Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!
Moderator: ooper01
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- Posts: 16
- Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:23 pm
- Location: Utah
Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!
So recently I caught three queens, they have all just started laying eggs. One from the start was fairly agitated and didn't take care of her eggs. At first I assumed she just probably wasn't fertilized. She grew more and more irritable and somewhat sickly, I figured she wasn't gonna make it.
Then today I checked on my ants sooner than I normally would, because I decided to replace the paper around their test tubes with red film so I stress out the ants less when I check on them, and if I didn't put that on today, I knew it wasn't gonna happen. (I will never be anywhere near as organized as a colony of ants you see) so I took off the paper in my third queen's test tube setup to find her gripping the water cotton ball with her head tucked downwards and a greyish-green fuzz growing out of her gaster and mouth. The mold can't be more than two or three days old, and doesn't yet (if ever) have a full mushroom growing out like you might see in those ant fungus pictures. It's only growing in the queen and not anywhere else in the test tube, so it seems like a logical cause of death.
I'm absolutely terrified that this might spread to my other queens if they don't already have it. They were also a little more agitated when I checked on them today, but this may be because they have eggs to take care of and they're use to being in the dark now. One is taking a care of her eggs slightly less than she was before. The other one is obsessing over her eggs like normal.
I use to keep the three queens' test tubes next to each other in the same container with a little bit of tissue paper between them. I moved the two queens' test tubes into their own containers today and put them in two different drawers as well as replacing the cotton balls that block the exit of their chamber. I wanted to move them to new test tubes all together, but I think at this stage it might just stress them out way too much.
The closest species I can find to what I have is C. Pennsylvanicus, but they are a bit different. They are almost certainly Camponotus though!
Is there anything more that I can do? Is it probably too late? Is this preventable/treatable now or in the future? These are my first queens and I'm really hoping to get my first colony, so I'm pretty new at this. Is the cotton probably enough to block the spores and keep the other two queens safe? Assuming they weren't also infected when I caught them?
Then today I checked on my ants sooner than I normally would, because I decided to replace the paper around their test tubes with red film so I stress out the ants less when I check on them, and if I didn't put that on today, I knew it wasn't gonna happen. (I will never be anywhere near as organized as a colony of ants you see) so I took off the paper in my third queen's test tube setup to find her gripping the water cotton ball with her head tucked downwards and a greyish-green fuzz growing out of her gaster and mouth. The mold can't be more than two or three days old, and doesn't yet (if ever) have a full mushroom growing out like you might see in those ant fungus pictures. It's only growing in the queen and not anywhere else in the test tube, so it seems like a logical cause of death.
I'm absolutely terrified that this might spread to my other queens if they don't already have it. They were also a little more agitated when I checked on them today, but this may be because they have eggs to take care of and they're use to being in the dark now. One is taking a care of her eggs slightly less than she was before. The other one is obsessing over her eggs like normal.
I use to keep the three queens' test tubes next to each other in the same container with a little bit of tissue paper between them. I moved the two queens' test tubes into their own containers today and put them in two different drawers as well as replacing the cotton balls that block the exit of their chamber. I wanted to move them to new test tubes all together, but I think at this stage it might just stress them out way too much.
The closest species I can find to what I have is C. Pennsylvanicus, but they are a bit different. They are almost certainly Camponotus though!
Is there anything more that I can do? Is it probably too late? Is this preventable/treatable now or in the future? These are my first queens and I'm really hoping to get my first colony, so I'm pretty new at this. Is the cotton probably enough to block the spores and keep the other two queens safe? Assuming they weren't also infected when I caught them?
Camponotus Modoc Queens:
Gold: Four workers
Bronze: It's complicated
Silver: Gone :,<
Tetramorium Caespitum Queens:
Rose: 5-6 workers
Iris: Likely not fertile
Wings: Almost certainly not fertile
Stubby: Gone :,<
Gold: Four workers
Bronze: It's complicated
Silver: Gone :,<
Tetramorium Caespitum Queens:
Rose: 5-6 workers
Iris: Likely not fertile
Wings: Almost certainly not fertile
Stubby: Gone :,<
Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!
You should provide some photos of the mold and queen to better understand your situation.
Currently housing Solenopsis Molesta and Brachymyrmex patagonicus.
Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!
https://lasiusnigerants.blogspot.com/2019/06/blog-post.html
does it look like this?
does it look like this?
Currently housing Solenopsis Molesta and Brachymyrmex patagonicus.
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- Posts: 16
- Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:23 pm
- Location: Utah
Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!
Not quite, I did my best to take pictures, sorry they aren't great. I did get a video, but I no longer remember how to cut audio out of that, so until I figure that out I won't post the video unless I have to! But since the ant is dead, I figured pictures would be just fine.
Pictures:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-MQm3rozzIsM1uRMTtcwzDCP7Sw1sTb7
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-HInmYPZPipsyF6eaJutY8a-bVn3yNeQ
Pictures:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-MQm3rozzIsM1uRMTtcwzDCP7Sw1sTb7
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-HInmYPZPipsyF6eaJutY8a-bVn3yNeQ
Camponotus Modoc Queens:
Gold: Four workers
Bronze: It's complicated
Silver: Gone :,<
Tetramorium Caespitum Queens:
Rose: 5-6 workers
Iris: Likely not fertile
Wings: Almost certainly not fertile
Stubby: Gone :,<
Gold: Four workers
Bronze: It's complicated
Silver: Gone :,<
Tetramorium Caespitum Queens:
Rose: 5-6 workers
Iris: Likely not fertile
Wings: Almost certainly not fertile
Stubby: Gone :,<
Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!
2 things
- did you transfer the brood of the dead queen to one of the others? She can raise the brood for you, and jumpstart her colony.
- adding a few drops of lemon juice works for the mites, it might kill any fungus too, because of its acidity?
So you could remove the dead queen, add some drops of lemon and wait for about 2 hours. (The drops should reach the brood)
Carefully remove the brood, then thoroughly clean the test tube. Then reinsert the brood.
While waiting, insert lemon juice with queen 1, then give it a couple of hours to work. Next let her into the cleaned test tube, where the extra brood is waiting... Make sure she has transferred all her brood, then disconnect the old tube and clean...
Repeat.
- did you transfer the brood of the dead queen to one of the others? She can raise the brood for you, and jumpstart her colony.
- adding a few drops of lemon juice works for the mites, it might kill any fungus too, because of its acidity?
So you could remove the dead queen, add some drops of lemon and wait for about 2 hours. (The drops should reach the brood)
Carefully remove the brood, then thoroughly clean the test tube. Then reinsert the brood.
While waiting, insert lemon juice with queen 1, then give it a couple of hours to work. Next let her into the cleaned test tube, where the extra brood is waiting... Make sure she has transferred all her brood, then disconnect the old tube and clean...
Repeat.
Join our Camponotus Crew https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=15267
Interested in my designs? https://youtu.be/5SRjM9vNY5Y & https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=14842
Interested in my designs? https://youtu.be/5SRjM9vNY5Y & https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=14842
Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!
AntSquirrel wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2019 7:48 pmNot quite, I did my best to take pictures, sorry they aren't great. I did get a video, but I no longer remember how to cut audio out of that, so until I figure that out I won't post the video unless I have to! But since the ant is dead, I figured pictures would be just fine.
Pictures:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-MQm3rozzIsM1uRMTtcwzDCP7Sw1sTb7
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-HInmYPZPipsyF6eaJutY8a-bVn3yNeQ
Did it work?
Join our Camponotus Crew https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=15267
Interested in my designs? https://youtu.be/5SRjM9vNY5Y & https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=14842
Interested in my designs? https://youtu.be/5SRjM9vNY5Y & https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=14842
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- Posts: 16
- Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:23 pm
- Location: Utah
Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!
I'm afraid I'd cleaned the test tube out before I saw your post. Even then I'm not sure I wanted to risk putting infected eggs with potentially unaffected queens (if the lemon juice didn't work). Especially since I'm fairly sure the eggs weren't fertile based on the now dead queen's behavior (maybe that was just the fungus talking though). If I had more queens I might try it. But I only have two now, and I really want to have my first colony of ants. Maybe if it happens again with future queens/workers I'll try the lemon juice!
Camponotus Modoc Queens:
Gold: Four workers
Bronze: It's complicated
Silver: Gone :,<
Tetramorium Caespitum Queens:
Rose: 5-6 workers
Iris: Likely not fertile
Wings: Almost certainly not fertile
Stubby: Gone :,<
Gold: Four workers
Bronze: It's complicated
Silver: Gone :,<
Tetramorium Caespitum Queens:
Rose: 5-6 workers
Iris: Likely not fertile
Wings: Almost certainly not fertile
Stubby: Gone :,<
Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!
No guaranteesAntSquirrel wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2019 11:17 pmI'm afraid I'd cleaned the test tube out before I saw your post. Even then I'm not sure I wanted to risk putting infected eggs with potentially unaffected queens (if the lemon juice didn't work). Especially since I'm fairly sure the eggs weren't fertile based on the now dead queen's behavior (maybe that was just the fungus talking though). If I had more queens I might try it. But I only have two now, and I really want to have my first colony of ants. Maybe if it happens again with future queens/workers I'll try the lemon juice!
Join our Camponotus Crew https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=15267
Interested in my designs? https://youtu.be/5SRjM9vNY5Y & https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=14842
Interested in my designs? https://youtu.be/5SRjM9vNY5Y & https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=14842
Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!
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