Hi all! Ted Ficher wrote:" ...Apistan. If varroa kills not directly but by acting as a vector for virus (or bacterial) disease, perhaps the damage was already done before the treatment was applied......" Last autum/winter several beekeepers here in Denmark suffered situations like the situation Barry described: Well fed colonies abandon/diminishes all of a sudden during autumn. This is thougth to be caused by a virus called Acute Paralysis Virus (APV), bees leave hive and become paralysed out in the field, or loose orientation (Thus possibly spreading varror by entering another hive). If the varroa level has been to high during summer - colony will die in autummn - the colony is stroken and removing the mites migth be too late. IMHO Regards Morten Petersen