If you find a mite in any culture,
- Determine if it’s a food mite (“media mite”) or a fly predator. The food mites are white with long hairs; the fly mites are red or brown with short hairs.
- Remove a handful of “clean” adults (~20 females and a few males) from the infested culture and place them on the CO2 pad. Inspect them carefully and discard any that carries a mite on its body. Divide them among two clean vials, and place vials in a separate box on mite paper. Discard the original infested culture in the biohazard bag, knot the bag, and remove it to a hallway box. Saturate the CO2 pad in ethanol, set the pad aside to dry (with a note), and clean the entire area around the flypushing station with detergent and ethanol.
- Transfer the supposedly clean adults again after 2 days to fresh vials, discarding the previous vials. Continue to keep the new vials on mite paper.
- Once again, transfer the supposedly clean adults after 2 more days, again discarding the previous vials. This new pair of duplicate cultures should now be clean.
- Inspect these “clean” vials again carefully just before you discard them.
Tips:
- Even food mites can cause a culture to crash, according to Bloomington.
- Transfer your fly cultures every 14-21 days.