Mites!! Heeeeeelp ! ! !

[feebix]

I`ve not long cleaned out my snail tank but I was just looking at my snails and I noticed a fair few little tan cloured mitey things ! help! I hope those things aren`t breeding inside my snails or something ! oh I`m quite worried now

[AlienSnail]

Bare with me Feebix, this has been covered before, let me just find the thread...

OK, here's the previous mites thread

supersnails.proboards76.com/index.cgi?board=illness&action=display&thread=1476

Basically pest mites look like very small white dots, your best bet is to wash the snails, clean the tank and accessories, throw away all the soil and replace it in a shallow layer.

Next purchase some Hypoaspis mites and put them in with the snails as soon as you get them, they eat pest mites. They can be purchased from www.defenders found on this thread supersnails.proboards76.com/index.cgi?board=links&action=display&thread=1189954255&page=1 but it's not the only place selling them.

However if your little mites are tan coloured they may actually be a type of predatory mite that eats tiny soil pests. I would still buy the Hypoaspis anyway, just in case...