Aphids on riparium

I would not use any pesticides. Aphids are arthropods just like any invertebrates you plan on eventually adding to your tank.

You can try adding some predatory ladybugs and watch them chew up every single aphids! They may even decide to reproduce in your tank and then you'll have a nice tri-trophic tank going.

Or you can submerge for a while and scoop up the aphids then drain it again.

Yes, really no products that I think would be suitable. Cut off aphid-ridden buds and new growth, give a good trim. Ladybugs or Lacewings could be introduced.

Lol that's what I didn't want to do.

My unless would frwak if I had lady bugs in the house

Keep in mind that aphids reproduce asexually. So even if you have just one, it'll be able to repopulate your tank.

However, it does take them a week to reach sexual maturity. So there's your window for picking them off manually.

Why don't you just dunk the plant underwater overnight? This will drown the aphids.

There is a nice teeny parasitic wasp (Aphidius) available for greenhouses using integrated pest management. It lays eggs in the aphid and they are toast. http://www.evergreengrowers.com/aphidius-matricariae-225.html Ladybugs may be more readily available, and better suited to the task. (the wasps are SO tiny that they may slide out of even a tightly covered container) Just be sure that wild collected ladybugs have not been exposed to any unwanted chemicals. I have used insecticidal soap with good effect in a greenhouse setting, but it is not gonna work if it drips into water with fish in it.

(As an aside, the wasps are such gorgeous elegant little creatures, beautiful in their own right)

As a pest control tech I would recommend that you do not use any pesticides on your plants, it will eventually leech into your water. Once you have pesticide in there you'll never get it out. Lady bugs will kill them, you just have to make sure the ladybugs don't fly away. Or take the plants out and do a mild bleach dip followed by a dip in some dechlorinator. Bleach will kill the aphids.

Its all so much work. But I have two days off coming up I'll do a dip kill em all off. Just wondering where they even came from

I work at a greenhouse seasonally, aphids seem to LOVE hibiscus. They may have been drawn to it, in particular. Last season was pretty bad for our hibiscus aphid-wise. The parasitic wasps mentioned above do great work. However if you're able to keep them contained, lady bugs or lacewings would be just as sufficient and may be slightly easier to come by.

Did you add any new plants recently? I once added a plant w/ out taking much care to properly clean it and ended up having white flies, slugs, and mealy bug all introduced into my tank over the course of several months. Paludarium had been running great for 2 - 3 years before adding that plant, and I hadn't added any others.

Nah. All the plants I have gotten I do a dip with. 15 minutes 2part peroxide to 4 part water. So I'm unsure how hwy gor there. I spray them off daily with my spray bottle and my fish love to eat em. But I'll just drown the suckers.

My window is never open so they couldn't have gotten in that way.

Subtletanks91 said:

Nah. All the plants I have gotten I do a dip with. 15 minutes 2part peroxide to 4 part water. So I'm unsure how hwy gor there. I spray them off daily with my spray bottle and my fish love to eat em. But I'll just drown the suckers.

My window is never open so they couldn't have gotten in that way.

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Aphid eggs can overwinter, so it might be that one or two survived the dip.

Not cool. Nor cool at all!!! This is one infestation that must be dealt with this week. I can't stand to look at my beautiful plants and see little tiny holes and white things on he underside of the leaves.