Tiny midgy flies

[Val]

Anyone else got these? they don't seem to do any harm but they are REALLY annoying and they are in most of my tanks.

Val

[matilda]

I have them too. I hate them!!! Did you know that these flies lay eggs? (yes, at the tanks!) Try to get rid of them, the caterpillar can kill you snails! In Finland that is happend! (if they are same flies...) Normally these flies live near houseplants.

Sorry, if this is confusing, my english is soooo bad

[Arno]

Yes I have those too,at least they are fruitflies in my case,but a few flystrips kills a lot of them(not in the tanks obviously)

[coyote]

A good fruitfly trap can be made using a small jar and a plastic bag. First put a small piece of banana (or other fruit the fruitflies will like) in the bottom of the jar. Then take the bottom corner of the plastic bag and snip a little hole in it, and drape it across the mouth of the jar so the corner with the snipped hole is sticking inside it, but not too far. This is how the fruitflies will get in but can't get back out. Use a rubber band to secure the bag around the mouth of the jar (you can cut away any excess part of the plastic bag). The flies will go in to get at the banana bait but will be stuck inside forever. This was very successful for me when I was using a worm composting box to keep the fruitfly outbreaks under control.

[deadmansfinger]

I had these when I had the lignus and I bought stick on fly traps from kleeneze (they are £12 for 4)

They worked wonders and not got any now.

Brian.

[Val]

Thanks coyote and Brian, I shall now wage war on the midgies!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D

Val

[section8angel]

Have you got chiffon covering any holes?

The only flies/gnats I've had in my tanks since I've been using chiffon are a few that have snuck in when I've had the lids off too long when I've been feeding/checking the snails lol.
None have got in with the lids on.

[Val]

No I haven't, it just isn't practical I often like to leave the tops off to 'air' the tanks and the flies just seem to appear from nowhere.

Val

[ness]

These are sciarid flies (probably), also called fungus gnats. The eggs live in certain types of forest bed soil purchased at pet stores and other peat based soil. The eggs hatch when you add water to the soil. They live off snail food, especially old snail food but are completely harmless, that is, until you try to grow seeds in your house. The larvae of these gnats have killed off almost all of my Lythops (Living Stones) and Astrophytum (species of cactus) seedlings. These critters don't attack older plants and they don't bother with any animals, so unless you are trying to grow mushrooms or seedlings it's perhaps best not to worry. Or you could try using John Innes soil, apparently the flies don't like this (though I've not tried it with my snails so please don't blame me if the snails don't like it either). Hope this helps, good luck everyone xx

[zirliz]

Yeah I hate them plague all snail tanks, maybe I could feed them to my Mantids?

[apple]

lol, yes. You just have to catch them... lool