Rosi Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Hello Friends, I have two aquariums (20g and 10g) and recently thought I would put some floating plants in for my betta. I have Red Root Floaters (RRF) and recently added some Frogbit (FB) to both tanks. Last night while maintaining my 20g, I noticed little green flying bugs on my RRFs. I took tweezers and fed them to my Betta. I checked thoroughly for and an hour and didn't see anymore. This morning I checked again and am now seeing double what was there last night + tiny black bugs beginning to spread on my FB in my 10g Peacock Gudgeon tank. I saw a video from Flip Aquatics showing that he using CO2 to get rid of the infestation, but that's not an option for me right now. What can I do to get rid of these guys without CO2 that is also safe for my plants and fish. I've also seen folks suggesting that I dunk the plants in the tank to drown them, but these plants begin to rot once the leaves get wet which will undoubtedly make the bug problem worse since they eat the decaying leaves. Finally, I have seen that people use lady bugs to kill them, but I don't want to buy 100s of lady bugs and then have a lady bug problem. Thoughts? Both tanks are fully cycled. (0 A, 0 Ni, ~5 NA). Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick-In-Of-TheSea Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 (edited) One thought I have is to use reverse respiration on the plants. This is where you would float the plants in seltzer water (NOT sparkling water) for a few hours and the carbon dioxide may drive the bugs away. You can read more about reverse respiration here Another thought would be to hang the yellow sticky whitefly traps around the tank. The traps contain a bug attractant and could help with the situation. https://a.co/d/fDsCSBL https://a.co/d/0MFYtMw Edited March 4 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosi Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 On 3/3/2024 at 9:37 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said: One thought I have is to use reverse respiration on the plants. This is where you would float the plants in seltzer water (NOT sparkling water) for a few hours and the carbon dioxide may drive the bugs away. You can read more about reverse respiration here Another thought would be to hang the yellow sticky whitefly traps around the tank. The traps contain a bug attractant and could help with the situation. https://a.co/d/fDsCSBL Thanks so much, @Chick-In-Of-TheSea! I'll definitely check these out. My Betta loves his floating plants and I really don't want to get rid of them. They're all in such good shape. I'll keep you posted and let you know how it goes. Rosi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick-In-Of-TheSea Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 On 3/3/2024 at 11:40 PM, Rosi said: Thanks so much, @Chick-In-Of-TheSea! I'll definitely check these out. My Betta loves his floating plants and I really don't want to get rid of them. They're all in such good shape. I'll keep you posted and let you know how it goes. Rosi Let us know how you do! Also make sure there is always a clear space at the top for your betta friend to take a breath! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosi Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 On 3/3/2024 at 9:42 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said: Let us know how you do! Also make sure there is always a clear space at the top for your betta friend to take a breath! Yeah! I got some of those 3D printed rings so he has a space to come up for air. 😍😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidnightBel Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 My frogbit has some black ones when I first got them in. I picked out what I could and did a quick dunk in the water to drown them. I lost on 2 bunches of leaves. There were some individuals that yellowed too. The rest were fine though and are sprouting babies left and right. For added precaution you could also dry the leaves after with a paper towel if you're worried. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 From what I had researched I was worried about getting my floaters wet at first too. I found that advice to be overblown. Once the frogbit and rrf got acclimated to the tank it’s taken off and been truly unkillable. I wouldn’t worry about dunking them once or twice a day to help rid them of bugs. Your betta will love the treats. Fully submerged for long periods is another matter, but seriously they dry very quickly when facing correctly/up. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosi Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 On 3/7/2024 at 9:31 PM, Chad said: From what I had researched I was worried about getting my floaters wet at first too. I found that advice to be overblown. Once the frogbit and rrf got acclimated to the tank it’s taken off and been truly unkillable. I wouldn’t worry about dunking them once or twice a day to help rid them of bugs. Your betta will love the treats. Fully submerged for long periods is another matter, but seriously they dry very quickly when facing correctly/up. Thank you! I'm going to try one of the other suggestions on this post, too. But it's been surprisingly difficult to find plain seltzer water at any of my local grocery stores! Until then, I'll just dunk them a few times a day to kill off the adults. You're right though, my Betta, Mr. Fields, LOVES to eat them. 😍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t club soda just seltzer water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube_Goldfish Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 On 3/8/2024 at 8:08 AM, Chad said: Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t club soda just seltzer water? According to Reader's Digest: "Seltzer is simply water with carbon dioxide, that gas that gives it that satisfying fizz. Club soda starts the same way, but it also contains minerals like potassium bicarbonate and/or potassium sulfate." https://www.rd.com/article/club-soda-seltzer-tonic/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Well thank you @Rube_Goldfish, I stand corrected. 🙂 I also appreciate the chance to learn something new. Fascinating. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube_Goldfish Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 On 3/11/2024 at 7:48 PM, Chad said: Well thank you @Rube_Goldfish, I stand corrected. 🙂 I also appreciate the chance to learn something new. Fascinating. Ha, me too! I didn't know that either, but your question made me realize I'd never thought about it, so I looked it up! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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