[kevintoronto]

Finding several of these black dots, mostly on plants but also around the substrate. Not floating or at surface at all. A few on the glass.
Any idea what they are ? Not sure if they are mites, seed shrimp or other?
They move VERY slowly. I can't watch them move, only by coming back later.

Those are my new Monte Carlo for scale.. only thing I added last week.
I used tropica tissue cultures to avoid introducing pests

 

[kevintoronto]

Luckily I work in a microscope facility
Water mite?
anything I can do about these? Are they a risk to my betta?

 

[Plinkploop]

To your fish, not likely... If they are the mites I think they are they mostly feed on algae but they can make a mess of plants too. I don't know how to get rid of them other than constantly manually removing them. They've shown up in a couple of my old dirt bottomed tanks.

 

[kevintoronto]

Thanks,
Yes I've had them in a test tube since yesterday with some monte carlo, and you can see they are decimating it.
Bummed out at my first venture into planting a carpet!

 

[Plinkploop]

I'm so sorry. Those things ruined my first carpeting experience as well. Try not to let it get you down. Worse comes to worst and they get too obnoxious you may have to tear down and set back up. They are such a pain.

 

[kevintoronto]

Ugh! Thanks. Just returned home from work. Most of the plants are mostly eaten. There is one in the corner that if I rip all the rest out looks good, but I suspect I won't be able to get all the mites out before they find it.
At least the fish will be fine. Have to wait until this infestation settles before trying something again.
Maybe I'll get a bladderwort. At least they can fight back.

 

[Plinkploop]

Lol UG, I've got some in a tupperware and am trying to figure out what to do with it. Aquatic farmer had some tc of it- it's a carnivorous bladderwort.

 

[fischman]

Any chance a fish would find these as food?

 

[Plinkploop]

Any chance a fish would find these as food?

I haven't found any. Even my mosquito fish wouldn't touch them.

 

[kevintoronto]

Lol UG, I've got some in a tupperware and am trying to figure out what to do with it. Aquatic farmer had some tc of it- it's a carnivorous bladderwort.

Yes I've got some Butterworts and nepenthes pitchers here. Never thought about putting a bladderwort in the tank... Until now. Apparently they're fussy but they carpet. Might be worth a try. Looks like the Monte Carlo is a write off they'll be dead in a day or two.

 

[Plinkploop]

They do definitely carpet, in our out of the water. I have mine on fine gravel with peat moss underneath and it's already growing like grass. Could be a very good option in your particular situation- you'll get a beautiful carpet that will eat your pests. The only problem that I've heard people having with it is a tendency after a while for it to lift itself up and float away because of the bladders instead of roots.

 

[kevintoronto]

Wow. They are awful. I moved a bug infested Monte Carlo stem to 5 % bleach for 3 minutes. Still moving.
I did a large water change. Poured bleach into the waste bucket to about 50% bleach. Waited 5 minutes. Pulled some out, out in a dish with water - still alive. What the hell.

 

[Plinkploop]

Holy crap!! I wonder what the kryptonite for these little super mites might be. Nothing eats them, bleach didn't kill them, they are land mites that can live underwater... Mother nature makes some pretty funky critters!! Good luck in your fight with the mites!! Alum works on snails, in wonder if it would work on those...

 

[kevintoronto]

Have to take my snail out first.. Ugh. If I had a quarantine tank I would tear this down. Not even sure I would want to keep it.
Waiting to see if 30 minutes in bleach kills then off. But even if I tore down the tank I wouldnt leave 50% bleach on for 30 minutes. Maybe I can remove them all if they have a slow enough life cycle. Surprisingly little information about them online (in aquaria).

 

[Plinkploop]

I ran into the same problem. Thankfully they haven't showed back up for me. Do you know I'd they hitchhiked on something you put in the tank or do you think they came from the soil (did you use dirt)?

 

[kevintoronto]

Nope it's all sand. One of the Carib sea bags. Had it in for over a year. All I've done recently is:
-add the Monte Carlo. Tropica tissue culture.
-fed some frozen brine shrimp from LFS that I haven't used before. That might have had frozen mite eggs in I guess?

Maybe I will thaw a cube of frozen brine shrimp in a beaker and stick it under the microscope to see.

 

[Plinkploop]

Let us know what you find!! Awesome that you have access to microscopes!!

 

[kevintoronto]

Do you know of anywhere to get plant clips similar to these? I think I might fight back with some UG after all.

JBL PROSCAPE PLANTIS

Hold for all plants: pegs to anchor plants safely in the aquarium substrate until the roots have taken firm hold

www.jbl.de

Trying to avoid using lead weights.