# Aquatic mites?



## lampeye (Oct 29, 2007)

I purchased some new moss balls recently, and noticed something peculiar among the algal filaments: They appear to be inhabited by small (.3? mm), dark brown mites. I'm no stranger to aquatic mites, but the types I've seen have been mostly larger, free-swimming species. These tiny fellows can't seem to swim, stricly creeping or drifting with currents. At first, I thought the moss balls had trapped some type of spore-case from a moss, or perhaps a statoblast. Closer examination revealed that these brown specks moved, albeit very slowly. 

I'm familiar enough with mites to be able to recognize these are not ostracods or any other type of FW crustacean. I'm just wondering if anyone has ever encountered these critters before. Are they hitchhikers on the moss balls from some Russian lake, or are they one of the many aquarium "add-ons" one can expect when introducing new plants...? I haven't had time to get one under the microscope. Is there an acarologist in the house?


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

without a photo, I'd say they're a crustacean.  (photo photo, photo!!!)


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I have seen them too, and have looked at them with a microscope. They are mites, all right, very slow moving and dark brown. They don't seem to do any noticeable harm.


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## lampeye (Oct 29, 2007)

They don't seem to do any harm as far as I can tell, either. I've just never run into them in anything other than these new batch of _Aegagropila_. Have you seen them in other plants?

Six, if you spot me the $$$ for a camera/microscope combo, you can see these are mites for yourself.


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## tropism (Jul 21, 2006)

I don't know much about mites, so I can't really help you... but what you described sounds like some mites that I had in my tank at one time, except that mine were white/translucent and maybe .5 mm. I managed to look at some under a microscope. Here's a partial sketch I made while looking at it.









It was like something out of a horror movie when I saw the thing moving around under the microscope. :fear: Each leg had hooked pincers on it (you could only tell the pincers were hooked when they were turned to the side -- see leg on the bottom right of the pic) that were thrashing around and trying to 'hook' something. IIRC, it also had piercing/sucking mouth parts. Except for the size and color, the closest thing in appearance that I could find were ticks. They sure seemed to have a parasitic morphology (but that doesn't always mean they're parasites). I was about to change the substrate when they showed up anyway, so I didn't let them hang around long enough to find out if they were harmful to either plants or fish. I never could find any information on what I had.


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## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

Weired, Ive never ran into that but intrested to find out about them in case I ever do...


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## lampeye (Oct 29, 2007)

Don't get TOO excited...any animal thatcan be mistaken for a spore case or statoblast is, ah, let's say "lacking in the personality department."


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Awww... well those are cute! I want to spot myself the $$ for just that combo, actually.


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