# nosema treatment



## Bush_84 (Jan 9, 2011)

Your description sounds a bit off. There's no such thing as a spring flow in Feb in Minnesota. We still have snow and we had temps below zero in the last few days. It is still likely that we will be getting more snow until spring comes. Around here I will get an occasional undertaker bee and occasional cleansing flight. 

Another issue would be feeding any kind of syrup right now would probably freeze unless kept warm enough above the cluster. Even then it may even cause dysentery.

Edit-You ever sprayed your bees with anything when our highs are still below freezing? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.


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## signalten (Feb 27, 2011)

I haven't read the article but I doubt the article is about current events...


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## gone2seed (Sep 18, 2011)

The OP never said anything about spraying the bees in February.I do not see why a fumagilin/sugar water spray wouldn't work in warm weather.I see Fatbeeman spraying(fogging) mineral oil on his.If they can take that they should love a sugar water spray.


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## Shrtcke (Mar 14, 2008)

If any one has read the article.......it starts out last spring I believe. Still the question is............Has anyone read the article?..........
do you pull the frames?


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## JD's Bees (Nov 25, 2011)

I haven't read the article but I think it is applied to the seams between frames similar to an oxalic drench.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

I can tell you without reading the article that both products (Nozevit and Fumagilin-B) are supposed to be mixed with sugar syrup and _fed _to the bees. Not sprayed on the bees. Why would anyone ignore the directions that come with the medication?


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## JD's Bees (Nov 25, 2011)

Alberta Provincial Apiculturist recommendations;
Treatment of heavily infected colonies that will not take in syrup:
-Prepare 50% sugar syrup and mix 2 g of fumagillin per one litre of syrup.
-Spray directly onto bees (200-400ml/hive) based on population size.
-Can be repeatedly applied 4 times per hive at 10 day intervals.


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## WCMN (Jan 29, 2008)

If you go to the Nozevit Web site it will tell you to either use the drench or spray method.
In Don Jackson's article he said that his bee samples were sent in on April 17 2010. So you would assume it was after the test results were returned is when he sprayed them. He also said his colonies were retested in late June.
He does not say how he went about applying the spray but this explained at nozevit web site.
Don is a member of the NCBA in Brainerd MN.


Randy


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## WCMN (Jan 29, 2008)

I should of added to the above post if you look at the instructions for use of Fumagilin-B that spraying medicated syrup is a acceptable application.

Randy


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

I apply Nozevit with a calibrated livestock syringe I picked up at Tractor Supply. It's the same process as applying Oxalic Acid, just drench the bees between the frames in warm weather. This is better than using a garden type sprayer because you don't have to guess at the rate of delivery, it's measured out exactly in the syringe.


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## Shrtcke (Mar 14, 2008)

Thank you all for your input. I will check out the websites for application.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

But did it cure the problem?

Crazy Roland


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## WCMN (Jan 29, 2008)

Roland
If your referring to the article in the January ABJ by Don Jackson I'll Quote "It took less than three weeks and the brood areas went from "crappy" and "snotty" to solid healthful patterns that hatched vigorous bee's".


Randy


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

Shrtcke said:


> I recently read an article in January's ABJ about a beekeeper in Minnesota who lost most of his bee yard to Nosema. He treated his remaining hives with a syrup mixture of Fumagilin-B and Nozavit. He said he sprayed it on the bees because they would not take syrup because there was a spring flow on. Has anyone read the article? and.....To spray the bees with the mixture, would you pull the frames and spray the bee's or just spray the bee's that came up when you opened the hive? Do you have to be careful not to get it on the brood? Any thoughts?


I am going through the exact same thing. Nosema seems to be the most active bee killer during the cold months. I mixed up a batch of sugar syrup, Fumagilan-B and Mannlake Bee Health (same as Honey Bee healthy but cheaper) and sprayed all of my hives with the mix. They were NOT happy about being sprayed and were inactive for a few days cleaning up the syrup mix off of themselves and comb but responded very positively to the treatment and became MUCH more active. 

If by chance you have a mite problem as well, the sugar syrup spray will cause the bees to clean each other up and hopefully remove a substanital number of mites in the process. 

The way I see it, you can do nothing and watch your losses mount or treat and hopefully turn the tide.

Mind you, this treatment should be done over a period of 4 weeks so all of the bees and any brood are adequately treated. I will be treating once a week for 4 weeks but we had a very sudden and very cold snap for the past few days and will hold off until temps come back up into the 60's again.


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## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

I think the real purpose of spraying the bees is if they dont consume the syrup from the feeder. IE they have Nosema so bad they stopped eating by will. Then spraying them sends them into the hygenic mode of preening themselves thereby consuming low dose of Fumagilan to help counter their issue. Its pretty bad if the bees are not consuming the syrup from a feeder.


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Even if they will accept syrup, drenching is much faster than trying to feed it to them. I've tried it for preventive treatments, 2 treatments at 10 days apart. Pop the top, drench with 10 oz. between the frames, and then move on. Quick and easy, and they get the proper dose immediately. I'm not sure how effective it really is, but so far no Nosema. Time will tell.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

WCMN - Thank you for your reply. It will be interesting to note if their problems reoccur the next year. They may have treated the symptoms, but the problem may still exist.

Crazy Roland


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## WCMN (Jan 29, 2008)

Roland

The article continue's on to 2011 season saying he treated with the same treatment in the fall of 2010 and that the colonies looked good going into winter. I'll quote of his findings in spring of 2011 " There were no dead hives, except for a few that had run out of food. The dysentery was non-existent. The colonies were enormous, the biggest I have ever seen ,even after a harsh winter. Queens were ordered, and splits were made up before the middle of April. The increase was 118% over the number that had wintered, so the extra's were sold and we were back in business".

Randy


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

I just went back to reread the article as I had found it very interesting when I first read it. some things that have to be rememberd, he said he applied his varroa control(i think it was appiguard ) but was too cold to work that year but he wasn't worried as he had low varroa levels, since the article states that he was an apiary inspector for many years I would have to trust his judgement. his bees were also hygenic italians, russians and carnis and so should be somewhat resistant to the mites. the one comment that I would question is that he said the Fumidil didn't work? his nosema counts are below what people "say" need treating. I would lean more to the fumidil helped/worked by lowering the nosema counts but the damage had already been done. also from randy olivers site " Also note that it took three years of either treatment to really get nosema spore counts down!"

I did some searching trying to see where nozevit is recommended for Nosema and only found one article in abj nov 2009 but searched on the authors and found no information. anyone have any actual study, even the manufacturer doesn't list nosema on the label? I would like to find something I could use in the spring but can't do fumidil and still get my honey supers on at a reasonable time.


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## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

Isn't Fumidil not really being sold anymore? I thought this was a product only available from Mid-Con? Mid-Con has been out of business for years.


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## Card's Honey Farm (Jan 5, 2011)

wildbranch2007 said:


> " Also note that it took three years of either treatment to really get nosema spore counts down!"
> 
> I would like to find something I could use in the spring but can't do fumidil and still get my honey supers on at a reasonable time.


Two points:
1. You highlight the importance of a good comb rotation program and 
2. Gajer, Ivana Tlak, "Nozevit Aerosol Application for Nosema Ceranae Disease Treatment"
Results seem ok but far from a "Silver Bullet"


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

BMAC said:


> Isn't Fumidil not really being sold anymore? I thought this was a product only available from Mid-Con? Mid-Con has been out of business for years.


fumagillin but since the part of my brain that is used for spelling never developed I always opt for the easier word:shhhh:
made in canada. I think the company just changed names??


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## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

Mid-Con was a medium sized beekeeping supply store in the outskirts Olathe Kansas. It was my understanding they had certain rights to sell fumudil, like a legalized monopoly. I believe these rights were to the point of them being the only distributor period. Kind of like HopGuard and Mannlake. I'm not sure which chem company made it for them.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

2/16/12
There are a lot of hives that are fed Fumagillin-B in heavy syrup using an 8,eight, ounce tin can with a few holes in the bottom of the can on the end of a stick 
so that you can get the dose/hive right for _Nosema ceranae_ The application was done when the bees were able to fly. It works great on a 4-way pallet of bees.


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## John_H (Dec 2, 2009)

In that same ABJ or the Jan Bee Culture, not sure which, there is an article on the CAP Grant project run by Dr Delaplaine from the Univ of GA. It was a summary the projects conclusions after 5 years of research. The most surprising to me is that they concluded that Nosema was not a major problem. Last Saturday Jennifer Berry from the Univ of GA who was Dr Delaplaine's grad student and worked on the CAP Grant study was at our bee club's advanced beekeeper's workshop. Someone asked her about the ABJ article mentioned in this thread. She said she hadn't read it but was skeptical about the assumption that the problem was nosema and that the fumagillin treatment caused the improvement. In the Q&A at the end of the workshop she was asked if she treated her hives for nosema and she said she doesn't. The two other presenters, Grant Gillard, who posts on this forum and runs around 250 hives in Southeast MO and Erin MacGregor-Forbes an EAS certified master beekeeper from Maine both said they don't treat for nosema, either. None thought it was worth the expense.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

John_H said:


> The most surprising to me is that they concluded that Nosema was not a major problem. She said she hadn't read it but was skeptical about the assumption that the problem was nosema and that the fumagillin treatment caused the improvement.


if you read Randy Olivers newest article he seems to be changing his opinion, he is seeing the numbers go up in his bees more every year since 2006. he also said that the nosema C. on the west coast doesn't appear to be as nasty as seen in the "north" I can't remember exactly what part of the country he was refereing to when I type North. From all I have read most of the researchers that say its not a problem come from the southern states, researches in Canada say to treat. If i remember correctly the furthest north apairy used by Delaplain was in Conn., when I had bees in Conn, I didn't have to treat with fumidil, I could also start queens 30 days earlier there than here. Since the reasherchers can't even come up with a reasonable level to treat at, its all over the map, all I can say is I started treating one apiary 5 years ago, worked so well (as in honey production went up, and bees looked better), last two years I have treated all but one apiary, that one apiary has been my worst performer the last two years and always had been my best. call it what you will I have to go with what works. As to the guy that wrote the article, try and convince him to stop treating, bet you would be hard pressed. He's a long time bee inspector, trained to diagnose better than most beeks, and saved his hives. that to me is the bottom line. what ever legaly works.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

Since I can't cut and paste from the article sick bees part 17a. Nosema the smoldering epidemic I'll retytpe some of the statement made By the author that I find important.

I myself also tended to dismiss N. Ceranae, since i found it to be common in my operation in apparently thriving hives and I couldn't discern any connection between colony health and spore counts. But then along came Dr Jerry Bromenshenks study that suggested alink between colony mortality and coinfiction by nosema and a virus.
But this year I started to become a bit uneasy when I noticed spring spore counts notching up for the fourth year in a row.

It appears that N.C. was indeed a factor in the majority of the weakest hives in my operation in December. Nosema was not evident in all the weak hives.




However just because a parasite infection does not normally cause colony mortality, does not mean that it doesn't cause Morbidity- the lowering of colony fitness.

Practical application: although N.C. may not be directly responsible for colony mortality, it may very well constitute a significant drain upon colony buildup and productivity.

Bart Smith, techician at the usda bee disease dianostic lab, has kept track of the percentage of samples received each year that test positive for nosema. "my words within
the quotes, the graph shows levels around 2% until 2002, he has first ccd report marked at 2005, at 2005 its 10%, from 2005-2010 it goes up to 50%"

what also catches my attention is that the exponential increase in nosem-positive samples almost exactly mirrors the data from Higes diagnostic lab in spain.

so why did nosem levels start climbing rapidly around the year 2000? Perhaps we became complacent about nosema treatments, perhaps we introduced more virulent strains of the parasite in chinese pollen,perhaps the increased movement of hives to almonds spread the infecton, or maybe N.C. simpl hit its stride. Its worth noting though that the new nosema does not appear to respond quite as well to fumagillin treatment as does the old nosema. <--- note this is a change as originally Randy was saying it didn't work at all. 
Something else apparently changed the game in the early 2000's-could that something be N.C. it is plausible that Mariano Higes has been right all along, and that N.C. shifted the tip point of colony health. ignoring virisus, will be in the next article.

enough typing, the sun is out, no snow on the ground, I'm going down and fill my bottling tank, and go fly fishing. his last few articles have been excelent.

as to the comment in the previous post above made by me
he also said that the nosema C. on the west coast doesn't appear to be as nasty as seen in the "north" I can't remember exactly what part of the country he was refereing to when I type North. <-- I found it last night but can't find it today but the word he used was norther latatude's, but now I'm not sure it it was in another of his articles I was rereading?

gone fishing:shhhh:


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

i have on a warm above zero day in February taken a light syrup/fumagilin mixture and sprayed the bees if i notice alot of dysentary (sp) on the wraps. I do not open the hives. I take turkey baster (it has a squeeze ball on the top) and sprayed it into the upper entrance of the hive....and had good results as a stop gap measure until spring. 
When spring happens, and feeding begins, if they will not take the medicated syrup, i will drench them with a higher concentration (following manufactures directions) to get them started. This works extremely well.


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

Medi-Vet in Canada makes the fumigilan

http://www.medivetpharmaceuticals.ca/


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## johnblagg (May 15, 2011)

Nabber86 said:


> I can tell you without reading the article that both products (Nozevit and Fumagilin-B) are supposed to be mixed with sugar syrup and _fed _to the bees. Not sprayed on the bees. Why would anyone ignore the directions that come with the medication?


 actually I thought the directions state that you spray it on bees that will not take syurp ....when they have nosema its my understanding they sometimes will not take syurp,but they will clean themselves if it is sprayed onto them so they get it when they do


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

honeyshack said:


> I take turkey baster (it has a squeeze ball on the top) and sprayed it into the upper entrance of the hive....and had good results as a stop gap measure until spring.
> When spring happens, and feeding begins, if they will not take the medicated syrup, i will drench them with a higher concentration (following manufactures directions) to get them started. This works extremely well.


funny, I can't medicate my hives early enough b/4 my honey supers go on in the spring and was thinking about doing the dribble method using a turkey baster in the spring as I wouldn't have to carry in as much syrup. thanks for confirming it will work.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Wildbranch - thanks for your effort. I found the post confusing because the original author failed to clearly differentiate which Nosema they where referring to when using just the term Nosema. 

Crazy Roland


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

Roland said:


> Wildbranch - thanks for your effort. I found the post confusing because the original author failed to clearly differentiate which Nosema they where referring to when using just the term Nosema.
> 
> Crazy Roland


thanks,probably would make more sense reading the whole article, and some of the preceding articles, I assume that when anybody says Nosema they are talking about N.C.

The only point I have been trying to make about Nosema is If you haven't tried treating at least one yard for a couple of years how do you know you don't have a problem? Using the limited amount of information available about N.C. its very hard to make rational decisons about it. I find it interesting using My partners record, and a couple of other local beeks results, the last "great" year they had on a lb's of honey per hive basis was 2005. A post on beesource by Mike Palmer(which I went looking for but can't find with a search) said the last really good year for honey he had was 2005. 2005 is the year in the article that CCD started showing up. Is treating for N.C. helping? My lb's per hive has gone up enough that my partner agreed to treat his Nuc's with fumidil this year and he's going to see if the lb's per hive goes up on those hives.

found Mike Palmers post:
55 lb average from about 700 colonies. Very similar year to 2009. Comb honey production was down 90% from last year. 6000 cuts in 2010, 600 in 2011. Good thing the price is up. Got $2/lb for theextracted honey crop. Way better than the last big crop in 2005 when the price was $.95.


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

I have seen what you are saying Wildbranch. I agree that we need to take a hard look at the nosema as being a major stressor for the hives....and i have seen honey production go up by treating and honey production drop when not treating and bees coming out of winter slower on the uptake when not treated in the fall. I think we need to give this disease more credit to the damage it is doing, especially when the varroa place pressure on the hive.
The view up here by some of the "experts" is nosema is a stressor disease. Relieve the stressor, or rather find and treat the primary infection, and nosema will not rear it's head so much. However, since there are more pressures on the hives these days, nosema seems to gain a foot hold easier than we think.
if memory serves, million spores per bee is considered dangerous. That said, I do not think we give enough thought to the fact that when viruses, varroa, trachea, and nutrition are stressing the hive, the spores per bee threshold drops alot...a huge amount. As each pressure increases, the spores per bee threshold drops. I htink this is where we have our blinders on. We get the report back. It says varroa 3%, nosema 200 000 spores per bee, some trachea damage found but 0 mites found. We read the report as, nosema is ok, varroa needs work, there is trachea. But the reality is, that nosema level is dangerous with varroa at that level.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

With all due disrespect, I think the "experts" know less than we do, and that anything they write should be taken with a grain of salt. When I see a picture of an "expert" in a beeyard in anything other than a new, clean , white beesuit, I will take notice. I believe this can not be solved sitting behind a desk. It is time they get their hands dirty. The clear exception is a Mr. Ellis of Nebraska. 

Crazy Roland


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

When i say experts, I mean our two Provincial Apiarists, who are the go to people for help, who are also in bee yards, who also own their own bees and do applicable research as well One of them teaches at the university as well, a beginner beekeeping course, is in the lab too. Both these guys run the inspection program, teaching new inspectors the ropes and organizing them. Yes they do sit behind a desk, but they also get out and get the job done. The other is the research guy with his group of workers. His research is done at the U of Manitoba. He is part of CAPA...as are at least one of our provincial guys. Might have read some of his research if you check out the capa website or research his name. Dr. Rob Currie. He has many hives, I am not sure on a personal level but as a researcher, many hives and studyed many of the diseases and viruses. He and his clan of researchers have done alot of work on RNA of the viruses affecting the bees.

http://www.capabees.com/main/news.php


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

I find the data out of the canadian reserchers more matches the climate I have to contend with, and the reserchers seem to be alot more open to dispensing information than our government workers. I would say that the canadian beeks get a lot more for there tax money than we do in the states, and I would say that here except its probably off topic.:lookout:

i came back in to edit out the duplicate word government, but when I go into edit I only see one worD??


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Honeyshack - I did not mean to insult YOUR people. I have read some of their work and was impressed. I therefore support Wild's views, we don't get much for our dollars.

We routinely do a spot herbal treatment for Nosema on hives that are suspicious, but show no correlated symptoms, and have found no change of conditions. I believe that there is an "unknown" condition/force/situation that causes the flowers to bloom but be empty. This causes stress on the bees and aggravates all sorts of otherwise less harmful pathogens. 

Crazy ROland


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

Understood Crazy.
Have a good day


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

some other information that may make a better point about using fumidil. from 2012 aberican bee research conf.

http://www.americanbeejournal.com/site/files/828/79344/436207/598079/2012_Proceedings_ABJ.pdf
9. 
Eischenm, F.A., R.H. Grahamm & R. Riveram - IMPACT OF NOSEMA CERANAE ON HONEY BEE COLONIES: A 14 MONTH STUDY -This study monitored the performance of colonies infected with Nosema ceranae for 14 months (October 2009 – December 2010) near Ville Platte, Louisiana, USA. Eight groups colonies (n = 50) were involved, i.e., 1) negative control, 2) fed only, 3) not fed, fumagillin-treated, 4) fed, fumagillin-treated, 5) not fed, amitraz-treated, 6) fed, amitraz-treated, 7) not fed, fumagillin- and amitraz-treated, 8) fed, fumagillin- and amitraz-treated. Protein patty feeding was stopped in late January 2010 and the colonies were transported to California for almond pollination. In late March 2010 they were returned to Louisiana for honey production. Colonies infected with >500,000 spores/bee at the start of the trial had significantly fewer colonies meet a 6-frame minimum size criterion for pollination in February 2010, irrespective of treatment received.
Infections in untreated colonies peaked during winter and fell dramatically during spring and summer. Colonies treated with fumagillin exhibited significantly reduced soluble protein levels for two-three months after treatment, suggesting that this treatment has a short term negative impact. Fumagillin-treated colonies produced significantly more honey than untreated colonies or those treated only with amitraz. Colonies receiving both varroa and nosema treatments produced more honey than any other group. 
At the end of the trial, colonies that had been treated with fumagillin were significantly larger than those not treated for nosema (Table). The group that received treatment for varroa, nosema and were fed had significantly more colonies survive than the other groups. We conclude that controlling nosema is critical for long term health.<-------


I do "like' the fact that this is the first study that seems to confirm what I have been seein. ie Infections in untreated colonies peaked during winter and fell dramatically during spring and summer. so treating in the fall should help, would prefer to find one done in the North, but I guess most reaserchers live in the south.


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## Dr.JoeCarson (May 2, 2012)

Nozevit is not a medicine and therefore we can not list any microsporidial effectiveness due to governmental regulations. There were two articles in 2009 ABJ. As well you might find an article in late 2011 and early 2012 in the ABJ.

We always recommend to drench hives. Common feeders do not effectively deliver elements to infected bees. We originally recommended 2 times 10 days apart with Nozevit. Because of changes in the last few years we now recommend feeding via drench method at the rate of approximately 10 oz. 4times 4 days apart. All of our testing has showed the 4 by 4 timing to be desirable over our previously published 2X 10 days apart.


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