When you receive a vial a flies, they need to be logged and then quarantined.

1. Open the Fly Stocks Database stock entry form and record all known info on this stock (see below for instructions).
2. Write the date of arrival on the vial and inspect it carefully for mites: look especially at the pupal cases.
3. Tap adults onto a CO2 pad and inspect their bodies for mites. (Also: make sure that any genetic markers in the stock are consistent with the stock description.) Then, transfer some clean male and female adult flies to a fresh culture. Wipe the CO2 pad with ethanol and thoroughly wash benchtop, microscope, transfer funnel, and all instruments with ethanol.
4. If there are no visible mites anywhere, then place the original vial and also the fresh culture with “clean” adults in a small box marked with your name on the shelf near the chemicals, in the back of the lab. If you see mites at any point, then all vials containing any flies from this stock should be stored in a box lined with mite paper on the same shelf, and should be checked frequently.
5. Transfer the “clean” adults 2 more times to clean vials, once every 2 days. Discard the intermediate vials when you remove flies from them. At the end of 4 days you should be done with this procedure.
6. About 5 - 10 days later, when you see plenty of larvae in the last of these “clean” vials, inspect the original shipping vials one more time for mites, then discard. If you have seen no mites at any stage of this process, then the stock is “clean”.
7. There should be at least two bottles or vials of each stock in the lab at all times once quarantine is finished.
8. If you need to use the stock to start a cross right away, then pick out a small number of adults with no visible mites to use for the cross, and keep the cross in the fume hood until you are confident the received stock was clean.

Note: Mites can crawl through sponge plugs or loose cotton, so if the original vial was capped with one of these closures, then it should not be stored inside the lab anywhere if the stock had mites. (Consult Rachel about how to handle this.) Mites supposedly cannot crawl through dense cotton plugs.