# springtails or woodlice



## dazzer2 (Mar 31, 2010)

hi which are best for tank clear up ....
i have small gnats in my tanks i think there fungus gnats ive already baked the compost/coir and there back again as most tanks are infected its in practical to rehome the lot so would springtails orv woodlice work ????
cheers dazzer:bash:

p.s no sarcastic comments please because im irritable.


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Both.

Also, stop swearing.


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## snowgoose (May 5, 2009)

I would actually recommend getting yourself some Hypoaspis miles for this problem


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

snowgoose said:


> I would actually recommend getting yourself some Hypoaspis miles for this problem


Rather than buying stuff, I'd recommend dealing with the cause. 

Having fungus gnats or scuttle flies is a symptom that things are too wet, or that there are no competators. Introducing predatory mites is an OK suggestion, but the would simply need repeating everytime the problem re-emerges -which it will, if the husbandry is not altered. 

You can try replacing the substrate with fresh (unbaked), then add some leaf litter with woodlice and collembola. Once they are established the problem will usually not re-occur.


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## snowgoose (May 5, 2009)

I would recommend using the H.miles first to rid the immediate problem, then introducing springtails and woodlice to keep on top of the enclosures.


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## dazzer2 (Mar 31, 2010)

snowgoose said:


> I would recommend using the H.miles first to rid the immediate problem, then introducing springtails and woodlice to keep on top of the enclosures.


hi where do i get the hypoispis mites from mate ?????
cheers dazzer:2thumb:


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## snowgoose (May 5, 2009)

Defenders do them

Defenders - Safe Effective Natural Biologist Pest Control for Gardeners


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## 8and6 (Jan 19, 2010)

if youd have asked me a few years ago i would also advised H.miles...in fact they are fantastic at clearing up outbreaks of Fungus flys, Scuttle Flys, Phorid Flys, mites etc, but i have to admit the result ( a tank sterile of all micro fauna) is only temporary.
What ive been doing for the last year or so is wetting a bucket of coir down and then mixing in a handful of unsterilised woodland mulch (i use oak, brush back the loose leaves, skim a couple of inches of the beautiful dark compost from underneath and then putting the leaves back) and leaeving the bucket outside for everything to propagate and migrate through as i use it.

great results so far :2thumb:


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

GRB said:


> Rather than buying stuff, I'd recommend dealing with the cause.
> 
> Having fungus gnats or scuttle flies is a symptom that things are too wet, or that there are no competators.



If only it were that simple. scuttle flies (Phorid flies) usually come with the crickets. If anyone knows a sure way to rid yourself of these please let me know coz Im fighting a loosing battle with these. Ive even found them in the springtail and tropical woodlice colonies I have!


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Poxicator said:


> If only it were that simple. scuttle flies (Phorid flies) usually come with the crickets. If anyone knows a sure way to rid yourself of these please let me know coz Im fighting a loosing battle with these. Ive even found them in the springtail and tropical woodlice colonies I have!


Works for me anyway... :lol:

There are no sure fire solutions to completely eradicate them, although the woodlice/springtail one ime works the best. You just have to give it time for the populations to establish, and for the starting high organic matter load within the tank to deplete.


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

longer than 3 years?


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## 8and6 (Jan 19, 2010)

Poxicator said:


> longer than 3 years?


you been using them since you started with T's Pete?
I would have thought they would have kept things in check 

I use them (natives not tropicals) along with whatever other micro fauna there is in the mulch and they seem to work fine


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## snowgoose (May 5, 2009)

I use common woodlice in all my tanks.

You can keep your tropical ones :lol2:

IMO common ones seem to work best, even in heated enclosures


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## MustLoveSnails (Aug 2, 2009)

Poxicator said:


> If only it were that simple. scuttle flies (Phorid flies) usually come with the crickets. If anyone knows a sure way to rid yourself of these please let me know coz Im fighting a loosing battle with these. Ive even found them in the springtail and tropical woodlice colonies I have!


 I used to get those things a lot, I dumped hypoasis miles in literally every tank I had plus in all the buckets and boxes of various substrate mixes, let them do their work for a bit, then added in cleaned earthworms, tropical woodlice and cleaned native woodlice as well as some native pill millipedes, plus I invested in some of those fly paper strips from rentakill. Insecticide free and not the best looking but any new ones coming into the room go to that before they breed *touch wood*. I had been getting them reappear every now and then but the fly strip actually seems to have stopped that which is good.... It is rather disgusting to see how many there WERE though....
Of course I keep snails and lots of different bugs and what cleaner crew you have has to be edited to fit each tank...... Native woodlice simply failed in some of my tanks, in others the tropical ones did.

I am certain most of the new ones came in with the crickets and mealworms, maybe kind of sieving the contents of each box so you just have the actual livefood then moving them into the new tub/tank would help? It always seems to be the frass/bran/dust that they are in and surely the eggs would be there as well, so if you could avoid that going near your tanks?


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## Michael Olsinia (Apr 13, 2010)

I have also had problems with flies in the past. As well as using the methods mentioned to try to control the flies (changing husbandry, fly strips, woodlice etc.), I found that gluing a bit of old net curtain over the ventilation stopped flies travelling from one tank to another. This kept the clean tanks clean, and allowed me to focus on just the ones where the flies had established, without them spreading.


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