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Insects in the Grindal Worm Cultures

mchambers

Former CCA member
Two nights ago, I opened up a grindal worm culture and saw some little flying insects leaving. I think they were fungus gnats. Every year when the weather warms up, I find that my grindal and micro worm cultures get invaded by flying insects. By the end of the summer, I end up scraping out a few grindal worms and restarting all of my cultures.

So, what to do? I put paper towels between the plastic lids and the body of the containers. I'm also going to replace the foam I have in the air holes in the lids with coffee filter paper taped on.

I also bought some yellow sticky paper that catches flying insects and will put that at strategic locations. I've also read that fungus gnats will go into bowls that have cider vinegar with a little bit of dish detergent mixed in, some thinking of trying that.

I'm wondering what other people do with their cultures at this time of year? Any suggestions will be appreciated.
 

thedavidzoo

Members
I have occasionally gotten pupae and flying things in my microworm culture in the summer. I always assumed they were fruit flies...

Some of my fish have enjoyed the extra pupae treat. Peek in every now and then and feed or kill pupae before they hatch and zoom around your house.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
Well, they may be fruit flies. Either way, the larval stage is pretty gross. My fish will eat them, but I'd rather avoid having them.

Just finished taping coffee filter material over the air holes.
 

Jt731

Members
The apple cider vinegar only needs the detergent if you don't want to cover the top with Saran Wrap that you have poked holes into. And eventually the vinegar and detergent will seperate back out with the vinegar in a layer over the detergent
 

Louis Manz

New Member
Hey mchambers, Because of highly tight moister, Insects might have attracted to your Grindal worm culture, I would like to suggest you to keep some open space in it so that the air can pass into and Grindal worm culture won't attract any pest. It will always be a beneficial step to call experts like a bug, aphids, Rodent Exterminator Sacramento ca from their Official Site, to get rid of pest problem.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
Funny what this thread attracts! Do the Sacramento exterminators do DC?

Seriously, using tighter sealing containers, with coffee filter paper over the holes (instead of foam) seems to have mostly done the trick. I did have one or two cultures with pests, but most of them are fine. Now that the temperatures are dropping, I think the problem is over.
 

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
Matt, The thing that works for me is a bath towel. It is easy to throw a bath towel over one or two or three cultures and yet it will allow air to enter the containers through the holes in the lids. And if the towel gets dirty, just throw it in the wash.

You can also use pillow cases and you can find pillow cases with zippers so you can be positive no bug get into your culture. But I found zippered pillow cases to be a pain to use and ended up just using them without zipping them up.
 
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Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
Our forum commenters suggesting use of pesticides are not fish keepers or breeders. In a fish room any use of pesticides tend to result in bad things happening to the aquariums and the fish's health. When they first came, out I tried a pest control strip thinking the air borne pesticide level would be very low and controlled. It killed the flying bugs which is what I wanted, but it also killed all the daphnia cultures I had and it seemed to affect some of the young fish. I took the strip out after only a couple days. Now no kind of pesticide is allowed in my fish room except boric acid for ants. But boric acid is not volatile so stays exactly where you put it.
 

Becca

Members
I've managed tho avoid the flies this year. My issue is that the damn worms aren't sticking to the collecting plastic piece.
 

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
Becca, Have you tried either roughing up the plastic with an emery cloth so the worms have something to grip? I use to use wooded tongue depressors in a log cabin pattern. The lower ones sink in the culture but keep the higher ones up and the worms collect easily on the wood surfaces.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
Matt, The thing that works for me is a bath towel. It is easy to throw a bath towel over one or two or three cultures and yet it will allow air to enter the containers through the holes in the lids. And if the towel gets dirty, just throw it in the wash.

You can also use pillow cases and you can find pillow cases with zippers so you can be positive no bug get into your culture. But I found zippered pillow cases to be a pain to use and ended up just using them without zipping them up.
Thanks, Frank.

I've thought about zippered pillow cases, but didn't have any extras to test. Good to know they are a pain.

I've been using rectangular black plastic containers that we get when we order Thai carry out. They snap on pretty tightly, and I rarely find insects in them.
 

FishEggs

Well-Known Member
I've been using rectangular black plastic containers that we get when we order Thai carry out. They snap on pretty tightly, and I rarely find insects in them.

Sometimes those lids have a couple small holes in them, I guess to vent the steam out or something. I won't go into how I found out about them but thought you should know.
 
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