Fuelstat® Marine Diesel Bug Test

The Conidia Bioscience Marine test is an immunoassay test (rather like a pregnancy test). This detects diesel bug contamination by "finding" material that is produced by the 3 different types of diesel bug contamination that grow in fuel. Therefore there is no need to capture part of the living organism and grow it. This is important as the fungus (H.res.), - the diesel bug does not only float around at the water/fuel interface, it also sticks to the bottom or sides of the tank.

The Conidia Bioscience diesel bug test will ignore any micro-organisms that have been blown in from outside or have been growing on trees or other food sources. Other tests will grow whatever they find in the sample, whether it came from the fuel or not. They require sterile sampling conditions, we just require that the sample equipment is clean (i.e. has no residue from the last test sample).

The Conidia Bioscience diesel bug test takes 10 minutes to operate. Most other tests take a minimum of 2 to 3 days to give a full picture of bacterial and fungal contamination. As fungal spores will not grow in less than 4 days, the real time-span is nearer 7 days. Many of our competitor kits have to be monitored daily. ATP based tests while rapid, show total life, and do not relate to actively growing organisms.

The results from competitor products are deduced either by comparing colours or spot numbers with a chart or (if high accuracy levels are required) counting under a microscope. Conidia Bioscience's diesel bug test just requires visual inspection and reading of the six lateral flow devices on the test paddle. The readings will indicate the level of contamination in the sample: negligible, moderate or heavy contamination. The standard moderate & high levels correspond to the recommended limits set out in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) guidelines for moderate and heavy contamination.

Unlike competitor diesel bug tests which require special handling for testing and/or safe disposal, Conidia Bioscience diesel bug tests (apart from the fuel itself of course) can be disposed of in the nearest bin or recycled.