Peter said;
> Nosema ceranae is widespread in Eastern Australia, but Varroa, like CCD,
> to date, is absent there.

I spoke with a commercial beekeeper in New South Wales the other night. The
subject nosema ceranae.
fumigillin is allowed in the package & queen rearing operations but not in
the honey operations.

The beekeeper explained that each season the untreated colonies drop behind
the treated (fumigillin) colonies. He said he only produced 8 drums of honey
this season when normal is 100-300 drums.

I explained that research for decades has shown that forager bees with
high levels of nosema die on average two weeks earlier than healthy bees.
The first signs of nosema  are poor honey production ( of course you
can blame queens, weather, varroa if in U.S. or Canada etc.) and late summer
dwindling. I could not determine which stage his honey production bees were
in but suggested some tests.

In a small test yard its hard to observe the symptoms of nosema ceranae but
when a large operation is affected the signs are easy to see.

The importance
of watching nosema ceranae raise its ugly head in Australia Peter is too
observe nosema ceranae by itself . Researchers are quick to point to other
influences ( varroa & virus) so it will be interesting ( very interesting) 
to see the effects of
nosema ceranae on bees with no history of varroa or CCD.

My guess ( which could upset some Australians) is that the government of
Australia will have to let their beekeepers use fumigillin on all hives *if*
hives start collapsing.

I am going to go out on a limb now and say that if in Australia hives start 
collapsing with reported CCD like symptoms ( similar to Spain reports but 
without the varroa/ PMS influence) many researchers will have to rethink 
their opinion on the importance of controlling nosema ceranae in bee hives.

bob

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