mites in fly cultures

RivetChick · #1 (**permalink**) 09-01-2005, 01:49 AM

can anyone give me some advice on keeping mites out of fly cultures? they have invaded and in some cases wiped out my flies. i am ordering some mite paper from black jungle but i know there are some additives for cultures to prevent or treat this problem. i have found a few tips on websites, but would love to get input from everyone here.. .

thanks

sports_doc · #2 (**permalink**) 09-01-2005, 02:14 AM

If you search the board you will find many a post. We all have experienced this I think at some point, and I suspect many are still bothered. I definitely am.
The Blk Jungle paper in my opinion worked better than Carolinas
I make all new cultures weekly by dumping a mass of flys into an empty container with powdered supplement. I dust them heavily and dump them into a screen strainer (kitchen store), and knock off all the powder (and hopefully most of the mites from the flys) repeat by dusting again 2-3 times. You lose a few flys in the process so start with a bunch. Throw out the supplement between dustings (I buy a cheap Ca+2 additive from petco, since it is essentially wasted).
In the end, after 2-3 cycles you will rid your collection of mite.
IMPORTANT: dont store any new cx near any of the old cx, and keep all on mite paper. Discard old cx when mites appear and try to make new cx out of younger 2-3 week old at most cx's.
This definately works but is a bit time consuming in the beginning.

Good luck.

Shawn

JoshKaptur · #3 (**permalink**) 09-01-2005, 12:48 PM

Ditto on the above procedures. I've eliminated mites twice that way. Probably easier to just start with fresh cultures, but it can be done the more labor-intensive way described by sports_doc.

I now keep some cultures intentionally mite infested... and they can become INFESTED if you just set them aside for a while after the main fly boom is over... some of my smaller frogs seem to relish the mites. These cultures are kept far away from my other cultures, which are kept on mite paper.

Scott · #4 (**permalink**) 09-01-2005, 05:15 PM

Someone mentioned to me that UV is supposed to kill Mites.

Anybody heard this?

s

elmoisfive · #5 (**permalink**) 09-01-2005, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott

Someone mentioned to me that UV is supposed to kill Mites.

Anybody heard this?

s

Scott,

UV-C, also known as germicidal UV or shortwave UV (~ 254 nm), can kill microbes, mites, etc. Whether the intensity needed for such killing would be safe for FF cultures is not clear to me. Probably not that good for the yeast in those cultures at a bare minimum.

Bill