>  What do nosema counts of .05 million, 1.7 million. and .2 million mean?  Are these serious infections?

4.45 million spores per bee is a serious infection. I know this as I sent samples to Beltsville bee lab this spring just before my major nectar flow as a result of serious de-population. I wrote off any harvest for the year, and re-queened at that time not really knowing what it was.

I did my alcohol washes... no mites, but I was not yet set up for Nosema testing. So, I sent off samples. I saw a few instances of k-wing, as well as dead bees on the bottom board (more than acceptable). Sure enough, the samples came back and it was nosema. They do not distinguish between apis or ceranae, but the counts were 4.45 million spores per bee. Zero mites :)

Only took 8 weeks to get the samples back. The whole outyard (6 hives) was affected. I pretty much collapsed them, and went to work on sterilizing and rebuilding. 

Randy's site provided a wealth of guidance in setting up to test myself. I'm going to be one of the "nosema testers" in my local bee club and I was able to see the first spores under a microscope just recently. I plan to test for nosema as often as I do alcohol washes. It's my opinion that Fumigillin is not a sustainable/viable option since it does not kill the spores, but prevents them from multiplying (correct me if I'm wrong).

Anyway, for your reading pleasure, we put this blog up on our site that also has some mediocre pics of spores. When the good microscope with a camera arrives, I plan to remedy that.

http://www.indianahoney.org/2015/06/A-Basic-Lesson-in-Nosema.cfm

Jason 
SE Indiana
 		 	   		  
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