Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!

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AntSquirrel
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:23 pm
Location: Utah

Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!

Post: # 60162Post AntSquirrel
Mon Jul 01, 2019 4:48 pm

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?
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 :,<

KdenKden
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2018 11:23 pm
Location: CA

Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!

Post: # 60174Post KdenKden
Tue Jul 02, 2019 12:08 am

You should provide some photos of the mold and queen to better understand your situation.
Currently housing Solenopsis Molesta and Brachymyrmex patagonicus.

KdenKden
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2018 11:23 pm
Location: CA

Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!

Post: # 60175Post KdenKden
Tue Jul 02, 2019 12:11 am

https://lasiusnigerants.blogspot.com/2019/06/blog-post.html

does it look like this?
Currently housing Solenopsis Molesta and Brachymyrmex patagonicus.

AntSquirrel
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:23 pm
Location: Utah

Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!

Post: # 60214Post AntSquirrel
Tue Jul 02, 2019 7:48 pm

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
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 :,<

Hawkeye
Posts: 1557
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:38 pm
Location: Almelo

Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!

Post: # 60228Post Hawkeye
Wed Jul 03, 2019 9:26 am

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.

Hawkeye
Posts: 1557
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:38 pm
Location: Almelo

Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!

Post: # 60278Post Hawkeye
Thu Jul 04, 2019 1:19 pm

AntSquirrel wrote:
Tue Jul 02, 2019 7:48 pm
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

Did it work?

AntSquirrel
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:23 pm
Location: Utah

Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!

Post: # 60432Post AntSquirrel
Sun Jul 07, 2019 11:17 pm

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 :,<

Hawkeye
Posts: 1557
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:38 pm
Location: Almelo

Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!

Post: # 60438Post Hawkeye
Mon Jul 08, 2019 12:03 am

AntSquirrel wrote:
Sun Jul 07, 2019 11:17 pm
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!
No guarantees

Domig123
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2021 10:55 am
Location: USA

Re: Help!!! Queens with parasitic fungus!

Post: # 78197Post Domig123
Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:06 am

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