# Cannot Get Rid Of Mites!



## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

I have been battling mites in my FF cultures since I have had darts... It is getting very old.  The mites smother the production by litterally covering the media to the point eggs cannot be deposited by the FFs. I have tried to use mite paper with 0 success, tried moving the cultures somewhere different with 0 success. What can I do???

Thanks so much! 

JBear


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## MidnightFruitPunch92 (Jun 26, 2011)

Maybe buy a new culture?


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## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

MidnightFruitPunch92 said:


> Maybe buy a new culture?


LOL! 

JBear


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## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

I have ordered many cultures over the time I have had darts(says a lot to my inabaility to combat the mites). I have crashes more than a drunk driver.(Not to offend anyone who has lost someone they love either due to a drunk driver, or drunk driving...) Every culture I have received(except an emergency culture from Gamble(Nick)) has had mites. I won't name the Provider as per site rules, but I just can't win in my war...

JBear


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## mcaiger53 (Jan 3, 2011)

I have had issues with mites in the past, but have found a few things that have almost cured the mite problem completely. (I dont think that you can ever be completely mite free) I found a mite spray that works well for me, it is called "Natural Chemestry reptile spray" if you need, I can try to get you a pic. I used OSB, ( a kind of plywood) I know that people use paper towels, but I tried it, and thought the osb works better, mainly because it is rigid, can be cut to the same size as your rack/shelving, but still absorbant. I sprayed the plywood until the surface was saturated (wouldnt do it in the frog room, it is a little nasty) then simply placed it on the rack with the cultures on top of it. I actually have 2 pieces. 1 for new cultures, and 1 for producing cultures that I am feeding out of. I also keep them on seperate shelves. since I have started using this, I havent noticed any mites in any of my cultures. I only spray the osb every 2 months or so, just to be sure. my cultures routinely last for 1.5-2 months (with no mites), they last until the media is completely gone. I dont usually use them that long, but they keep producing, and I keep them just in case I need them. If you want, pm me and I will tell you who I have found to have the best cultures imo.


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## vjf000 (Jun 14, 2008)

I have tried mite spray for the paper towels, making my own benzyl benzoate spray and pre-spraying the containers as well as the wood sphagetti whose name i cannot recall right now, and letting each dry, the mites come back and nearly kill my cultures within 3 weeks, i have obtained new cultures many times, and sprayed the area and plastic cabinet where i keep ther cultures to the point of saturation many times, all to no avail. If there is one reason i would quit darts it is the ff mite issue. Can anyone offer some insight or other techniques i can use?
I will try the osb thing. I have read about ED dusting and sifting the flies (what do you use to sift them? , not that i want to spend my free time doing that much). Thanks


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## vjf000 (Jun 14, 2008)

recall-excelsior and sp correction spaghetti


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

I use the natural chemistry mite spray on paper towels, and I really question its efficacy, as I've seen at least one mite crawling on one of my lids, which means there HAS to be many more i don't see. I keep the paper towels on top of a plastic dish so that the towels stay relatively moist. I respray every 3-4 days. I'm considering just flooding the dishes with water and adding a drop of detergent and letting the bastards drown...


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## Colleen53 (Jan 19, 2009)

JBEAR...The method I do for my cultures which BTW, I still use the containers, is bleaching them out them with soapy water, dry them off and nuk for 30 seconds. When I add the media to the container, I again nuk for 30 seconds. Leave out for a few hours or more. I use coffee filters in my media and I ALSO nuk the filters for 30 seconds (30 second rule). Making sure your flies are not infested with mites, add 50ish or a bit more and put them as people have stated on mite paper or spray line. Keep newer cultures away from old cultures and always make new cultures with flies that are less than a month old. Hope that helps. I received this info on here I believe from ED and others and it works for me. Hope you can solve this frustrating problem!!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

You can't get rid of mites, all you can do is manage them to limit the impact on production. All fruit fly cultures have mites in them unless you are culturing the flies in an aseptic manner and manually removing mites before adding the flies to new sterile cultures. 

If you are keeping cultures more than 30 days, or have other insect cultures near the fruit flies then you may have issues with the mites moving from one area to the other as they do walk... 

Another possible source is grain based foods (including cat or dog food) stored nearby. 

If none of the above are the case, then you may have a large number of mites already present in the media which has to be knocked down when culturing. This can be accomplished using boiling water or microwaving the cultures and letting them cool in an area away from the older cultures. 

You can reduce the numbers of mites that end up in a new culture by dusting the flies with an ultafine supplement (like Rep-cal) and then using only the flies on the top (don't use the bottom with the excess powder). 

In reality the following steps should eliminate the vast majority of mite issues

1) do not keep cultures older than 30 days if possible or do not keep cultures newer than 14 days near older cultures 

2) use mite paper

3) don't use cultures close to 30 days to start new cultures. 

Ed


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## dablock (Aug 7, 2007)

Try the mite cures at Drosophila Co.
http://www.jtresser.com/drosophila.html
I use their Mite-Be-Gone, Tedion and mite powder in combination to control and kill mites.


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## mcaiger53 (Jan 3, 2011)

I forgot to mention that I started again with all new culturing supplies, and keep them on a mite spray board as well. I microwaved the first couple sets of cultures, but dont any more. I havent had a mite problem in a long time now.


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