# Mites in culture



## PantMan (Dec 10, 2009)

I'm getting pretty frustrated. I keep on getting mites in my cultures. I have tossed dozens of cultures the past few months and bought new ones from one the sponsors. But I continue to get mite infestations in all my cultures. 

I've taken every measure to limit any infestation. 
1. the cultures are stored in a DIY incubator I built out of a cooler. There is several inches of water in the floor of the cooler and each culture sits on egg crate. The bottom of cultures are sitting in water.

2. I'e extra careful to make sure one culture does not contact another culture in any way.

Yet I continually find mites in the cultures I purchased as well as the new ones I started. I'm beginning to think the cultures that arrive are already infested. I'm considering a new source but maybe some of you guys have some suggestions.


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## vjf000 (Jun 14, 2008)

look up the post here for the diy benzyl benzoate mix for mites, spray the inside of your containers and let dry before using, it works great, i had a horrible mite infestation and it cut it down about 90% with the first cultures started from the infested containers, http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/members/tripod.html should be the correct link, try it , it works great, dont use any commercial pyrethrin based sprays as it kills the fruit flies, the benzyl benzoate does not kill the fruit flies as described above.


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## vjf000 (Jun 14, 2008)

nope, its not the correct link, but search posts for that user and find the info.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Be patient while I ask some questions.. 

Are you tossing the cultures as soon as you see any mites? 

how many mites are you seeing in the cultures?

Are you keeping your fruitfly cultures near any other insect colonies or stored dry goods (dog food, cat foot, flour, etc)? 

How long are you keeping the oldest cultures around? 

Ed


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## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

PantMan said:


> I'm beginning to think the cultures that arrive are already infested. I'm considering a new source but maybe some of you guys have some suggestions.


The last few times I have bought starter, or even producing cultures from a sponsor on this site they have all arrived with a bad mite problem. I have just learned to switch the culture to my media as soon as I get it. It has helped drasticlly remove the mites from my cultures, and now I have only mite-free cultures. It took about 2 cycles of culturing, but it worked for me... Hope this helps...

JBear


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## PantMan (Dec 10, 2009)

Ed said:


> Be patient while I ask some questions..
> 
> Are you tossing the cultures as soon as you see any mites?
> 
> ...


I've been dealing with this for several months. Initially, I didn't know why the cultures were crashing. After doing some research on the board and paying closer attention to my cultures I was able to figure out that I had a mite problem. From that point on I toss the culture upon discovery.

I usually keep my cultures for about 4-6 weeks if they last that long. Sometimes after two weeks I toss them because there infested. I also try to reuse old cups (after cleaning and bleach rinse) but I think I'm going to toss those as well. Typically, after I can confirm that there are a few mites I stop counting and toss the culture. But based on my general observations I would say there are several dozen easy.

I store the cultures in a rubber maid cooler most of the time. I converted it into an incubator using a CFL that is connected to a thermostat. The thermostat is set for 80 degrees. The only thing I keep in the incubator are my cultures.


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## PantMan (Dec 10, 2009)

vjf000 said:


> look up the post here for the diy benzyl benzoate mix for mites, spray the inside of your containers and let dry before using, it works great, i had a horrible mite infestation and it cut it down about 90% with the first cultures started from the infested containers, http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/members/tripod.html should be the correct link, try it , it works great, dont use any commercial pyrethrin based sprays as it kills the fruit flies, the benzyl benzoate does not kill the fruit flies as described above.


Thanks, I received some PM's on something similar. I'm going to try a couple of things and see how it works.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

PantMan said:


> I've been dealing with this for several months. Initially, I didn't know why the cultures were crashing. After doing some research on the board and paying closer attention to my cultures I was able to figure out that I had a mite problem. From that point on I toss the culture upon discovery.
> 
> I usually keep my cultures for about 4-6 weeks if they last that long. Sometimes after two weeks I toss them because there infested. I also try to reuse old cups (after cleaning and bleach rinse) but I think I'm going to toss those as well. Typically, after I can confirm that there are a few mites I stop counting and toss the culture. But based on my general observations I would say there are several dozen easy.
> 
> I store the cultures in a rubber maid cooler most of the time. I converted it into an incubator using a CFL that is connected to a thermostat. The thermostat is set for 80 degrees. The only thing I keep in the incubator are my cultures.


First off.. mites are in virtually all of the cultures in the hobby. 

Second.. A large part of your problem is because you are keeping cultures for longer than 30 days (life cycle of the mites) in with your newer cultures. This allows for the mite population to really explode. This is why it is suggested to not keep cultures longer than 30 days. 
If you are going to keep your cultures longer than 30 days then at the third week move the older cultures (21 days or older) to a seperate location. To prevent the mites from overrunning the newer cultures. 

Third you can reduce the level of the mites in your cultures by dusting the flies with ultrafine calcium powder before you add them to the cultures (do not empty the container as the mites are going to be in the dust on the bottom of the cup). 

Fourth, the mites do wander so you need to prevent them from coming from outside back into your cultures. Moving the entire set up for a couple of weeks can help with the problem. 

Some comments... 

Ed


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## PantMan (Dec 10, 2009)

Thanks Ed very helpful. 

In my efforts to save money I end up costing myself more money...sometimes it's not easy being Italian.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

PantMan said:


> Thanks Ed very helpful.
> 
> In my efforts to save money I end up costing myself more money...sometimes it's not easy being Italian.


There isn't a problem with keeping the cultures longer just keep them away from the newer cultures. 

Ed


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## packer43064 (Nov 30, 2010)

Ed said:


> First off.. mites are in virtually all of the cultures in the hobby.
> 
> Second.. A large part of your problem is because you are keeping cultures for longer than 30 days (life cycle of the mites) in with your newer cultures. This allows for the mite population to really explode. This is why it is suggested to not keep cultures longer than 30 days.
> If you are going to keep your cultures longer than 30 days then at the third week move the older cultures (21 days or older) to a seperate location. To prevent the mites from overrunning the newer cultures.
> ...


What kind of calcium powder...brand name? Would you put the FF's in a small tub than dust the FF's then let them walk out into a larger tub so the mites don't come with them. Better way of doing this?

These new FF's that are dusted are fine to put into a new culture to seed it right?

I had some cultures that had mites (the first 4 I bought) and I kept them for a little while, but didn't want to risk it so I freezed them. Freezing is an effective way to kill them right? I used hot tap water on the bottom of the containers and slipped the media and all into the trash and cleaned the containers. Easy enough, they can't possible be still alive though?


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Don't know if this has any merit, but, cinnamon oil is recommended for spider mites on plants. I wonder if cinnamon oil in the media would help at all?

eta: Did some googling and found that cinnamon oil is also used for mites in chicken coups... interesting. I wonder if it has much to do with the cinnamon or if it's just that oil sprayed on mites will kill them.


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## fido (Sep 29, 2008)

You can also try running the mites. 
Make 5 cultures with about 1/4" media. Transfer flyes to a new culture every day using the calcium dust method. Make the last culture as you normally would and let them breed. The mites will stay behind. A cheep hand held microscope can be purchased for cheep, this really helps identify which cultures have mites in the future.

Good luck I am going through the same thing.

Stephen


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## JJuchems (Feb 16, 2004)

jbherpin said:


> The last few times I have bought starter, or even producing cultures from a sponsor on this site they have all arrived with a bad mite problem. I have just learned to switch the culture to my media as soon as I get it. It has helped drasticlly remove the mites from my cultures, and now I have only mite-free cultures. It took about 2 cycles of culturing, but it worked for me... Hope this helps...
> 
> JBear


I have had the same issue. I have been behind with work and grad school so I ordered a lots of cultures lately from a sponsor and my wife has been helping with our own production. I have had producing cultures put off little amount of flies, not produce, and be infested with mites in the Hydei cultures. I stopped making my own mite paper for the time being and purchasing it from a lab company. It has help safe guard my Melanogaster. I would say the sponsor I am talking about knows they have an issue as they are no longer offering Hydei cultures at this time, and mine are about sunk. So I may have to resort to Timberline cultures from Petsmart or orders some with my next lab purchases to get hydei going again.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

packer43064 said:


> What kind of calcium powder...brand name?


It doesn't matter as long as it is ultrafine. 



packer43064 said:


> Would you put the FF's in a small tub than dust the FF's then let them walk out into a larger tub so the mites don't come with them. Better way of doing this?


It doesn't matter really. 



packer43064 said:


> These new FF's that are dusted are fine to put into a new culture to seed it right?


That is the general idea. 



packer43064 said:


> I had some cultures that had mites (the first 4 I bought) and I kept them for a little while, but didn't want to risk it so I freezed them. Freezing is an effective way to kill them right? I used hot tap water on the bottom of the containers and slipped the media and all into the trash and cleaned the containers. Easy enough, they can't possible be still alive though?


The freezing may have killed them..but I'm not going to say that is an absolute. 

One of the biggest things people forget with respect to mites in the fruitfly cultures is that some of the sources of the biggest contaminents are the media used to culture them or any form of grains that are stored near the cultures. People forget that we are attempting to control mites in the cultures as we are not working under conditions where we can eliminate them. You can control them but not eliminate them... 

Ed


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## packer43064 (Nov 30, 2010)

Thanks alot.


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## frogboy (Sep 25, 2010)

I have heard that Spanish Orange Isopods will eat mites.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

frogboy said:


> I have heard that Spanish Orange Isopods will eat mites.


I'd have to look at the book to get the exact title but at least one of the Feeder books from Europe suggests using larger isopods to help control mites in springtail cultures. I don't think they listed anything more specific than large isopods so I don't think we can assume that it is only a specific type. I also don't think the isopods would like the condtions in a fruit fly culture.... 

Ed


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## ghutch0203 (Jun 13, 2010)

If you think your getting the mites with your cultures then change suppliers. Like Ed said you can control the mites but may never get rid of them completely. This is what I tried when I first started getting mites real bad. I bought just flies. No media or bedding or anything just flies. Find a place who will sell you just the flies. I got mine from a place that isnt selling any more. I then take and microwave my media before using it to kill anything that may be living in it and my culture container is sprayed with Benzyl Benzoate and allowed to dry. I use excelsior and it also goes in the microwave just in case. Then the cultures are stored on mite paper and I dont allow them to touch or stack. Like Ed said I only keep the cultures for 4 weeks. If one is producing very well it is kept but moved away from the others. It sounds like a pain but it works and I have very few mites. Hope it helps some. Garrick


Just got an email from here http://www.jtresser.com/drosophila.html and they sell just flies. Im trying them next. He said to email or call in your order and they have been selling flies for 19 years.


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## PantMan (Dec 10, 2009)

Thanks Ed, Garrick and everyone that responded and PM'd me. It seems my problems where from several reasons. Many were self inflicted. Definitely going to use everyone's suggestions. I received a lot of good advice and recommendations. I'm confident moving forward I will successfully mitigate the problem.


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