[11thEarlOfMars]

Would putting the plants in a bottle or big ziploc bag of plain carbonated water (seltzer water), squeezing out all the air, and letting it sit awhile to asphyxiate the aphids be too harsh for the plants? I suppose the plants may convert the CO2 to O2 unless you kept them in the dark. Hmmm... might be worth an experiment.

 

[gabi.loraine]

Would putting the plants in a bottle or big ziploc bag of plain carbonated water (seltzer water), squeezing out all the air, and letting it sit awhile to asphyxiate the aphids be too harsh for the plants? I suppose the plants may convert the CO2 to O2 unless you kept them in the dark. Hmmm... might be worth an experiment.

it's interesting 🤷‍♀️ someone else might try that one and let us know haha... I'm not going to be doing more experiments for the meantime...

 

[mistergreen]

Dr. Bronner's is a great soap. It's a very good degreaser. You can use dish soap if you don't have Dr. Bronner's but your plant will smell like dish soap for a very long time.

 

[zoe]

I spray 3% peroxide on my aquarium plants to kill cladophora algae, let sit for 3-5 min and rinse. Should work for aphids, also, check your houseplants and make sure you get rid of aphids on those also so you don't get a reinfestation. The soap trick works for houseplants, don't think I would try peroxide on them.

 

[gabi.loraine]

Just wanted to update that I have not been able to bring my plants back to life. It really does feel like the aphids are vampires because I can’t find them anywhere and still my plants are dying leaf by leaf…

I’ve completely lost the water lettuce and keep cutting off any little salvinia sprouts in hopes they will continue to regenerate, but I’m not having much luck.

Thursday Feb 4

Tuesday Feb 8

Basically everything floating is dead or dying except for the duckweed, that somehow seems to be reproducing at the same rate it’s dying. I didn’t start out with a lot so it doesn’t feel very promising.

 

[mistergreen]

What was your soap concentration? Too much can hurt it.

 

[gabi.loraine]

What was your soap concentration? Too much can hurt it.

You mean in the sense that it might have poisoned the plants? I feel like that was so long ago… wouldn’t that have killed the plants faster?

 

[mistergreen]

Yeah, you would see symptoms a few days later. The soap could degrade the waxy layer off the leaves leading to drying out.

 

[gabi.loraine]

Yeah, you would see symptoms a few days later. The soap could degrade the waxy layer off the leaves leading to drying out.

that makes sense... let's see if the one new leaf on the water lettuce grows and the duckweed keeps recouping........

 

[mistergreen]

Also, floating plants usually have a hard time in a dirt tank. A lot of the nutrients are used by rooted plants.

 

[gabi.loraine]

Also, floating plants usually have a hard time in a dirt tank. A lot of the nutrients are used by rooted plants.

I mean … I believe you but they were really thriving before the aphids showed up…

 

[dwalstad]

I'm not sure it's just the aphids or the treatment. I don't think aphids will kill a healthy floater. At least, they haven't killed mine.

You may need to add chelated iron (FeEDTA) to the water. My floating plants often die out gradually in older tanks. The problem is that iron is insoluble in water (due to oxygenation) and plants need a lot of it. Rooted plants can get it from anaerobic areas in the soil, mulm or gravel. Adding chelated iron when I see yellowing of leaves solved the problem.

I buy the powdered form of FeEDTA and add a small amount (100 mg dissolved in water) to a 10 gal tank. Many micronutrient fertilizers also contain chelated iron.

I wish I had followed your thread sooner.

 

[gabi.loraine]

I'm not sure it's just the aphids or the treatment. I don't think aphids will kill a healthy floater. At least, they haven't killed mine.

You may need to add chelated iron (FeEDTA) to the water. My floating plants often die out gradually in older tanks. The problem is that iron is insoluble in water (due to oxygenation) and plants need a lot of it. Rooted plants can get it from anaerobic areas in the soil, mulm or gravel. Adding chelated iron when I see yellowing of leaves solved the problem.

I buy the powdered form of FeEDTA and add a small amount (100 mg dissolved in water) to a 10 gal tank. Many micronutrient fertilizers also contain chelated iron.

I wish I had followed your thread sooner.

Thank you so much for your response! It wouldn’t have occurred to me that perhaps I killed the plants 😂 but that makes so more sense than anything else…
this is the original thread:

ew what are these

There are these white flecks on my floating plants. At first I didn't think anything of them and now of course they're everywhere. I've taken these magnified photos and I swear they look like they're... dead bugs...? They don't move... that I can tell. I tried shaking them onto the water and...

www.aquaticplantcentral.com

I had become convinced the plants were being killed by the aphids. I don’t see any of them anymore so hopefully the plants can continue to propagate… Do you think despite growing so many leaves so quickly (see photos above) I might have an iron deficiency? Also is the FeEDTA safe for my fish? I have a betta and a bunch of snails. And what I believe to be zooplankton.

 

[dwalstad]

I thought you said your plants were dying? FeEDTA or FeDPTA won't hurt anything at the dosage I recommended. New leaves should turn green. EDTA is totally non-toxic and degraded within a week or so into miscellaneous, harmless organics.
You may have other deficiencies from too much water changing, tank cleaning, not enough fish food added, etc, but iron deficiency is the main nutrient deficiency for floating plants. Some floaters may be more adept at taking up iron.
You'll have to tinker with this.

 

[mistergreen]

Ah, yes. All those water changes to clear your green algae/ tannins would cause nutrient deficiencies.

 

[johnwesley0]

Ah, yes. All those water changes to clear your green algae/ tannins would cause nutrient deficiencies.

I dunno. I keep trying to line this thread up with the other one on "siesta schedule - no lamp", and it seems the water didn't start to turn green until a month ago. That's not to say you're not on to something; the appearance of aphids on the floating plants clearly initiated a series of cascading events that could have coincided with gradual nutrient depletion in the glass bowl.

The important thing is that the floaters seem to be coming back - gradually.

 

[gabi.loraine]

I thought you said your plants were dying?

Yeah, no… and the more I look at the photos the more it becomes evident that they started to go south once I started “treating them” for aphids… I put them in direct morning sunlight for a couple of hours, then I submerged them for like a day, then I sprayed them with soap … now I’m laughing at how silly this sounds.
I thought the aphids were for sure killing my plants and I was saving them.

FeEDTA or FeDPTA won't hurt anything at the dosage I recommended. New leaves should turn green. EDTA is totally non-toxic and degraded within a week or so into miscellaneous, harmless organics.

This is still really good to know and I will be watchful of my future floating plants and keep it in mind…

You may have other deficiencies from too much water changing, tank cleaning, not enough fish food added, etc, but iron deficiency is the main nutrient deficiency for floating plants. Some floaters may be more adept at taking up iron.
You'll have to tinker with this.

I have definitely kept the water changes down to a minimum per your advice of letting nutrients build up… I did also realize I couldn’t overfeed with fishfood intentionally though, because the betta got bloated… like I might have to find another way?

Ah, yes. All those water changes to clear your green algae/ tannins would cause nutrient deficiencies.

I haven’t done as many water changes as you would think…….. I’ve been kind of living with my green water hoping the zooplankton I think I saw in there will help clear it up slowly...

I dunno. I keep trying to line this thread up with the other one on "siesta schedule - no lamp", and it seems the water didn't start to turn green until a month ago. That's not to say you're not on to something; the appearance of aphids on the floating plants clearly initiated a series of cascading events that could have coincided with gradual nutrient depletion in the glass bowl.

The important thing is that the floaters seem to be coming back - gradually.

Thank youuuuuu, yes. Yes. Thank you. I read so many times (in DWalstad’s book) that the floating plants are major in keeping algae away. As soon as I started treating the plants for aphids, outside of the bowl, I knew, that I would get algae. But I was so convinced that the aphids were going to kill my plants anyway that I didn’t think I had a choice.

I’m going to keep giving what’s left of my floaters (almost nothing) a chance to recover but also get new ones so the tank isn’t essentially without floaters much longer, and see how efficient/fast they’re able to help with the algae situation…I’m optimistic.
As for the aphids... I'll be watching the plants like a hawk and try picking them out by hand to try to keep them under control 🤷‍♀️ ...I don't really see another solution.





Sorry for the super long response and thank you SO MUCH. I’m learning so much and I’m super happy.

 

[jatcar95]

I did also realize I couldn’t overfeed with fishfood intentionally though, because the betta got bloated… like I might have to find another way?

I had this problem with my bettas too. I stopped overfeeding the betta pellets/flakes, and just fed the normal amount. Then I added some small pieces of sinking pellets (only have a 6.5 gallon) every day or so, the betta didn't touch them. As long as you have shrimp/snails to break down the sinking food, it will still contribute to the substrate.

I have a similar problem still today with my rasbora espei. They will absolutely gorge themselves on food if I let them, so I just add sinking food for the shrimp and they totally ignore it.

 

[gabi.loraine]

I had this problem with my bettas too. I stopped overfeeding the betta pellets/flakes, and just fed the normal amount. Then I added some small pieces of sinking pellets (only have a 6.5 gallon) every day or so, the betta didn't touch them. As long as you have shrimp/snails to break down the sinking food, it will still contribute to the substrate.

I have a similar problem still today with my rasbora espei. They will absolutely gorge themselves on food if I let them, so I just add sinking food for the shrimp and they totally ignore it.

oooh, can you recommend a sinking food?

 

[jatcar95]

oooh, can you recommend a sinking food?

Hmm, right now I'm using some local hippie shrimp food that I paid too much for and probably wouldn't buy again. But I know they also like API algae eater wafers...although one is MUCH too big for my tank, I usually break it into quarters or smaller. Anything by Hikari seems good quality, but I haven't actually tried their sinking foods. May do that next time.