worm parasites in fruit fly culture?

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infinite213

infinite213

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I made a culture of wild d. melanogasters and it is about 3 weeks old and seems to have thousands of very thin worms that seem to be feeding on the pupae of the flies. Does anyone know what they might be or have had a similar problem? Roundworms maybe?

 
Unfortunately my regular camera broke and all I have is my phone camera, can't get close enough for a good shot.

Originally I made an open culture to attract the fruit flies flying around the house, I used mashed banana, vinegar, and some yeast.

I left the culture open for about a week in a glass cup until I got my culture container supplies. Now these are wild flying fruit flies so I don't know if it is a parasite of the fly or maybe from the apple cider vinegar. Are the vinegar eels just naturally occurring in the vinegar but need the yeast to grow or what? That would be pretty sick if you ask me. the worms are very thin and almost clear and range from a millimeter to a quarter inch so far. I thought at first they might be maggots but after a couple days they got bigger and there appearance is different from the maggots. There are like billions of them.

 
Vinegar eels are naturally occurring in unpasteurized vinegar (though, I suspect you can get them even in pasteurized vinegar that's been compromised. However, I have just read that vinegar eels feed on bacteria in the vinegar, so I doubt the ones you have are vinegar eels, if they are parasitic to your flies.

I just found this article, which might explain some of what's going on in your culture: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/07/protective-endosymbiosis-fruit-flies/

 
Here is a pic I took with my microscope of the worms. I believe it is 100X

Image001.jpg


 
Yes I saw that article, but that is a parasite to a different fruit fly although I suppose it could happen to any.

They may or may not be parasitic, since there are so many of them They are everywhere even on the pupae. I cant tell exactly if they are feeding on them or not. I will get some of the flies from the culture, put them under the scope and see if they are living inside of the flies.

 
It appears that they are not parasitic but just living with the fruit flies and feeding on the culture. Here is a better pic.

Image005.jpg


 
They look like vinegar eels to me (nice pic, by the way)! If they were parasites, they would be living inside the flies, or hanging on to them, and they'd be much smaller. Another reason not to use vinegar in your FF media!

 
PhilinYuma said:
Another reason not to use vinegar in your FF media!
Click to expand...
Are you kidding me? That's reason to DOUBLE your vinegar use in FF media.

Bonus Bugs! It's like the mystery mantis you get with orders.

I have to wonder how soupy the media needs to be for the "eels" to thrive.

 
Peter J F said:
Are you kidding me? That's reason to DOUBLE your vinegar use in FF media.

Bonus Bugs! It's like the mystery mantis you get with orders.

I have to wonder how soupy the media needs to be for the "eels" to thrive.
Click to expand...
:lol: :p Pretty soupy, I should think! We could give the nymphs little poles and let them go fishing for vinegar eels! :boat:

 
Yes, after seeing them & the report that they are not feasting on the fly larvae, I would tend to agree with popular vote here and say that they are vinegar eels & are harmless.

How much vinegar did you put in there, anyway? :blink:

 
"Apple cider vinegar, otherwise known simply as cider vinegar or ACV, is made from cider or apple must and has a brownish-yellow color. It often is sold unfiltered and unpasteurized with the mother of vinegar present, as a natural product."

"Vinegar eels are only found in unpasteurized vinegar. Vinegar that has been pasteurized no longer has the live bacterial and yeast culture that these nematodes require for sustenance."

- Wikipedia

So we can conclude that these are in fact vinegar eels.

I'm not sure how much vinegar I used but that mixed with the yeast and mashed banana and the maggots regurgitating and making the culture more soupy would present a rich environment for the eels to thrive.

So If you want vinegar eels you know what to do!

Now what to do with this culture?

 
Wow, I use apple cider vinegar and red wine vinegar for my cultures all the time, so far no problems. Let's hope I don't jinx it. Even though they're harmless, I still wouldn't want them. Just like I didn't like the bulb mites infesting my cultures (which mysteriously went away).

 
MantidLord said:
Wow, I use apple cider vinegar and red wine vinegar for my cultures all the time, so far no problems. Let's hope I don't jinx it. Even though they're harmless, I still wouldn't want them. Just like I didn't like the bulb mites infesting my cultures (which mysteriously went away).
Click to expand...
This forum has had so many interesting threads lately!

I used to grow vinegar eels to feed to new-born bettas. I used (expensive!) unfiltered unpasteurized cider vinegar with "mother of vinegar' in it. You can still get it in Organic Oddness stores, Bragg sells it in qrt (1000cc) jars.

Pasturized vinegar will not support vinegar eels, and all the vinegar that you buy in the supermart is pasturized ( we are so compulsively cleanly!), but gio rectified that problem by adding yeast. I still have no idea how the eels got into the mix, though!

 

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