# Aphids



## MassiveDynamic17 (Feb 3, 2015)

Hi Everyone. I was hoping to get some info on how to handle these aphids that have infested the surface of my tank. They're on any plant that touches the surface. I know hydrogen peroxide doesn't work on them. It just devastates the plants. 

Does anyone know if these are regular aphids or if they're some sort of aquatic aphids?

And does anyone know how to kill them? All? 

Thanks in advance peoples~


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

AFAIK there is not an aquatic specific aphid.
If you can remove the plants from the tank then almost anything will kill or remove the aphids. The problem then becomes putting the plant back with some kind of pesticide. Not a good idea. Washing off the plant with plain water can remove the aphids, but they come back pretty fast, especially if you miss just one. 

Here are a few things I have done:
1) Push plant under water and shake it so the aphids come off under the water. Fish love eating aphids, but cannot climb the plants, so I bring the aphids to them. 

2) Insecticidal soap with a sheet of plastic over the tank. Works for plants that are so far out of the water that the poison does not get in the water. Wait until the insecticide is dry to remove the plastic. 

3) Remove the plant and not allow it back into the fish room. 

Aphids come back in anyway, so option 3 does not do much.


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## WestHaven (Jun 30, 2012)

They look like seed shrimp or scuds to me.


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## Jaxfisher (Jun 2, 2013)

Yuck! Fortunate not to have encountered this problem (yet)!


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Like Diana said, these are not aquatic, so the cleanest and easiest solution would be to drown them. There are probably many approaches, but I would cut a piece of plastic the same size as your water surface, and just lay it on top of it, making sure that there are no air bubbles. After a couple of hours they should all turn blue :wink: just kidding, but they should be dead.

Also, not sure if you have fish in there and what sort, but there are some that snack on aphids, especially if you don't feed them for a few days. This is when it becomes really useful to just weight down some leaves and submerse the aphids and turn them into fish food.


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## MassiveDynamic17 (Feb 3, 2015)

So, fyi, ladybugs aren't really a viable solution.

I finally found on Amazon a listing that sells a reasonably small quantity of ladybugs (150 ladybugs) as opposed to the hundreds or thousands you normally have to buy.

I put about 3 ladybugs on my frogbit, and they spent all their energy frantically trying to not drown. Eating aphids is the last thing on their minds lol. I don't see them anymore, so I think they probably drowned. Now I have 147 ladybugs I don't know what to do with lol


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## MassiveDynamic17 (Feb 3, 2015)

http://organicgardening.about.com/od/pestcontrol/a/spraysforaphids.htm

This site lists some organic ways to kill aphids.

Does anyone know if alkaloids are toxic to shrimp?


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## bigtrout (Sep 6, 2014)

Dont spray....get a few cheap livebearers...guppies keep drowning the critters the guppies will eat them quick...my livebearers are constatly in my floating hornwort picking at it for critters and such, being surface feeders, if any are near the water surface they will even come out of the water a bit to get em...and guppies shouldnt hurt much else in the tank...


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## MassiveDynamic17 (Feb 3, 2015)

guppies are compatible with shrimp?


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## res34 (Mar 23, 2013)

They can be, but like all fish that aren't Otto's, there's always the potential that they might pick at them and stress them to death. They'll certainly eat baby shrimp though, but if the tank is well planted and has plenty of hiding spots they should be able to survive. 

Overall, if you only get like a few males and keep an eye on them - just to make sure they aren't bothering the shrimp - they should be fine, especially if they gorge themselves on the aphids.

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Another fish suggestion for the tank (what size is it again?) might be hatchetfish. These tend to stay near the surface, and thus would be better at dealing with the aphids and less likely to encounter your shrimp. Marbled hatchetfish in particular stay small at about 2", do best in small groups, and require a hood in case they should jump.


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## MassiveDynamic17 (Feb 3, 2015)

Hmm, I'm not sure I'm okay with adding fish. Going in, when starting the tank, I figured I wouldn't be adding any fish for the sake of the shrimp. If they are known to eat baby shrimp, that's a hard no for me. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

My tank is 50 gallons


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## res34 (Mar 23, 2013)

How well planted is it (perhaps a pic or two?) and do you have any rough estimates on how many shrimp you have?


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## bigtrout (Sep 6, 2014)

I wasnt talking about a permanent solution. Yes guppies if left without food would find those baby shrimp. I was thinking along the lines of wild strain feeder type guppies(not near as big as fancy guppies) add them for a week, eat as many aphids as possible and remove them.


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## MassiveDynamic17 (Feb 3, 2015)

It's somewhat heavily planted. Lots of hornwort and elodea floating around. You can see in the third pic the hornwort that sticks out of the top and is covered in aphids. My frogbit are almost dead 

Bump: There should be like 40, but I think most of them are dead (made a lot of rookie mistakes in the beginning- overfeeding, filter accidents, water deficiencies, etc). I think there are less than 10 left.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Are you sure those aren't springtails, rather than aphids? If so, they're completely harmless.


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## res34 (Mar 23, 2013)

Oh a heavily planted tank like that could easily hold marbled hatchets, mostly because any baby shrimps that might be eaten have a massive amount of places too hide. However, the lack of a lid would be a problem, as the hatchets might jump out.


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## MassiveDynamic17 (Feb 3, 2015)

I've never seen these guys jump. And I'm pretty sure they're the reason my frogbit went from covering almost the entire surface of the tank, down to a few square inches...


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## MassiveDynamic17 (Feb 3, 2015)

Accidentally found a solution- I was trying to cool my tank by having a giant fan blow water over it, and the flowing water would cover the surface with turbulence. The flowing water drowned the lil ******* and I am now aphid free!


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