mites in the white worms

[oenology]

i have a bunch of mites in my white worm culture and i don't know how to get rid of them! does anyone know where they come from and what to do about them?

[henry]

Did you start out by sterilizing your soil before adding your starter culture of white worms?

I would start a new culture using sterilized soil. Transfer your worms after cleaning them a few times in a cup filled and cleaned serveral times with running water. They will ball-up....transfer the ball when clean.

Discard the old culture.

http://www.livefoodcultures.com/whiteworms.html
"Quote:   

While reading about this worm, we found "ideal" temperatures such as, "55 and 65 is best if you expect them to reproduce.

The first order of business in cultivating Whiteworms is to prepare a good quality medium for the worms. Not only does the medium have to have the right components and the right consistency, you really need to consider sterilizing it. You might get lucky and do o.K. without sterilizing the medium, however you will be risking a quick infection of mites and/or fungus gnats. And you don't want to get either of these two infestations if you can avoid it.

All worms need a somewhat moist environment. They produce a mucus substance to help them "glide" through soils, but if the soils it too dry, the mucus dries and so then will the worm. While one might go down to the organic

[oenology]

i actually bought the culture from big al's. what type of soil do you use?
and how do you sterilize the soil?

[henry]

I just use potting soil. w/o ferts.     I believe to sterilize it you have to take it past 150 deg f. 

I place a small amount in  a black plastic bag and leave outside in full sun for a few days.

modify:
I picked up mites and beetle infections by trying to keep the white worms cooler right on the basement floor. I don't keep them on the cement floor anymore. I keep at least 4 cultures going and just throw out any that become infected.

[FishBuddy]

I got the same problem now with my culture   As per the suggestion, I think I'll give the white worms a nice bath and move them over to the new soil/peat moss mix.   

BTW, even with the mites around, does this cause harm to the white worms?  Do the mites attack & eat the white worms?

[henry]

If you use tank water and not tap water you can leave them in the tank water until they clear there intestines. (an hour or so)

Tap water is of course not good for them, but I rinse them in tap water before I feed them.

I've had mites living on my duckweed as well. I could have got a transfer from or to there as well. I had to get rid of all the duckweed to get rid of those mites.

I don't believe they harm the worms. I'm not sure ,  but they didn't appear to.

[featherfin]

thnaks for the advice. i think i'll try to keep more than one culture from now on. i only got my culture a few weeks ago at most. so do white worms develop mites often?