking for mites.
After each session I soak the shells that were placed into the tank in double strength salt water. Check to see if any mites rinse out of the shell. This will help give you an idea as to how severe the infestation may be. Rinse the shells with dechlor water before placing them back in the iso tank. I did this after each bathing session. I also change out the paper towel substrate and rinse the hides in hot water nightly.
Another option for treating mites is H. Miles, a predatory mite that hunts down and eats other mites. Their lifespan is about 2 weeks. They will reproduce as long as they have a food source- other mites or mite eggs. They will also eat other forms of insect larvae.
Here is a site that sells H. Miles and gives more information about them:
greenmethods.com/site/weblog/201 ... hypoaspis/
Here are some additional tips that I've found to work:
When keeping your crabs in a sterile environment give them as many hides as you can (plastic bottles cut into caves, butter tubs, etc. You can even put wet paper towels in a nest shape to help them feel like they are partially underground). Change paper towels and water every day. Rinse off objects in tank if you notice mites on them.
If your are dealing with a sensitive species or hermit crab or crabs that came from poor conditions:
I chose to use H. Miles (the predatory mite that eats other mites) with my C. Perlatus and a large Purple Pincher. They were starting to become very lethargic due to all the stress of being in a new and sterile environment as well as from dealing with all of the baths.
Note: H. Miles can only dig down about 1/2 an inch into the substrate- if you feel that you have too many of the bad mites and it would only prove detrimental to allow the crabs to molt with a large infestation, stick with the sterile environment method and introduce H. MilesI mixed H. Miles into the coco bark- I highly recommend using this substrate- it's light weight and you can easily mix H. miles into it without having to worry about killing them.
The cocobark will work well with any molters or destressers- the H. Miles will still be able to get to them when mixed into the substrate and hopefully eat any mites on the crabs. I've been doing this with my C. Perlatus since their re-introduction into iso due to a mite egg hatching- and so far it has worked quite well.
I had 3 very lethargic crabs: 2 large C. Perlatus and one Large Purple Pincher. They have been in iso with the coco bark substrate mixed with H. Miles for about a 3 weeks-4 weeks. This has allowed them time to destress. I have reduced bathing to 1-2x per day depending on if mites are spotted. Without this method, I'm sure that I would have lost the three hermit crabs mentioned.
I would also like to add that since dealing with mites (babies as well as adults) you will definitely want to use a magnifying glass and bright light- the babies are incredibly hard to spot- if near impossible without these tools! I've also noticed that the babies literally walk across water!
Also: You can tell the difference between H. Miles and the bad mites.
`H. Miles is a mix of brown and white in coloring and thier bodies are more angular.
` The bad mites are more circular, bright white or red, and look like tiny grains of thin sand with legs. The babies look like an opaque white.