Giant African Millipede mite problem.

K

krazycricket21

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
19
I have read the other threads and i believe i have a different problem. They are tiny and white. I looked at a few of my milli's and they are COVERED! They also seem to be unable to curl all the way into a ball and in defense mode all the time. One was even excreting yellowish liquid where the mites were the thickest. I'm worried they are attacking the millipedes instead of helping.
Any ideas? They are all through the substrate and crawling over the glass on the tank. They have even spread to my snail tank via the light cord. ​
:(:(:(
 
zonbonzovi

zonbonzovi

Creeping beneath you
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
3,346
Sounds like a grain mite infestation. In small amounts I ignore them but when they're in the numbers you have...

It was suggested not too long ago that rinsing them off may work. If it were me, I'd probably grab a paint brush & gently rinse them with luke warm water & work the mites off with the brush. Definitely change out the substrate or just bake it. I've taken to offering up food in a dish rather than burying(except for wood/leaves) it because of this problem. If I remember right, yours weren't of breeding size yet? When the substrate is changed, consider adding isopods or springtails in small amounts to compete with grain mites for the tank detritus.
 
Sooner

Sooner

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 14, 2008
Messages
225
I've heard of using flour but that was for tarantulas. I would recommend you do a search to see if flour would work for millipedes, just to make sure that flour won't cover the milipedes' breathing holes.
 
G

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
8,982
I hate those! Imo, because of my experience anyway, the only way you will get rid of them or at least keep them under control is to get predatory mites. You will practically never get them all off your millies in a quick fix, they are stuck on in a stage called the hypopus stage. They stick on with something like suckers, though I think I remember they could use a kind of "glue" also. You could use isopods but the grain mites(assuming because of the description) eat rotting matter, plant and animal, that the isopods also eat, but the veg food stays in there longer than say part of a roach that somebody would immediately take out. They will leave your millies when food is around for them and also when it's time to get out of that stage, I think it can be a nymph stage as well but I'm not sure. So eventually, they have to get off your milli. And that is when the pred mites will get them. It took several months over here for me to get control of them. Now I can see a rotting roach, but no grain mites on them. But I have seen the predator mites get low in numbers, then a breakout of grain mites, then a breakout of pred mites then a disappearing of the grain mites. It's really works! With a case as bad as yours, I think it would take months also.
 
G

Gnat

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
286
where would one get these predatory mites? i too have a grain mite issue in my AGB tank, as well as many of my other enclosures. can you buy them or is there a way to 'attract' and contain these guys to put in the enclosure? my grain mite issue is so bad in my AGB container (a steralite sweater box) that ive seen mites crawling on the top of the lid, outside of the container
 
NevularScorpion

NevularScorpion

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Messages
916
I have this same problem before with my hissers and I was advise to buy this liquid that contains a micro organism that eats mites. you just have to drop a tease spoon of this liquid in the substrate and they will attack the mites once the mites are dead they will also die since they don't have food anymore. I forgot the name but you can try searching it in google.
 
K

krazycricket21

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
19
Here is a pic of the mites i have. I think they have actually made a hole on the back of one of my millipedes. I tried rinsing them off and just succeeded in pissing the millies off. Is there anything i can do before i get the pred. mites? If i replace the bedding the mites will just swarm it again. Should i put the millies in a tub with no soil? I heard that would stop the life cycle but wouldn't it stress the millies out pretty bad?
 
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