Regular Member soupmonster Posted June 28, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 They only attack my frogbit, but they attack it like crazy. Has anyone gotten rid of these bugs from an aquarium before? All I do these days is dispose the frobits with the most aphids and squish the stragglers. I used to have some here and there in my big tank last year, but they went away a few months later due to cold weather or possibly due to my goldies eating them. My little tank with my one little fish has a bunch, and I can never seem to squish them all. Fincent's mouth might not be big enough to fit them in, yet. (He has a deformed upper jaw that prevents big bites.) I've thought about ladybugs... but the tanks are in my bedroom and they could just fly away. I can only imagine waking up with squished ladybugs in my hair. I also have duckweed that I don't want to get rid of. Everytime I try to drown aphids by submersion, they float up and escape on a little duckweed raft! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member katiehuggins Posted June 28, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 Have you heard of disenfecting your plants? That I think would get rid of them..... just plain bleach no softemers, agents, scents, whiteners none of that jazz! Tithra33 on youtube, has a vid. About it , very helpful. I would copy and paste, but I cant do it on my tablet..... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member soupmonster Posted June 28, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 I normally disinfect my plants, but there were a few stragglers and then they made a great big happy family. I'm determined to disrupt that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Mikey Posted June 28, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 I believe the ratio for pant disinfecting is 1:18 bleach/water. Like Katie said, tithra has a video on how to do it 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Gcourtney Posted June 28, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 I. Would do a pp dip instead do bleach becuase bleach can be hard on floating plants as they aren't as hardy as most aquarium plants 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member soupmonster Posted June 28, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 So PP wouldn't kill all the duckweed like my bleaching previously did? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Daniel Posted June 28, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 PP tends to be far gentler on delicate plants. Funnily enough, you can bleach duckweed and other floaters successfully, but as the members who have done this have reported, you will more than likely need to pee on them. Yes, you read that correctly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member katearei Posted June 28, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 I didn't know you could get aphids in your aquarium D: that's awful. I get them on my tomatoe plants and they're awfully hard to get rid of without using some kind of pesticide which you obviously can't do with aquarium plants 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Goldenhero Posted June 28, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 I've heard that spraying water + dish soap is good for getting rid of pests (I do this with my house plants when I see fruit flies...I think it helps deter them at least) but I definitely wouldn't recommend you do that with your aquarium. I like lady bugs but I agree, I wouldn't want to release a bunch into my bed room. I hope you figure out how to get rid of the aphids. Maybe disinfecting the plant again would help? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Sharkbait3 Posted June 28, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 I'm starting to itch............. I have read that others have had great success with PP and their plants...and check out the video that Tithra has too !! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member katiehuggins Posted June 28, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 I'm starting to itch............. I have read that others have had great success with PP and their plants...and check out the video that Tithra has too !! yea, PP is also great, but tithra has a lot of helpful vids. Why dont you go check out her channel. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member soupmonster Posted June 28, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 (edited) Haha, ok. I'll check out her channel. If PP is as gentle as you guys say, I will definitely switch to that from now on! I once did our diluted bleach treatment on my bucket of azolla and duckweed for 3 minutes, and it melted all but 20 leaves! But luckily, the 20 that survived replenished itself... and so did the aphids. > Edited June 28, 2013 by soupmonster 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member shakaho Posted June 28, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 28, 2013 The best and safest suggestion I have seen is to wash the aphids off the leaves and let the fish eat them. Since that's too much for this one little fish, perhaps you could move the infested plants to the big tank until they are clean. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Evening Posted June 29, 2013 Regular Member Share Posted June 29, 2013 Ladybugs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member soupmonster Posted July 1, 2013 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 1, 2013 The best and safest suggestion I have seen is to wash the aphids off the leaves and let the fish eat them. Since that's too much for this one little fish, perhaps you could move the infested plants to the big tank until they are clean. I would do that, except the frogbit gets eaten by the big fish too. Frogbit must be the succulent filet mignon of the underwater world. My fish love it, my snails love it, and so do terrestrial aphids lol Ladybugs. Except it's in my bedroom and they fly. Don't want them to snuggle up to me in my sleep. (: SO here's an update. I went to my local hardware store, and they wouldn't sell me any potassium permanganate because they had some major liability issues. (Allergic people accidentally got some on themselves and their arms bloated up) Does anybody have a brand or form of potassium permanganate they recommend I can buy online? Alternatively, I also saw some Aphid Remover spray that was only 93% distilled water and 7% garlic juice. I will make my own. It's probably just aphid repellent and not aphid killer, but I'm still willing to make those bugs miserable. Haha. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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