I just checked on my A. maculatum “Zebra” culture, and was utterly shocked. So within 24 hours I have lost hundreds if not over a thousand isopods. Almost overnight! There was many dead adults, juveniles, and even young mancae! I have been keeping up on care pretty well, as I have been for the past 3 years with this culture! No sign of mites or mold, just a simple, well kept culture with hundreds of dead zebra isopods. There is still a decent number left (50 [hopefully]), but this was a bustling, established culture just last night.
Has anyone ever seen this? This was well over $1,000 worth of loss just tonight, which was absolutely devastating. I was planning to keep this culture for the long run, but this has crippled my future plans for this species and I lost some new crazy world’s-first mutations. Anyone?
I was wondering were any new/different chemicals used in or around the room? Or did humidity get to low or to high? And what are you feeding them is it possible there were any chemicals on the food?
I wonder if maybe there were chemicals on any leaf litter, moss, or bark? Maybe if they were collected from an area that has been exposed to pesticides, agricultural runoff, or pollution?
Nope, I hadn’t replaced/added any new cork/leaves in about 3 months. They were also running a bit low on leaves, but hadn’t run out yet.
I have been feeding them a grain mix I have fed them for years along with the apples I eat as well.
Nope, same old, same old. Really no big changes. I periodically let the moss partially dry out between misting, but never has it gotten close to becoming completely dried up.
I know apples that we eat can be grown with pesticides unless you buy 100% certified organic apples (and even those can use “safer” pesticides). There isn’t a secret gas leak or something like that in your home is there? Not much besides the apples or something being sprayed near them that I can think of. Idk if a Co2 buildup in their enclosure could have caused it either, since idk if isopods need a lot of o2. The grain mix could possibly be contaminated with pesticides as well.
Apple seeds are known to contain a compound that can convert to cyanide when consumed. It would take an extremely large amount of seeds consumed to reach fatality in large mammals like us, but I wonder if this could be a factor in your die-off with your isopods. Were there any seeds present in the apples fed?
Please note that this is simply me brainstorming an idea based on the assumption that all other aspects of husbandry are on point. I am also uncertain how cyanide affects isopods.
I’m so sorry this is happening. I can only imagine how distressing this is for you.
As I’m not a keeper of isopods, I don’t have any good answers for you. Is it possible there’s some sort of unseen mold or fungus? Would switching them to a new enclosure with fresh substrate potentially be helpful, or would that just cause the survivors undue stress? Is it possible the grain mix you use has gone bad or molded somehow? I’m just spitballing, I realise you’ve probably already considered all this. Have you seen any deaths, even on a smaller scale, in any of your other cultures?
I am super rusty but there are many different kinds of contaminants that can be present in grains. Since the toxicity wasn’t present from the start, I think you guys are right to investigate spoilage as the presumptive issue if the grain is involved.
@ashleyraeanne + @noodlehaus + @jawramik + @mblaney That is actually a very possible diagnosis to the problem. I have been using the same bag of grain for many months, possibly a year. I would think that the isopods would thrive off the spoiled grain (as decomposers) but this possibly could not be correct. Coincidentally (sadly), I finished off the bag within the last couple days and cannot inspect what would be left ( My mistake). Could this last little bit have rotted, receiving less light, increased moisture retention, etc. being on the bottom of the bag?
I did briefly inspect the culture and could not see any mold or fungus. I have not observed any other unusual deaths in my other cultures, but I am yet to deeply go through them and look. I am planning to do this tomorrow.
Hey everyone, I have some very disheartening news to share. I checked in on all my isopods today and have found 100% die-off crashes in the following cultures in the past 24 hours:
Porcellio sp. “Spikey Canare”
Porcellio expansus “White”
Porcellio flavomarginatus
Porcellio haasi “High Yellow”
Armadillo officinalis “Israel”
Porcellio laevis “Dairy Cow”
Porcellionides pruinosus “Pied Powder Blue”
And partial die-offs (50%+) in:
Armadillidium gestroi
Porcellio ornatus “Chocolate, High Yellow”
.
This definitely wiped some amazing species off my list of kept species, but I will keep on with the hobby. Many of these such as P. haasi “High Yellow” and Porcellio sp. “Spikey Canare” were pretty new to my collection, and species such as A. officinalis “Israel” were producing, established cultures which was absolutely devastating to see gone. Sadly, a lot of these definitely broke the bank to get a hold of.
Thank you all for your support and information you have shared. I am yet to 100% confidently diagnose the source of the problem, but I will continue desperately searching.
My mistake). Could this last little bit have rotted, receiving less light, increased moisture retention, etc. being on the bottom of the bag?