I "mite" need new fruit fly culture.

[Kurt]

My Drosophila hydei cultures are kind of late in producing anything. Looking at them I could not see anything really out of the ordinary. So I broke out the glasses last night and discovered small, white mites crawling around the outside, as well as the inside of my hydei cultures, which I had started on the 20th and 23rd of December. I have been raising fruit flies for a few years now and this is the very first time I have noticed these little arachnids amongst my flies.

I have not seen any in or on my Drosophila melanogaster cultures, new or old. Nor have I seen them on or in any new hydei cultures, at least not yet.

I hit the books, or more correctly, Amanda & Greg Sihler's book on Poison Dart Frogs. In it, I read that mites are usually present in most cultures, especially in old ones and are usuallly not a problem unless there is an infestation. It also said I should destroy infested cultures, but other than that there wasn't really any more information I could use.

My questions are these, what are they feeding on, how are they harmful to my fruit fly cultures, and are they actually slowing my cultures down or is this just a coincedence? I assume they are harmless to the frogs. I assume at some point soon I am going to have to start over.

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

[Bearnandos]

Have you ever tried adding a 20% of cider vinegar to your culture as it helps stop mold growth - its ment to help prevent mites or using coffee filter paper to prevent the mites from entering your culture?
Mites either live on the mold that can grow in your culture or they can eat the eggs of the flies - so if your culture is no longer viable then you know what your mites are eating.....if its the eggs then best start all new cultures >.<;

[Kurt]

I have whole new cultures started and I am destroying infested cultures.