# Fall/Spring Menthol AND Thymol treatments simultaneously?



## mrspock (Feb 1, 2010)

Any reason not to?


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Whats the point of doing both?


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## Axtmann (Dec 29, 2002)

Menthol against Tracheal mites. Thymol removes tracheal mites and Varroa to an undetectable level. Thymol in syrup and you can store syrup for more than 6 month without getting mould in it. A side effect with Thymol syrup…it is the best treatment against Nosema, there is no antibiotic necessary.


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## criscojohn (Sep 11, 2010)

Api-life VAR has menthol included in it, so you treat both types of mites in one treatment. I don't know if ApiGuard has menthol in it or not.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

mrspock said:


> Any reason not to?


Do you have tracheal mites? If not, why treat for them?


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## mrspock (Feb 1, 2010)

sqkcrk said:


> Do you have tracheal mites? If not, why treat for them?


Good question... I'm afraid I don't have a good answer, other than "Preventatively".....


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

That's ok. There's a general feeling here and there that you're better off diagnosing a problem and then treating. It's usually the treating that gets the most attention. Treating for prevention is a little different depending on what you're treating for. For example some people treat their comb in the fall with BT to prevent wax moth moth damage. That's somewhat different than directly treating live bee's in order to prevent an ailment directly affecting them. In my opinion, there are too many books that endorse wholesale preventative treatments without quite enough regard to diagnosis. Again, to me, it seems odd that many of us are better at understanding our treatments than we are at diagnosing what's wrong. That's the opposite of what we'd ask of our doctors (hopefully, experts on diagnosing and then treating). I understand that many beekeepers like myself can't afford pricey equipment to aid in our diagnosis but tossing treatments that cure, in hopes that they will also prevent, seems short sighted. 

So my answer here is to treat your problem first. Manage your future problems after that and weigh carefully whether your preventative treatment is likely to be worth the time, cost and health of your bees.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

mrspock said:


> other than "Preventatively".....


Then you are wasting money. How many other things do you treat for not knowing whether you have a problem or whether there is a potential that you will have a problem?

Respectfully, does your dog wear a flea collar all the time from birth to death? Why not? Just want you to think.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Also; they work in combination to prevent tooth decay.


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## Axtmann (Dec 29, 2002)

I think there is a misunderstanding. Menthol kills Tracheal mites and not Varroa mites. Thymol kills both kinds of mites. When using Thymol, there is no menthol treatment necessary.

criscojohn
>>>Api-life VAR has menthol included in it, so you treat both types of mites in one treatment. I don't know if ApiGuard has menthol in it or not. <<< 

IMO menthol in Api-life would be only a filler and is not necessary. The active substance is Thymol and nothing else. Apiguard should also treat chalk brood ….. i tested it IMO it dos not work.


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## Rick 1456 (Jun 22, 2010)

I must confess, in a former life, I too wanted to treat for all the alleged ails my bees "probably" had. I've learned some hard lessons but been lucky and not caused irreparable harm. I'm an ex smoker and they say those are the worst "anti-smoker" advocates. I guess the analogy is similar. 
OMG, why do you want to throw a bunch of chemicals, into a hive that is chemically/ pheromone moderated/managed by the bees, in a effort to head off something that has not been determined to exist?


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