What color are the tiny little dots? Black, white or a brownish red? Parasites would mean the entire colony is affected whether you symptoms or the parasites themselves are visible on the entire colony or not, and only the animal whose immune system is weakening due to the parasites displays the symptoms that drew your attention.
Regardless of whether they're mites or lice, refrain from switching/combining mice from separate tanks. The entire colony will need to be treated with Selamectin, Ivermectin or Moxidectin. Ivermectin, available at feed/farm stores, is so potent it's difficult enough calculating and then actually administering a dose miniature enough not to kill rats so I'm not sure how you'd go about it with mice. Selamectin is available as Revolution (you'll want the treatment for the lowest weight cat or for kittens) and Moxidectin is available as orange label Advantage (NOT Advantage II of Advantix) for cats under 9lbs which you can't really find nowadays since Advantage II has come out since but it contains Imidacloprid in addition to the Moxidectrin which is what you're trying to avoid.
Reply With Quote