# how to get rid of FF culture smell



## zth8992 (Jul 19, 2012)

So I have recently switched to repashy media for my cultures and it works great, however it does get kind of a stale/off smell to it. I have to keep the frogs and cultures in my room so I am wondering what to do. I have read around and some people have suggest air purifiers but that is not really in the budget right now for a nice quiet one so I was wondering if I used some sort of air freshener would it harm the frogs? Not a spray just one of those diffuser ones you set on a table or something. I am also open to any other ideas. I am not keeping the cultures long, I have one that is from the 26th of November and it is really smelling already. It has gone through several big booms so it is almost done but at the same time I also have one from the 1st that is already kind of starting to stink. Sorry for the long post but any ideas anyone?


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## RobR (Dec 24, 2011)

I have a small dorm fridge that I put my cultures in after the first good bloom. I leave it off and at room temp obviously. I make sure and open the door everyday even if I don't need anything out of it to exchange some air. Keeps older cultures from drying out too. Especially helpful with hydei as they tend to have more of an odor. If you have a appliance store in town they may let you have one for free or scrap value. That or a wine cooler.


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

idk about superfly, but some people add cinnamon to help with the smell. it's also a mold inhibitor


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## bsr8129 (Sep 23, 2010)

Switch media. I had the same problem with the super fly. That's why all my cultures got kicked to the garage in a mini fridge.


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## zth8992 (Jul 19, 2012)

bsr8129 said:


> Switch media. I had the same problem with the super fly. That's why all my cultures got kicked to the garage in a mini fridge.


What did you switch to?


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## bsr8129 (Sep 23, 2010)

Josh's frogs media. But now I just make my own. No where near the smell


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## zth8992 (Jul 19, 2012)

bsr8129 said:


> Josh's frogs media. But now I just make my own. No where near the smell


would you be willing to share your recipe?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

It should noted that depending on the conditions and the microbes that colonize the media, virtually any of the medias can develop a funk... I would look at your methods first since if it is due to microbes then the flies are going to carry them along to the new place regardless of the media used. 

I also should note that I don't get a funk from my Repashy cultures and they are about three feet from my computer desk in a small room. 
Check to see which cultures are starting to smell, often the older cultures are the ones that are developing odors and if it is the ones close to 30 days, just rotate them out a little early.. 

Hydeii are also well known for smelling funky. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## zth8992 (Jul 19, 2012)

Ed said:


> It should noted that depending on the conditions and the microbes that colonize the media, virtually any of the medias can develop a funk... I would look at your methods first since if it is due to microbes then the flies are going to carry them along to the new place regardless of the media used.
> 
> I also should note that I don't get a funk from my Repashy cultures and they are about three feet from my computer desk in a small room.
> Check to see which cultures are starting to smell, often the older cultures are the ones that are developing odors and if it is the ones close to 30 days, just rotate them out a little early..
> ...


When you say check my methods I am un sure how to know what might be out of place. Here is a brief summary of the conditions the containers are in, Any ideas?
My room is kept in the 70s and not noticeably dry or humid, the cultures are on a rack under my desk a couple inches apart from each other, I do not re use containers and I am culturing melanogaster.


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## RobR (Dec 24, 2011)

What are you using for surface area? Excelsior, coffee filters, etc. I've used repashy side by side with other medias for the past year and I've never noticed an odor from it.


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## vjf000 (Jun 14, 2008)

I have been using Repashy for over a year now with less smell than when I made my own mix.
The mix I used was potato flakes, sugar, brewers yeast and mold inhibitor powder. I am pretty sure the home made recipe smelled much worse. I also put all my cultures in a rubbermaid type standing cabinet with shelves and put a large magnetic piston aquarium air pump inside and pump air outside.


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## zth8992 (Jul 19, 2012)

RobR said:


> What are you using for surface area? Excelsior, coffee filters, etc. I've used repashy side by side with other medias for the past year and I've never noticed an odor from it.


I am using excelsior.


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## Blue_Pumilio (Feb 22, 2009)

I find some vinegar helps...half vinegar half water for liquid. Also keeps out mold.


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## bsr8129 (Sep 23, 2010)

My recipe is super simple. 8 cups patato flake 2 cup sugar 1 cup yeast table spoon of cinnamon. Smells nothing like my superfly did. Doesnt smell half bad either. 

I don't know what it is but I used the same flys and excelsior when I switched from superbly to Josh's media and the smell totally went away. 

Some comments.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

zth8992 said:


> When you say check my methods I am un sure how to know what might be out of place.


For example, increase the number of flies to start the culture. The more the culture is churned, the less anaerobic microbe growth can occur which reduces that odor. If the odor is due to protein decomposition/digestion (which produces ammonia) then making sure the containers aren't in a stagnent air location can help... There are a lot of variables that come into play which is why the first place to look is at husbandry methods.... 




zth8992 said:


> My room is kept in the 70s and not noticeably dry or humid, the cultures are on a rack under my desk a couple inches apart from each other, I do not re use containers and I am culturing melanogaster.


Depending on your acclimation, the humidity could be anywhere from say 40% to 80%..so that doesn't tell us a whole lot. Overly moist cultures are more prone to odors regardless of the media used. 

Sorry to not be more specific it's just that there are a lot of potential reasons for the odor. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## BR5 (Dec 7, 2009)

Have recently played around with some recipes listed here and found one that had approximately 2 cups of yeast for every 3 cups of potato flakes, cultures boomed as much as anything I've ever had but the smell was not tolerable. I've cut back to 2 cups of yeast to every 8 cups of potato flakes and the smell subsided but so did the amount of flies. I'm still trying to find the sweet spot. I also use a 1/4 cup of cinnamon per 8 cups of potato flakes and 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar to every 2/3 cups of water.

Brian


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

The odor from the larger amount of yeast was due to protien decomposition probably at least partially anaerobic.. this tends to provide nasty smelling compounds. 

Protein is one of the limiting nutrients affecting production in a culture but this is also heavily influenced by the genetics of the flies. The genetics impacts how efficiently the flies process the media... and the faster your flies go through the larval to adult stage reduces thier efficiency in processing the food....(and potentially thier nutrient reserves on emergence). 

Some comments 

Ed


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## BR5 (Dec 7, 2009)

Ed said:


> The odor from the larger amount of yeast was due to protien decomposition probably at least partially anaerobic.. this tends to provide nasty smelling compounds.
> 
> Protein is one of the limiting nutrients affecting production in a culture but this is also heavily influenced by the genetics of the flies. The genetics impacts how efficiently the flies process the media... and the faster your flies go through the larval to adult stage reduces thier efficiency in processing the food....(and potentially thier nutrient reserves on emergence).
> 
> ...


So if I'm interpreting this correctly, additional protein although leading to larger and faster fly production potentially reduces nutrient reserve. So there’s a happy medium in there concerning the amount of yeast used.

Brian


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

BR5 said:


> So if I'm interpreting this correctly, additional protein although leading to larger and faster fly production potentially reduces nutrient reserve.


The answer to this is maybe... It can lead to a greater demand for certain nutrients if the media is unbalanced but what I was specifically talking about above is that depending on your culture techniques, you could be breeding your flies to not use the media efficiently which not only reduces yield of flies, affects the nutritional quality of the flies. 


Some comments 

Ed


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## BR5 (Dec 7, 2009)

Ed said:


> The answer to this is maybe... It can lead to a greater demand for certain nutrients if the media is unbalanced but what I was specifically talking about above is that depending on your culture techniques, you could be breeding your flies to not use the media efficiently which not only reduces yield of flies, affects the nutritional quality of the flies.
> 
> 
> Some comments
> ...


That was the interesting part; as the yeast to potato ratio increased yield quadrupled, but so did smell. I also noticed that if I didn’t use the flies within a few days of the first boom they would start to die off. Had to be the ammonia put of by the bacteria. 
Brian


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

BR5 said:


> That was the interesting part; as the yeast to potato ratio increased yield quadrupled, but so did smell. I also noticed that if I didn’t use the flies within a few days of the first boom they would start to die off. Had to be the ammonia put of by the bacteria.
> Brian


The flies are a major source of ammonia as well.. and proteins decomposing on thier own also produce ammonia since the breakdown of the molecule releases amine molecules and a number of those have a strong odor (some of the more famous ones are cadaverine, and putrescine). 

The fact that the adults die shortly after emergence is a strong indication that you have selected the flies to be intolerant of those conditions. See the discussion here for more information http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/42419-genetics-ff-culturing.html 

Some comments 
Ed


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