CaptainReefer

Active Reefer
Location
NYC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Was wondering if anyone has had experience with having their apartment exterminated for bed bugs while having a large Fishtank with wooden stand and a large sump underneath. I just went through my first treatment and was told to keep all pumps off for 24 hrs. I did this and lost a hippo tang, a cleaner shrimp and all of my copepod population. I have to get the apartment sprayed again in 3 weeks and. I'm worried that my corals may suffer more,they don't look so good now. Any help would be appreciated.
 

tonyyammine

Advanced Reefer
Location
Staten island ny
Rating - 100%
79   0   0
why were you told to keep your pumps off for 24hrs? i used to do bedbug jobs (got sick of them quit) and even though i never dealt with someone with a tank i told the customer to be out of the house for a few hours and then come back home i never had a complaint so if a person can take it then im sure your fish tank should not have a problem any question pm me with them maybe i can give some tips
 

mr_X

Advanced Reefer
Location
paoli, pa
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
a friend of mine had some weird gnats or something that came in the house somehow and ended up everywhere. they used bug bombs on the entire house. he got a giant roll of shrink wrap and wrapped the entire tank. he didn't lose anything.
i imagine you would have to keep water circulating and also time without fresh air exchange would be extremely limited.
i don't know if that helps...but it's worth a shot.
 

Chraddam

ALL AROUND BAMF
Location
ny
Rating - 100%
126   0   0
a friend of mine had some weird gnats or something that came in the house somehow and ended up everywhere. they used bug bombs on the entire house. he got a giant roll of shrink wrap and wrapped the entire tank. he didn't lose anything.
i imagine you would have to keep water circulating and also time without fresh air exchange would be extremely limited.
i don't know if that helps...but it's worth a shot.

^^^^^^^^^+1
you could probably run a hose out the window for fresh air, just make sure everything is sealed up. I did this when we treated my Mother-In Law's house, she had a 20 gallon freshwater, it workde fine. Sorry for your loss, btw.
 

Awibrandy

Old School Reefer
Location
Far Rockaway
Rating - 100%
182   0   0
I am sorry for the loss of your animals.

For future treatments I would turn off all external pumps, unless you can take it outdoors with extended hose to reach the tank. Leave all the power heads going. Wrap the tank in plastic tarp during fumigation. Once the air has cleared do a nice size water change.

Who ever told you to turn off your pumps for 24hrs. was drasticaly wrong.
 
Location
Queens, NY
Rating - 100%
98   0   0
I used pesticides from roach bombs and fumigators, killed some of my shrimps within the hour I left my apartment, even with the pumps off and tank covered. Did it twice, the second time I even blocked off the door, with towels to seal in the cracks, and all the rest of the shrimps died. Fish weren't affected, but a bedbug/roach and an crustacean are very similar and the pesticides attack their nervous system. I agree that you can also say bye to all the microscopic ampihipods too. Have the exterminator freeze the bedbugs out with liquid nitrogen spray. I don't think the pesticides affect mollusk/fish/coral directly, but once all your crustacean died, there was a huge drain on your O2 and also an ammonia spike, which probably killed the tang.
trace amounts of the pesticides which would not affect resistant bugs, are enought to kill the crustacean, which have no resistance to the pesticide. Spray enough pesticides, and even a person will get poisoned, hence the skull and bones on the label.
 
Last edited:

Awibrandy

Old School Reefer
Location
Far Rockaway
Rating - 100%
182   0   0
I used pesticides from roach bombs and fumigators, killed some of my shrimps within the hour I left my apartment, even with the pumps off and tank covered. Did it twice, the second time I even blocked off the door, with towels to seal in the cracks, and all the rest of the shrimps died. Fish weren't affected, but a bedbug/roach and an crustacean are very similar and the pesticides attack their nervous system. I agree that you can also say bye to all the microscopic ampihipods too. Have the exterminator freeze the bedbugs out with liquid nitrogen spray. I don't think the pesticides affect mollusk/fish/coral directly, but once all your crustacean died, there was a huge drain on your O2 and also an ammonia spike, which probably killed the tang.
trace amounts of the pesticides which would not affect resistant bugs, are enought to kill the crustacean, which have no resistance to the pesticide. Spray enough pesticides, and even a person will get poisoned, hence the skull and bones on the label.

When you say your tank was covered, what was it covered with? I'm curious.:splitspin
 
Location
Queens, NY
Rating - 100%
98   0   0
first time I did it, I didn't know pesticides would do too much, so I just casually covered it with a piece of card board loosely, simply to keep the aerosol from settling down on the water. I wasn't thinking of tiny amounts of gas slipping in the crack sideways, then disolving into the water, even though it wasn't mixing. A final note, is that I used the roach bomb in the OTHER room, and closed the door, which was why I was so casual the first time.
BTW, lack of waterflow or O2, didn't affect anything, since an hour is the usualy time I turn off the pumps when I do maintence.
 
Last edited:

Awibrandy

Old School Reefer
Location
Far Rockaway
Rating - 100%
182   0   0
first time I did it, I didn't know pesticides would do too much, so I just casually covered it with a piece of card board loosely, simply to keep the aerosol from settling down on the water. I wasn't thinking of tiny amounts of gas slipping in the crack sideways, then disolving into the water, even though it wasn't mixing. BTW,
lack of waterflow or O2, didn't affect anything, since an hour is the usualy time I turn off the pumps when I do maintence.

OK, so how and with what did you cover the tank & sump with after the first time that you lost the shrimps & crustaceans again?
Trying to figuer out why you lost them. I know it wasn't the turning the pumps off for an hour. I do this at least twice a week when I feed my corals.;)
On the other hand turning an external pump back on just 1 hour after extermaniting wasn't the best thing to do as the instructions on those foggers {from what I remember when I lived in apt, and had to fumigate} stated to evacuated the premises for 4 hours.:(
 
Location
Queens, NY
Rating - 100%
98   0   0
I think I mentioned, but I was using the roach bombs in the other room, so the second time I used towels to line the cracks around the door and taped off the edges all around the door. As for the tank cover, I covered it with a large garbage bag, which completely draped over the tank. Didn't make a difference. I know there was a draft coming from that other room, which was what I was trying to block off. This was a few years back. After that, I never used any airborne pesticides again. Not to mention but now I also have a skin allergy to that pesticide. deltametronine something or other. I really didn't think the shrimps would be affected that second time, which really surprised me.
 

Awibrandy

Old School Reefer
Location
Far Rockaway
Rating - 100%
182   0   0
I'm sorry about your skin condition, as well as for the loss of your shrimps.

Here's what I see was the issue: Draping the tank w/a garbage bag is not sufficient. When using chemicals any where there is an aquarium the tank needs to be completely sealed off including the cabinet.
For instance: I would use a heavy plastic tarp which would cover the entire thing - tank & cabinet, and then I would tape everywhere I saw an opening down to the floor around the entire thing ensuring absolutely no gaps where left open.;)
I turned off all external pumps, but left the power heads going.
I would leave it like that for the recommended time the manufacturer specifies for humans safety.
When removing the plastic you MUST be very deliberate in removing it carefully as to not disturb the poisons that have settled on to the plastic.;)
 

gimincorp

Advanced Reefer
Location
Yonkers, NY
Rating - 100%
12   0   0
Guys, I'm not selling anything, nor do I profit from the sales...
But I bought a Rainbow cleaning system (aka canister vac) that sucks the bedbugs right out of the bed and dumps them into the water tank killing them instantly. The reason I know I'm killing lots of them is by the foam forming atop of waste water in tank. I have dust allergies and Rainbow is my choice. (Still paying the installment of $2,000 for it). They will finance the thing for you with payments of about $170/month. If you want one I can give you references - just PM me.
 

Sponsor Reefs

We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.

Click here to sponsor $10:


Top