Test for Nosema

Justme sent me a batch of bees for testing for Nosema. After killing some of the bees they were rinsed in cold water, then I cut off the abdomens and macerated them until a paste formed with in the mush, I needed it to be a little more watery for placing on to a slide with a cover slip to protect the microscope objectives. I made two slides to obtain a fair assement of the watry solution. Below is the outcome.

couple of questions

1. Assume they are all at 400x ?

2. Do you know what that pollen grain is in pic 5 ?

I assume the circular cells are apis ?

sorry that's 3.

sorry I cant tell the pollen grain as its just an empty shell now but it is possible to tell what pollen grains the bees have been feeding on if the exine is well defined.

Mo

You don't have to take off the abdomens. It is the "mush" which goes on the slide and virtually all of the "mush" is in the abdomen. Hence squash up whole bees and then transfer the liquid to a slide. When the NBU people did tests in Devon last year and the year before they didn't wash the bees either. But interesting piccys. Apparently cerana and apis are not possible to distinguish under the microscope although on the examples I saw there was a slight difference. One was dumpier but I can't remember which it was!

i agree - no need to wash or take apart.

tip is to leave the debris to settle for a bit before pipetting some up to place on slide. makes a cleaner slide.

OK gents points noted but if that was the way I was introduced to then its probably what I remember, of course it would save a bit of time if we used the whole bee instead of just the abdomen.
Re Apis and cerana If my memory serves me well Cerana is not so round or oval its thinner and of a more banana shape if thats correct. On the whole if a spore is noticed either A or C then its up to the beekeeper to take immediate action.

Mo

great piccies. nice post. From your instructions as long as you have the correct microscope it seems quite straight forward to do this test.

Sorry, and this is a total beginners question, but was nosema present? I don't understand what I'm looking at lol.

blackbrood said:

great piccies. nice post. From your instructions as long as you have the correct microscope it seems quite straight forward to do this test.

Click to expand...

If I can do it, anyone can.


Kaz
The little rice grains are what you are looking for.( or hoping NOT to see.)
Cazza

Cazza said:

If I can do it, anyone can.


Kaz
The little rice grains are what you are looking for.( or hoping NOT to see.)
Cazza

Click to expand...

Thank you. Where would I learn about stuff like this?

the pictures shows small oval shaped grains of rice which are the spores of Nosema apis or cerana which ever is applicable, and tells the beekeeper his bees have a disease of the stomach and can also cause dysentery which might show either inside or outside the hive by brown streaking sticking the the frames or the landing board (if there is one).
This disease can only be confirmed by a microscopic process.
I hope clears up any worries that you might have had. If not please ask more questions.

Bcrazy said:

the pictures shows small oval shaped grains of rice which are the spores of Nosema apis or cerana which ever is applicable, and tells the beekeeper his bees have a disease of the stomach and can also cause dysentery which might show either inside or outside the hive by brown streaking sticking the the frames or the landing board (if there is one).
This disease can only be confirmed by a microscopic process.
I hope clears up any worries that you might have had. If not please ask more questions.

Click to expand...

Thank you. The slides are very clear and now I know what I am looking at it is very clear. Thank you for the post. I'm new to bee keeping, and am fascinated by all aspects of it. Are there courses for this type of thing? I assume I'd have to go to my nearest Assoc to find out, but are they accessable to anyone?

kazmcc said:

Are there courses for this type of thing? I assume I'd have to go to my nearest Assoc to find out, but are they accessable to anyone?

Click to expand...

Yes and Yes, but it depends on County/Association whether these are run regularly or based upon demand. If no course is available, find out who your Association Microscopist is and ask if they are willing to show you the ropes in exchange for some free labour & tea making.

DanBee said:

Yes and Yes, but it depends on County/Association whether these are run regularly or based upon demand. If no course is available, find out who your Association Microscopist is and ask if they are willing to show you the ropes in exchange for some free labour & tea making.

Click to expand...

Thanks Dan. We are a school project, so it might be worth raising there first as they have a good computerised microscope there. Hmmm, things to think about

Bcrazy said:

OK gents points noted but if that was the way I was introduced to then its probably what I remember, of course it would save a bit of time if we used the whole bee instead of just the abdomen.
Re Apis and cerana If my memory serves me well Cerana is not so round or oval its thinner and of a more banana shape if thats correct. On the whole if a spore is noticed either A or C then its up to the beekeeper to take immediate action.

Mo

Click to expand...

N. ceranea is 'almond shaped' with tapered ends, N apis has ends which are squarer.

Bcrazy said:

OK gents points noted but if that was the way I was introduced to then its probably what I remember, of course it would save a bit of time if we used the whole bee instead of just the abdomen.
Re Apis and cerana If my memory serves me well Cerana is not so round or oval its thinner and of a more banana shape if thats correct. On the whole if a spore is noticed either A or C then its up to the beekeeper to take immediate action.

Mo

Click to expand...

Nosema's fairly endemic so if anyone samples for it their likely to find it and to advocate "immediate action" is a bit extreme ( IMHO ). I thought that the level of infection was the important bit and to guestimate this a standard dilution and a 'spores in view' count made.
I remember reading plausible stuff about nosema by Randy Oliver in the ABJ but cant remember his method of estimating the scale of infection.

kaz


you've missed the fera sponsored teaching sessions i think.

your local association should be running nosema check sessions in spring and autumn.

the test is easy to do - mash up 30 bees in a pestle and mortar with a few mls of water. allow to settle a bit to reduce solid debris then put a few drops on a slide, add coverslip and there you go.

Hivemaker where did you find such easy and simple instructions for Nosema?
The instructions are good but as per usual I think the amount of water mixed is over excessive. Horse for courses I suppose.

Mo

Hi Mo
i believe the quantity of water is more important if you are actually doing a spore count,ie how many million spores per bee.