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Post by pwiles1968 on Apr 21, 2009 21:29:08 GMT
I have some sort of mites in the tank with my snails, mainly round food, which does get changed regularly but I have just noticed them on snaily's, I change the soil but they return quite quickly. Best Photos I can get - They are small 1-2 mm long and white look 6 legged.Are they dangerous to the snails and how can i get rid of them.
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Post by AlienSnail on Apr 22, 2009 5:53:32 GMT
Good news Paul, these are not dangerous. These are springtails and various keepers put these in the tank on purpose to help keep the soil clean. They are sold as clean-up-crew and eat snail poo and food that is going off. They are often found on and under food but do hang around the snails too. This doesn't appear to bother the snails, not even the babies. I (and others here) have them in all the tanks and have done for over a year without any ill effect to the snails. But if you don't want them they are indeed hard to get rid of! Springtails will jump if disturbed. Mites cannot jump. Also the harmful mites have a very round shape and are smaller than the springtails.
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Post by pwiles1968 on Apr 22, 2009 10:17:43 GMT
Really good news, we were away last week and noticed them last night, there were quite a few on the shell of one of the snails so I gave them both a shower and brush up. As they do not look so pretty covered in them.
Thanks for the feedback.
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