Re: Grindal worm Problem

[Wright Huntley <huntley1 at home_com>]

John Pendergrass wrote:
> 
> Hello all, I have a problem with my grindal worms... There are very small
> bugs crawling around inside the container. I assume they are mites. My
> question is what do mites look like? and If they are mite what do I need to
> do to save the culture? There are still lots of worms in the shoe box. The
> bugs are about the size of a period written with a pencil. They seem to be
> kind of an orangish brown color, and crawl all over inside the container. I
> have not seen any juming or flying.
> 
> Any Ideas to combat these little guys would be great.... I have a feeling
> they are going to wreak havoc on the culture if I don't do somthing soon.

Mites are a tiny member of the spider family, I think, and look just as you
describe them. They will just compete for food with the worms. The worms can
stand flooding for a bit, so you can probably float most of the mites off
and collect them for fish food. Repeat to catch any eggs that hatch later,
maybe?

I've had little trouble with them, but I always cover 90% of the soil
surface with a clear plastic sheet or glass. Putting food in small pits
encourages worms to crawl out on the glass for collection without any soil.
The mites also can't get to much of the food.

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley,  Fremont CA, USA,  510 494-8679     wright at killi_net

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References:

• Grindal worm Problem
• From: "John Pendergrass" <pendergrassj at hotmail_com>

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