Pesky flies under the aquarium hood

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P

paramedic

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Dec 30, 2013
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Hello,


I have a very annoying problem. Can't get rid of flies that live between water and hood.
I don't know how they are called, but I have a pic: http://s249.photobucket.com/user/pimpedout97x/media/IMAG0013-2.jpg.html
They are very small, way smaller then mosquitoes.


Please, help. They are very resilient uninvited guests. Vacuming flies, then cleansing the aquarium sides and also changing part of the water does not seem to help.
Have any of you had problems with flies? Please advise.


Good day,
Aurimas
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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Dec 21, 2005
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Ed
probably midges
they look like tiny mosquito's

normally fish will eat the larvae (aka bloodworms)
not much you can do but stay on top of maint. much like mosquito's they spend a vast majority of their lives as larvae and pupae they are pupa in the 'bloodworm' stage and when the go to the surface are known as chironomids.. it's usually during these stages they get eaten.. the way the species survives is by producing a ton of offspring. (more then the fish have time to eat)
you should do water changes and vac the gravel to remove the pupae...
how often are you currently changing water? are you doing a vac of the gravel?
 
P

paramedic

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Dec 30, 2013
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I change appox. 40-50% of water every other week. And I always do gravel vacuuming.

I have 1000L tank and my fish are too big to be interested in small larva (I have Arowana, two Datnoids and Motor ray ). I can't introduce any smaller fish to eat the larva because they themselves will become dinner.
What else can I do get rid of those flies? Is there any chemical solution non-toxic to fish?
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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Dec 21, 2005
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I would hesitate to add any chemicals to the tank.

I would increase the gravel vacs to more frequently and remove as many as possible.
the life cycle of the midge can vary but generally the larvae is the longest of the life cycle (2 -7 weeks) the pupae need mulm or detritus as a food source. they are most easily removed as larvae or if you can find the egg masses floating about the tank(I suspect these may be hard to find)
pretty much no food no midge.
 
ktrom13

ktrom13

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Feb 4, 2013
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boston
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Star_Rider said:
I would hesitate to add any chemicals to the tank.

I would increase the gravel vacs to more frequently and remove as many as possible.
the life cycle of the midge can vary but generally the larvae is the longest of the life cycle (2 -7 weeks) the pupae need mulm or detritus as a food source. they are most easily removed as larvae or if you can find the egg masses floating about the tank(I suspect these may be hard to find)
pretty much no food no midge.
Click to expand...
To add to this, you do have some large messy fish who create a lot of waste even with gravel vacs being done. So the larvae have plenty to eat. Maybe up the maintainance to once a week instead of every other week to remove more waste

Sent from my SGH-T989 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
P

paramedic

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Dec 30, 2013
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So there is only one solution. Clean more frequently. Anything else?

About the gravel, is decreasing amount of gravel an option? My ray will not be happy about this at all.
 
P

paramedic

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Dec 30, 2013
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Well, I tried cleaning every week, also did vacuuming every time. It didn't help.
Please help, any suggestions?
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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s a last ditch you could try metro/prazi.. I use it for prophylactic treating of internal parasites but I understand its effective for inverts like these as well
 
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