I grew some emersed Ludwigia sp. 'Red' outdoors this summer and when I moved it in this fall, I found some of these fuzzy insects. I've tried to control them by trimming off the most heavily infested stems, but they keep coming back. Most pest treatments recommend insecticidal soaps or oils, but I'm afraid that will render the plants toxic to fish when put back under water. How do I get rid of these things?
Edit: I thought these were scale insects, but they look more like mealy bugs. I have little experience with terrestrial plants, so a positive ID would be helpful.
Yep, mealy bugs. When I had them on a indoor terrestrial plant I would dip a Q-tip in isopropyl alcohol and rub them off (and then put them in the cup of alcohol), then paint the plant with the Q-tip. Not sure if the same can be done for emersed plants.
I'm not sure if isopropyl alcohol is aquarium safe. But hydrogen peroxide is! Should work well on mites.
I once had aphids really bad on my mangroves. I just sprayed them off with lots of freshwater. I believe mites are a little tougher, though. If you have other plants in the house, I would suggest cutting the ludwigia down to below the waterline and throwing them out immediately. It's a fast growing plant - I'm sure it will recover.
I tried this once. I do not recommend it. Beatles are clumsy things. You will find many more lady bugs drowning in your aquarium than hanging out on the branches of your plants.
Manually remove as much as you can, either squish or remove the stems that appear infected and keep this up. You can also use the q-tip alcohol method, it should be safe, the alcohol will evaporate fairly quickly.
Trim the stems and plant them underwater, the bugs won't live underwater.
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