211 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

You still have a better colony than me. I don't know if I'll have any Acromyrmex left by next season. I am just hoping one of these new queens I still have left are healthy enough to start a nice colony.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[Foogoo]

My last queen of the ones I caught a few weeks ago died today. Weird how it seems like all our Acromyrmex took a downward turn at the same time.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[Alabama Anter]

Great job mate!!! Good luck!👍🏼

[NightsWebs]

the last two I had passed as well with very little fungus growth....Ughhh I will have to work at this next season much harder

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[dspdrew]

That's pretty much exactly what all mine have done. The last colony to lose its fungus just completely died all of a sudden. All the new queens I got this year slowly died off showing the same signs of what looks like some sort of neurological problem. Their legs would start bending straight up in the air. I have always seen that happen to ants when they were exposed to toxic chemicals.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[dspdrew]

I think it was another fungus or bacteria that killed all of mine.

[Mdrogun]

My dad however said it wasn't the purified water. I'll trust his opinion on that one.

 

He thinks since everyone's colonies have died or acting strange (like mine) at about the same time. He said it might be possible the government has sprayed for zika virus without telling anyone, or sprayed something in the air for mosquitos and its affected all the colonies. But if that was the case, I'd think my other ants would be doing the same thing. But, its possible Acromyrmex could be more sensitive to something like that. Which may explain why the workers act like something is wrong with their brains. Because some of my workers have actually been twitching their legs too, but not too often.

 

I think this is most likely the case as well. It seems strange that all of the sudden at the same time all of these colonies are dying.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:42 PM.

[chickenman297]

So sad   I hope they pull through. Leaf cutters are a fascinating species.

[Vendayn]

65q24g4g5f

Edited by Vendayn, March 9 2018 - 6:43 PM.

[Serafine]

There are certain infections going around at specific times of the year, especially one fungus that pops up every year in the autumn, it grows into the trachea of flies and can kill off entire fly populations. Your ants may have caught one of these seasonal infections (and it is not very odd that all colonies in a wide area are affected because these infections are indeed omnipresent in very large areas, even entire countries, especially those that are adapted to such common hosts as flies).

 

 

It in fact actually looks like something IS attacking the fungus. Not an insect, but it looks like there is a foreign mold growing on the main fungus. There are yellow pollen looking things on the main fungus. So, I think its being attacked by another mold.

Probably it is best then to dispose the entire fungus garden (since it is mostly dead anyway) and maybe even the ants tending it before the infection spreads to the other gardens.

Edited by Serafine, November 24 2016 - 1:28 PM.