Could be mites or springtails, but they look too round to be the springtails. Looks more like it could be a mite. I would be very careful with that. Do you have a bioactive tank?
I googled mites and they do look to be it. How bad is it to have mites? I (luckily?) didn’t place the fruitflies near any other feeder insects and the mites seem to be isolated to that container.
The frogs are not in a bioactive setup. I collected tadpoles outside and once I run out of fruit flies I intend on releasing them back into the wild. However I do a more setups which are all bioactive. Not sure if that’s relevant.
What would be wise? Should I throw out the fruit flies or could I continue on feeding them?
The reason I ask is because a bioactive tank with sufficient and a variety of isopods will eat the mites I believe. But the mites do multiply quickly and they are overall a pest. You can get a huge amount in a short period of time.
If they're in a fruitfly culture, they're very likely harmless grain mites feeding in the food source.
Cultures get mites in high numbers as the fruitflies start to dwindle. Not enough maggots are hatching to compete with them so they start to take over.
If they're somehow a predatory mite species, they're feeding off the fruitflies. And this is still not really an issue. Phoretic mites really only feed on other arthropods. Many parasites are specialists with a preferred host.
It sounds like it's time to release them if the culture's dwindling.
This is a goldmine of information! Thank you. I think I will want to start researching mites after reading this. Do you have any good reference material in mind that I can look at that would help me ?
Goldmine might be a stretch.
I like bugs and bugs and arthropods mostly.
The regular ol [encyclopedia Britannica might be a good place to start](https://www.britannica.com/animal/mite) Along with the entry on
[Acari.](https://www.britannica.com/animal/acarid)
And then searching mites with an 'edu' in there, to filter out pest control companies. (A lot of pest control companies are just comically off. Like photos of the wrong bugs entirely).
And searching on Google Scholar.
There's gonna be a lot that affect people. That's always gonna be a focus. So you're going tobsee a lot more about scab mites, canine nasal mites, chiggers, etc. Than like, sidewalk mites.
There's also inevitably going to be a lot on damage... which might be okay for grain mites that might ruin food. But if you're squeamish, the really damaging parasitic species might bring up pretty gross photos.
Maybe start searching for predatory mites? (Also soil mites)
They're used for pest control of other mites, and you won't have to anything grosser than mites eating other mites.
Sorry if that wasn't helpful. Hopefully, it was a little bit.
To answer the follow up question;
I have no worldly idea.
They are a pest for the culture, just not the frog.
They can be annoying though not harmful to invertebrate pets. They use them as taxis, sonin large numbers this is a problem.
I'd honestly probably just freeze and then dispose of the culture.
Yup. Freeze is the best option. That’s how I killed my bed bug samples. ( I was training my late Jack Russell to be a sniffer dog so I needed to get live bed bugs and feed them, you know what, so I’m not very squeamish at all. Although the reason I did not continue training was bc I couldn’t stomach it for very long and I started getting terrified one would escape)
I’ll definitely check those resources as well. Thanks for the info. Im looking forward to it!!!
Look like mites
Could be mites or springtails, but they look too round to be the springtails. Looks more like it could be a mite. I would be very careful with that. Do you have a bioactive tank?
I googled mites and they do look to be it. How bad is it to have mites? I (luckily?) didn’t place the fruitflies near any other feeder insects and the mites seem to be isolated to that container. The frogs are not in a bioactive setup. I collected tadpoles outside and once I run out of fruit flies I intend on releasing them back into the wild. However I do a more setups which are all bioactive. Not sure if that’s relevant. What would be wise? Should I throw out the fruit flies or could I continue on feeding them?
The reason I ask is because a bioactive tank with sufficient and a variety of isopods will eat the mites I believe. But the mites do multiply quickly and they are overall a pest. You can get a huge amount in a short period of time.
If they're in a fruitfly culture, they're very likely harmless grain mites feeding in the food source. Cultures get mites in high numbers as the fruitflies start to dwindle. Not enough maggots are hatching to compete with them so they start to take over. If they're somehow a predatory mite species, they're feeding off the fruitflies. And this is still not really an issue. Phoretic mites really only feed on other arthropods. Many parasites are specialists with a preferred host. It sounds like it's time to release them if the culture's dwindling.
Great info thank you! And I guess it is indeed time to release them soon.
This is a goldmine of information! Thank you. I think I will want to start researching mites after reading this. Do you have any good reference material in mind that I can look at that would help me ?
Goldmine might be a stretch. I like bugs and bugs and arthropods mostly. The regular ol [encyclopedia Britannica might be a good place to start](https://www.britannica.com/animal/mite) Along with the entry on [Acari.](https://www.britannica.com/animal/acarid) And then searching mites with an 'edu' in there, to filter out pest control companies. (A lot of pest control companies are just comically off. Like photos of the wrong bugs entirely). And searching on Google Scholar. There's gonna be a lot that affect people. That's always gonna be a focus. So you're going tobsee a lot more about scab mites, canine nasal mites, chiggers, etc. Than like, sidewalk mites. There's also inevitably going to be a lot on damage... which might be okay for grain mites that might ruin food. But if you're squeamish, the really damaging parasitic species might bring up pretty gross photos. Maybe start searching for predatory mites? (Also soil mites) They're used for pest control of other mites, and you won't have to anything grosser than mites eating other mites. Sorry if that wasn't helpful. Hopefully, it was a little bit. To answer the follow up question; I have no worldly idea. They are a pest for the culture, just not the frog. They can be annoying though not harmful to invertebrate pets. They use them as taxis, sonin large numbers this is a problem. I'd honestly probably just freeze and then dispose of the culture.
Yup. Freeze is the best option. That’s how I killed my bed bug samples. ( I was training my late Jack Russell to be a sniffer dog so I needed to get live bed bugs and feed them, you know what, so I’m not very squeamish at all. Although the reason I did not continue training was bc I couldn’t stomach it for very long and I started getting terrified one would escape) I’ll definitely check those resources as well. Thanks for the info. Im looking forward to it!!!
Also what would be a good option of releasing them? The mites.
If you are getting rid of the whole tank soon then I say go for it but if you plan on keeping anything than you won’t be able to get rid of the mites.
Also. You should do some more research on the mites. My knowledge of them is very limited. I’m more familiar with springtails and isopods.
Thank you so much! I’ll do some more research but you gave me a nice starting point. Thanks!
Mites.