32 replies to this topic

[Croux]

Hydrogen Peroxide is probably the safest bet. It degrades into a gas and liquid that are both safe to ants. I'd suggest against anything with copper in it. Copper has the tendency to kill everything invert, speaking from aquarium experience...

[CatsnAnts]

Just saw this article: https://www.sciencem...drogen-peroxide

Not sure how reputable it is, but it's definitely interesting.

It seems like peroxide is the way to go! This is a curious subject, maybe I should give them the option just like this article?

Perhaps, although that seems like it was more of self regulation. Not sure if it would help the brood, unless the substance were to be fed to the brood. Also have to take into account that these are strumigenys. They likely won't take honey, you may have to find a way to apply it to prey items.

True true. I prepared a 1% mixture of hydrogen peroxide (from a 3% bottle) and soaked a small piece of a cotton ball in it and set it near the moldy brood pile. Then, I put the mixture in a spray bottle and sprayed the Petri dish from quite a distance to only capture a slight misting. I’ll keep going up in doses, as this way the whole colony gets a dose, as well as the brood pile. I want this mold dead for good, so I’m hoping it works. I will also be using this on my S. clypeata colony since they are now starting to show signs of the mold

On a random side note, I found a brachypterous male in my S. pilinasis colony, though it is dead from the infection and likely never had the chance for its wings to fully develop.

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 5 2020 - 1:29 PM.

[AnthonyP163]

And to clarify, Strumigenys are very food-specific and only eat springtails as a food source, so they will always get eaten before they have the chance to eat the mold.

Edit: spelling, gosh dang it autocorrect

This hasn't been my experience at all, mine have taken springtails but also would take sunburst, honey, cricket legs and some random bugs I put in. They are specialized to eat springtails, but sometimes they're opportunists and scavenge.

[CatsnAnts]

And to clarify, Strumigenys are very food-specific and only eat springtails as a food source, so they will always get eaten before they have the chance to eat the mold.
Edit: spelling, gosh dang it autocorrect

This hasn't been my experience at all, mine have taken springtails but also would take sunburst, honey, cricket legs and some random bugs I put in. They are specialized to eat springtails, but sometimes they're opportunists and scavenge.

Ah, the more you know! I will have to try and offer them more varieties of food, I had no idea they were even capable of ingesting sugary liquids!

[AnthonyP163]

 

 

And to clarify, Strumigenys are very food-specific and only eat springtails as a food source, so they will always get eaten before they have the chance to eat the mold.
Edit: spelling, gosh dang it autocorrect

This hasn't been my experience at all, mine have taken springtails but also would take sunburst, honey, cricket legs and some random bugs I put in. They are specialized to eat springtails, but sometimes they're opportunists and scavenge.

Ah, the more you know! I will have to try and offer them more varieties of food, I had no idea they were even capable of ingesting sugary liquids!

 

Me neither! I figured I'd try to test it out and they loved it. This has also worked with Ponera pennsylvanica.

[CatsnAnts]

Just an update on the situation:

It seems like everything is reacting positively to the hydrogen peroxide mixture - No ants have showed any ill side-effects yet, and they have even begun to take some of the infected pieces and put them against the hydrogen-peroxide soaked cotton ball. Things are looking up!

Edited by CatsnAnts, August 5 2020 - 4:41 PM.

[BlueLance213]

Fingers crossed

[ponerinecat]

 

 

 

And to clarify, Strumigenys are very food-specific and only eat springtails as a food source, so they will always get eaten before they have the chance to eat the mold.
Edit: spelling, gosh dang it autocorrect

This hasn't been my experience at all, mine have taken springtails but also would take sunburst, honey, cricket legs and some random bugs I put in. They are specialized to eat springtails, but sometimes they're opportunists and scavenge.

Ah, the more you know! I will have to try and offer them more varieties of food, I had no idea they were even capable of ingesting sugary liquids!

 

Me neither! I figured I'd try to test it out and they loved it. This has also worked with Ponera pennsylvanica.

 

Interesting. I've seen that with Hypoponera but I assumed Strumigenys would be more specialized. I wonder if all or most of these specialized subterranean ants would take sugars.

[CatsnAnts]

I am extremely happy to report that the hydrogen peroxide is working! I have been misting their Petri dish a few times every two hours with a 1% mixture, and the mold has shown a very noticeable decline in volume! No ants have shown any ill side-effects yet either, and the brood pile has begun to replenish because the mold is no longer killing everything in it! This is amazing!

[Croux]

Let's hope it keeps on working. This can serve as a cautionary tale.

[BlueLance213]

It also gives us all knowledge we can use to deal with this or potentially similar things in the future

[CatsnAnts]

Another update for anyone who is curious to how this is turning out:

 

In my large S. pilinasis colony, the mold is now completely blackened and dead. I will continue to do light treatment with hydrogen peroxide for a few more days just to be sure. Three queens have died since the beginning of the process, but no workers, so I can assume that those deaths were from aggression from other workers since I did recently mix a few of my colonies together. Luckily, there are about 16-18 queens left that are all cooperating and huddled around an egg pile that is absolutely massive, containing over 100 eggs.

 

My S. clypeata colony has also seen a drastic improvement in their conditions, and pupae deaths have stopped.

 

 

It seems like everything turned out great, and that hydrogen peroxide is the way to go for a situation like this. Thanks for all of your help everybody! And as a celebration, I attempted to give both of the Strumigenys colonies some honey, and lo and behold, they went absolutely crazy for it, with almost every single worker drinking from it when a spot was open around the puddle. I simply put a drop directly on the soil, and it soaked in enough so that they wouldn't drown, which is nice. This will definitely help me out a lot when feeding them, so thanks AnthonyP163 again for sharing that valuable information!

[AntsDakota]

 hydrogen peroxide is the way to go for a situation like this.

I'll keep that in mind when advising people on situations like this, and if I ever encounter one myself.