Whay are these? Are they Bad? What will eat them? ..... they are in my 240 discus tank...... thx for the info
What are these?
- Thread starter Trixxxie716
- Start date
What is that plant that the aphids are photographed on?
There doesn't seem to be a lot of information available about "water aphids" in particular, but according to this paper there are a huge number of aphid subspecies and each one as a rule eats only one kind of plant, or those closely related to it. If the plant they're on goes by the scientific name of Polygonum, scroll down to p. 89 in the paper linked above and see the middle paragraph.
You might try an email to the University of Florida and/or the state Department of Agriculture. They seem to be the stars of the aphid-studies universe, at least in the US.
For the moment I would suggest removing the plant by slipping a plastic bag over it while it's still in the tank so as to keep as many of the aphids on it as possible, then pulling the whole thing out with the bag gripping the bottom of the plant tightly.
What to do with it then is up to you: ideally, find an entomologist somewhere who can identify the subspecies with certainty; contact whoever you got the plant from to tell them their stock is contaminated; and see if the Bug Expert has any advice on how the aphids might be controlled without destroying the host plants.
Or you could just seal it up six ways from zero, build a big fire and throw the bag into it once it's good and roaring, so as to make sure the pests do not escape into local waters. Most likely they could not survive in the wild as far north as you are, but as that great philosophical work Jurassic Park taught us, life can be tricky and persistent.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of information available about "water aphids" in particular, but according to this paper there are a huge number of aphid subspecies and each one as a rule eats only one kind of plant, or those closely related to it. If the plant they're on goes by the scientific name of Polygonum, scroll down to p. 89 in the paper linked above and see the middle paragraph.
You might try an email to the University of Florida and/or the state Department of Agriculture. They seem to be the stars of the aphid-studies universe, at least in the US.
For the moment I would suggest removing the plant by slipping a plastic bag over it while it's still in the tank so as to keep as many of the aphids on it as possible, then pulling the whole thing out with the bag gripping the bottom of the plant tightly.
What to do with it then is up to you: ideally, find an entomologist somewhere who can identify the subspecies with certainty; contact whoever you got the plant from to tell them their stock is contaminated; and see if the Bug Expert has any advice on how the aphids might be controlled without destroying the host plants.
Or you could just seal it up six ways from zero, build a big fire and throw the bag into it once it's good and roaring, so as to make sure the pests do not escape into local waters. Most likely they could not survive in the wild as far north as you are, but as that great philosophical work Jurassic Park taught us, life can be tricky and persistent.
