27 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

The way I deal with that yellow mold is I just drip alcohol on it. Unlike water, the alcohol soaks right into it. I've never had it grow back after doing that.

[Saftron]

Fungus got into the trash pile inside the nest, what do I do?

 

[Kevin]

I suggest you move them out of the nest and soak it in alcohol or HP.

[AntsMAN]

^ Get them moved out asap. If this is the same fungus I had, It didn't take long for it to take over almost the entire nest area.

Watch the new nest you move them to as they will probably unknowingly take the spores with them and infect the new nest. I got mine to move three times and the mold followed them to the bitter end.

 

What killed my colony in the end was the stress I put them through getting them to move three times. What I observed was ants trying to bury the fungus with dead bodies making the problem worse. They then carried the spores everywhere they went when I moved them. I agree Drew(Below) the fungus wasn't the reason my colony died, it was my lack on knowledge.

 

After the colony died, I soaked everything in peroxide over night twice then rinsed really well, and put in the sun for a day or so on a heating cable to dry as fast as possible. This seemed to eliminate the problem.

 

 

I now take every precaution to prevent this from happening again.

-Gloves

-Clean old world regularly/dispose of old foods 

-Proper ventilation

-Disinfecting all surfaces, tools, and items (Lysol wipes, alcohol spay etc.)

-Air purifier, dehumidifier.

-No excessive hydration

Edited by AntsMAN, January 3 2017 - 9:28 AM.

[dspdrew]

I'm sure that's that same yellow fungus many of us are familiar with. Assuming it's the same fungus, I've never seen evidence that it was harming the ants. Just because you find them dead, covered in it, doesn't mean that that's what killed them. Nearly all my ants end up covered in that fungus within days after dying. It also seems to thrive in fairly dry environments.

[Serafine]

Has anyone ever tried to drown the fungus in honey? It shouldn't harm the ants but still kill the fungus. And honey also doesn't rot, so if it stays there it doesn't matter (assuming the setup isn't extremely humid).

[Reevak]

Has anyone ever tried to drown the fungus in honey? It shouldn't harm the ants but still kill the fungus. And honey also doesn't rot, so if it stays there it doesn't matter (assuming the setup isn't extremely humid).

I like this idea. From what the internet has told me for the last 10 minutes of my research, honey does indeed kill most bacteria and fungus. But would this cause the ants to attempt to eat the honey and accidentally end up eating the harmful fungus instead? If not then this would probably work, but if they eat the honey then it may cause problems.

[Serafine]

It would of course only work if the fungus is exposed and a rather small patch - if you have it growing under the grout plate you can't just drown the entire setup in honey. I'm also not sure how this would interact with other things in the setup and if it could invite unwanted guests (are there mites that eat honey? probably not though).

As long as the fungus isn't toxic to the ants eating the honey also shouldn't harm them.