What are these?
- Thread starter Trixxxie716
- Start date
BettaFishMommy
finkids make me happy :-)
do you have houseplants? any new houseplants? maybe they came in somehow and were attracted to the tank? new plants in the tank?
and i concur..... eeeeewwww!!!!!
and i concur..... eeeeewwww!!!!!
Good job identifying them. Aphids are incredible at reproducing. They can do it sexually or asexually. They have amazingly short generation times. They also can grow wings and fly around to new locations.
One of the most effective controls of aphids is garlic. Many of the commercial products out there are derived from garlic. It depends upon the species of aphid but sometimes it does work well.
If the garlic doesn't work a rinse in a dilute dish soap solution will kill them.
If that doesn't work I know a very nice highly toxic pesticide that goes systemic in the plant and knocks them flat. Of course it will probably kill everything else in the tank for the next year or so..
If they are on the surface leaves Ladybugs would probably do a number on them.
In a tank situation, get some tweezers and grab them. Dump them in the water for some free fish food.
In days gone by I would take a plastic cup and shake aphids off my Mums roses and dump them in the fish tank. Safe as long as the roses haven't been sprayed. Talk about a feeding frenzy
Ian
In a tank situation, get some tweezers and grab them. Dump them in the water for some free fish food.
In days gone by I would take a plastic cup and shake aphids off my Mums roses and dump them in the fish tank. Safe as long as the roses haven't been sprayed. Talk about a feeding frenzy
Ian
here is what the set up looks like before and now...... those are my NEW baby blue diamonds by the way :naughty:....did the bugs come from the house plants or are they water aphids??????
A little more info to clear things up a bit. These bugs aren't the same as the ones out in your garden, on your houseplants, or coming from an unopened bag of mulch or potting soil. And what works to get rid of them in a garden setting (lady bugs, soap solution, etc.) isn't going to work inside the home on an aquarium... especially the soap, as that will kill your fish.
I've been dealing with water aphids myself for a long time now. Mine came in with some cabomba I bought from a plant seller... who happened to be growing his in an outdoor pond, along with water lilies and other marginals.
I read several places online which recommended flicking them or splashing them into the water to drown them. That doesn't work either... believe me, I've tried. Not only do they survive that.. they crawl down into the water themselves. So removing your floating plants isn't going to work either all by itself.
At one point, I got fed up with them.... trashed all my plants, left it all bare for several months. Then after I introduced new plants again, they came back as strong as before. Eventually, they also showed up on a second aquarium I have in another room.
That second tank was where I stock my Endler's livebearers... and all those water aphids are gone now. I haven't seen a single spec of those critters there for the last 6-8 months. The Endlers gobble them all up... whereas my goldfish (the other tank) only nibble at them occasionally.
So... to totally eradicate them completely, I'd suggest removing your discus to a temporary setup. Then introduce some Endlers to the infected tank... and let them breed there for a while. After you're sure the aphids are gone, then switch the fish around again back to their original tanks. The biggest problem with this solution, however, is going to be trying to net out all those Endlers from a large tank. LOL. This is what I'm going to do with mine.. eventually... to clear the aphids out of my 110 gallon tank.
I've been dealing with water aphids myself for a long time now. Mine came in with some cabomba I bought from a plant seller... who happened to be growing his in an outdoor pond, along with water lilies and other marginals.
I read several places online which recommended flicking them or splashing them into the water to drown them. That doesn't work either... believe me, I've tried. Not only do they survive that.. they crawl down into the water themselves. So removing your floating plants isn't going to work either all by itself.
At one point, I got fed up with them.... trashed all my plants, left it all bare for several months. Then after I introduced new plants again, they came back as strong as before. Eventually, they also showed up on a second aquarium I have in another room.
That second tank was where I stock my Endler's livebearers... and all those water aphids are gone now. I haven't seen a single spec of those critters there for the last 6-8 months. The Endlers gobble them all up... whereas my goldfish (the other tank) only nibble at them occasionally.
So... to totally eradicate them completely, I'd suggest removing your discus to a temporary setup. Then introduce some Endlers to the infected tank... and let them breed there for a while. After you're sure the aphids are gone, then switch the fish around again back to their original tanks. The biggest problem with this solution, however, is going to be trying to net out all those Endlers from a large tank. LOL. This is what I'm going to do with mine.. eventually... to clear the aphids out of my 110 gallon tank.
Lupin
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- Sep 21, 2006
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- Paul
I moved your thread here as it will prove more beneficial here than it can buried in Photo Gallery.
i dont have the ability to house 20 discus anywhere......All my tanks are full with discus..... i cant do loaches of any kind ie snails n amano.......just live with them?
and BTW i think mine came in with the red root floater i got for free from my local lond store before winter hit
