Mites
Hey Leif,
The mites that infest fruit fly cultures are grain mites. They are everywhere, except Antarctica it seems. People tend to get them by keeping old fruit fly cultures around for a long time. When they get old or rank it gives the mites time to breed and BOOM! You have an overnight population explosion. They are an opportunistic little arachnid and will have a field day in fruit fly cultures. I have spoken to a few researcher via e-mail about them (The Ag industry really hates these guys). My completely unsolicited advice is to throw away your cultures every 30 days. That way you will be ahead of the mites as their reproductive cycle from egg to sexual maturity is a bit longer than that. They love fly pupa, I don't know why, and will decimate a fly population if given the chance. Using flies from what appears to be a "Clean culture" may or may not work. Infected flies carry the mites over into the next culture and do the same. That is why people will complain about lesser and lesser production. My advice is to clean, clean, clean the areas, and start over with a new fresh batch of flies. Do not waste your money on buying mite powder, or sprays or paper. You don't need it. Just be clean, and date your cultures. After 30 days, toss em. That is one of the ways we can guarantee mite free cultures. We don't give them a chance to get started.
My two cents,
Dave
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