Ants in the Fish room.

Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
Okay every year I have a battle with ants in the fish room.
They set up around the room in diff areas and I try to kill them. I sit in there and follow the trails till I find the nest and try to kill it without killing the fish.
I have found nests between tanks, under lights and of course sometimes they just trail back into a wall.
Usually after May 1 I don't see them again until next year.
I have tried multiple food poisons and powders.
I keep thinking about hiring a company but am worried that they would not be as careful around the tanks as I am. Of course when putting the power down I sometimes wonder how I have not killed a tank yet.

Does anyone else have this problem.
What to you use.
What works or does not work.

Am I the only one who has this problem.
 
J

Jt731

Members
Terro is borax based which I know has been used for hardness in aquariums for hardness, but I am no expert
 
Reed

Reed

Very Fishe
I try to keep the fish food covered to try and minimize ants and critters

Veryfishe.com
 
Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
Yeah, I have used that in other places over the years with great success.
These guys wont touch it. They walk up to it and go around. Guess they are smarter. LOL


 
lkelly

lkelly

Members
Try mixing Borax with something sweet and then mix it with peanut butter. See which they prefer: sugars or proteins.

And while you are at it, make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, only leaving out the Borax.
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
Pat, what are you complaining about? You've got a free source of live food!

Seriously, I agree about using Terro or Borax. I've never had ants in my basement, but we get them in our living room in the spring some years. I usually try to find out where they are getting into our house, usually some tiny crack in the brickwork near a window, and put the bait on that trail. Sometimes that works, and sometimes I just have to wait a few weeks, when they stop coming in.
 
Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
I have enough of a hard time forcing myself into the fishroom in the spring. I always want to be outside on the bike or motorcycle.
I get myself into the mood to work in there early in the morning and then have to fight ants. It discourages me from staying in there very long. Plus some of the poisons seem to bother me some. I cant be around it very long. Start to itch. LOl

 
chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
I had that problem in our old house. They'd come in one side of the kitchen, cross the room, go through the family room, and up under one of my tanks.

I got some ant bait gel (Advion) on Amazon. It worked wonders but I don't have furry pets to worry about or kids. I was just very careful to keep it away from the tanks and wash my hands after putting it out. You may have to investigate to find out if they are attracted to protein or sugar and adjust which bait you use...the package should tell you which it attracts.

For giggles, smoosh an ant and see if it smells like blue cheese. seriously. Do it. If they smell like blue cheese, you have the very common odorous house ant, Tapinoma sessile.

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/crushed-ants-smell-blue-cheese-and-pi-coladas-gone-bad
 
lkelly

lkelly

Members
Pat Kelly said:
I have enough of a hard time forcing myself into the fishroom in the spring. I always want to be outside on the bike or motorcycle.
I get myself into the mood to work in there early in the morning and then have to fight ants. It discourages me from staying in there very long. Plus some of the poisons seem to bother me some. I cant be around it very long. Start to itch. LOl

Click to expand...

Additional advice - I would suggest NOT using this to kill them.

IMG_1797_zpsjomf8yiw.jpg
 
xny89

xny89

CCA Members
+1 on the borax mixture with sugar and peanut butter (I've also used a little cat/dog food instead of peanut butter for the protein) . mix it all up and leave it in the middle of their trail, and after several days, they should slow down and eventually disappear. Not good if you have cats/dogs etc that may get into it. I usually put mine in soda bottle caps and have to be a little patient for them to bring it back to the nest.
 
A

AndyNarwhal

Members
When we first moved into the house we had a battle with carpenter ants. Nothing we tried worked.

Ended up calling Terminix and haven't seen one since. They come out once a quarter. We still see spiders but I can't say we have had an ant or wasp anywhere in the house or porch since then.
 
IndianaSam

IndianaSam

CCA Members
Hi Pat,

I currently have the same problem with one tank; ants are living under the light strip on the glass hood.

Twice a week I just remove the top and wash the ants and larvae into a tank with fish that will eat them! Free food! Interestingly enough, some always come back to replace them and lay more eggs. I'm interested to see just how long this will go on.

Sam
 
Hannibal

Hannibal

Members
I had this happen to me for the first time. I kept noticing ants on my corner tank and couldn't figure out where they were coming from. I lifted up the cover and they were living on the rim of the tank and under my HOB filters. I swept a number of them into the tank and put an ant trap on the lid of the tank, they were all gone in a day or two.
 
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