Grain Mites or Booklice?

Questions about unexpected problems.
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galaciel21
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Grain Mites or Booklice?

Post by galaciel21 »

I happened to walk by my crab tank this evening and saw one of my crabs hanging off the cholla wood on top of his partner in crime. I turned the light on just to make sure he wasn't stuck and they both froze and looked at me like they had been caught doing something bad. As I was staring at them, I noticed some movement in the sand and saw bugs (eww). I inspected my two crabs and they have nothing crawling on them.

I checked out the pest section here to see if I could get any other information before posting and referred to the link at the Crab Street Journal on insects that could invade a hermie tanks.

I'm guessing I have either booklice or gain mites. I'm not sure because their minuscule and its hard to differentiate between the two based on the images I can find online as their microscopic images enlarged. These pests are whitish to tan in color. I have a crab I haven't seen for about a week and since it doesn't smell like death, she could be molting. I've been checking my tank during lights on and off and there is no sign of her. I have a good feeling I know where she is at but, I don't want to dig her up to "check" if she is.

For this reason, whatever I might have, from what I read they both seem to be harmless to a crab itself but, I don't want a massive explosion of mites or lice, whichever they may be. I'm going out of state in a week for 2 weeks and I would like to get this tank deep cleaned, everything boiled and crabs bathed before I go now because of this issue. The problem is, if my crab is molting, she isn't going to finish a week by now.

What would be a good suggestion? Should I dig her up and take a look or let her be and keep the tank as is for now?
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Wai
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Re: Grain Mites or Booklice?

Post by Wai »

This is difficult... I would probably do nothing for now, but check to see if the grain mite population is increasing. If yes, order the Hyoaspis miles predatory mites to gobble them up. Don't disturb the potential moulter.
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ladybug15057
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Re: Grain Mites or Booklice?

Post by ladybug15057 »

I agree with Wai. Something does need to be done though, because in 2 weeks time the mites could be carrying the tank around! (ok exaggerated there) *|
To tell grain mites vs book lice, you could put a thin line of vaseline on a piece of scotch tape along the outside bottom of the tank. If it is book lice they could be coming in the tank from the outside, whereas grain mites would hitch a ride on the food going into the tank. (why I grind ALL foods up into a powder form. any larvae, extra protein but not crawling around when it hits the warm humid tank)
Check your food closely.
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galaciel21
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Re: Grain Mites or Booklice?

Post by galaciel21 »

Thanks guys for the advice. I'll do the Vaseline and take a look and see where it could be coming from.

Most the food I feed them is fresh fruits, veg, cuttlebone, seaweed, shrimp and then freeze dried seafood (krill, shrimp, etc.). There really isn't anything as far as grains going in there. I admit to giving them a little bit of hermit crab meal (the Tetrafauna brand) because they seem to prefer to eat that vs the majority of the other stuff I put in therel. I've been trying to provide them with a variety of diff food and all they seem to really like are egg shells, store bought meal and they LOVE dried fruit. They do like shrimp too.

Marie, what do you use to grind their food up? I wouldn't mind investing in something if its going to prevent infestation. Do you use a blender, coffee bean grinder?

I'm going to go ahead and look into ordering the predatory mites. Once their under control, do the predatory mites just die off?
galaciel21
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Re: Grain Mites or Booklice?

Post by galaciel21 »

http://store.evergreengrowers.com/prost ... etail?no=1

Is something like this okay and is 1 liter enough for a 20 long?
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ladybug15057
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Re: Grain Mites or Booklice?

Post by ladybug15057 »

I use both the coffee grinder and a blender depending on what I am blending. The blender has a puree setting and can do a couple harder items a lot finer. But the coffee grinder does good to and for smaller amounts as well.
This topic reminded me of something I found the end of Dec. 2010:
Possible Problem With Hypoaspis miles

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?pa ... spis+Mites

It's about 2/3 down the page...
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Re: Grain Mites or Booklice?

Post by galaciel21 »

Maybe I should invest in a coffee grinder. I only have 4 crabs at the moment and even though I like to, I don't think I could keep up with multitudes of them.

Thanks for the link. I went ahead and read it. I don't know what I should do. I'm not going to be here long enough in order to spread treatment out during the two weeks and I don't want to attract anymore unnecessary pests into my tank. I pulled one of my crabs out today and I saw he had a mite on his eye. It came off but, as I inspected his mouth and body, I didn't see anything else on him. I went ahead and inspected my other crab and he was okay too.

I'm wondering if maybe I should just get new eco and sand, bath my two crabs and set up my iso up as a temp. home for now. I'll go ahead and pull all the wood, cocohuts and stuff out and bake/boil those that way I can put something in the iso for them to get some exercise on so they don't get on each others nerves. Every time their in close confinement with nothing to climb or hide under, they are always rubbing antennas and I get concerned their going to fight. Their like...frenemies, hah.

If my potential molter doesn't emerge from now until the time I fly outta state, I'll have my husband keep an eye out and periodically take a whiff of the tank for her and if she comes out. If so, he'll have to give her a bath, look for any potential mites in the water and place her in iso. I'm sure this will be the worlds most largest and daunting task for him but, he can get over it. He leaves for training in a few weeks and I'm stuck having to care for his salt tank :groan:

Thanks again for the article. While the mites might have been a success with some other crab owners, I don't think its a route I really want to go. I rather opt to just doing a deep clean.
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Re: Grain Mites or Booklice?

Post by CrabbyJo »

galaciel21,
I've used the hypoaspis miles successfully for two infestations. The link you gave is who I order them from, and he is very helpful with the shipping charges. The last two times he sent them to me he only charged me $14 for shipping USPS. The mites came in cold (it was winter both times) but recovered within 3 days and I was able to use them in the tank.
If you aren't too worried about seeing bugs in the tank for a while, go ahead and order them. They do an excellent job of getting rid of the pest mites.
I don't know if you've read all about how they work, but basically they will reproduce as long as they are eating protein, ie, other bugs. Once there is no more protein and they are resorting to vegetable matter (such as cocofiber) then they will cease to reproduce and will die off.

I do recommend them, they work great, because I worry that even with deep cleaning I won't get rid of the mites, as I tried with one batch of crabs and it just didn't work! All that work, only to have the mites resurface again in a couple of weeks.

Good luck!
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Re: Grain Mites or Booklice?

Post by Wai »

Does anyone know for sure if the predatory mites are available in Australia?
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galaciel21
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Re: Grain Mites or Booklice?

Post by galaciel21 »

Thanks for the advice CrabbyJo. I don't mind seeing bugs in the tank I'm just worried about treatment. Do you have to spread it out or could I dump them all in the tank at one time? I'm flying out of state in a week for 2 weeks and the husband is already freaking out because I have "bugs" in the house (he seems to refuse to believe that bugs naturally occur in homes) so he most likely won't treat the treat.

I'm glad to hear that they will die off though, that was one of my other concerns and its good to know that you have had success with this yourself.

Wai - I don't know if they are available in Australia. I did try looking it up but didn't come up with anything. The site I provided I think they only ship US. Maybe you can try to contact or speak with someone who owns a nursery or green house and see if they know of any available suppliers.
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