# How to safeguard tanks during pest control treatment ?



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

We have a new landlord, who will no doubt be doing pest control one of these days.. if they spray, or use puffer dusts, how do I protect my fish tanks from whatever they are using ? 

I assume the best thing to cover the tanks with would be plastic sheeting, but just draped or taped down ? Should I turn off the filters ? Leave the air stones running or turn them off too ?.. It would be about four hours or so, if they spray, or use puffer dusts, they make you leave for about that length of time.. is a five G tank with shrimp going to be ok covered with no fresh air and maybe no circulation for four hours ?

Other tanks are 30 G.. they'd be ok I think, for four hours, but should the filters be turned off or left on ? One has an internal pump, I could leave that on for circulation.

The spray is mainly in kitchen and bathroom cupboards, but because the darn bugs are attracted to moisture, I see them around the tanks sometimes. I'd like them to spray under the big shelf the tanks are on and under the ratty carpet I plan to dispose of very soon, because it hangs onto dampness. I'd put down plastic sheet to protect what is left of the parquet wood flooring, which is so old it has been popping up all by itself everywhere for years now, with no help from me, or my tanks, which have only been here six months at most. Is spraying right under the tank shelf just asking for trouble ?

Anybody had experience with this ?


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## mousey (Mar 28, 2011)

last year when we got sprayed for carpenter ants in the house i moved the fish all into the kitchen and the guy only did the upstairs. Said the fish should be ok doing the routine you describe with the filters off but he finally refused to spray the kitchen because he couldn't guarantee that the fish would be 100% ok. I was told that if i did no filters and lights out they should be ok for 4-5 hours. The spray we had was an oil base and the guys who came in 4 hours later did complain that there was still residual spray on the wood where they had to replace windows.
I guess all we can do is take due precautions and hope for the best when all is said and done.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Well, at least that's a bit more than I knew before. If they do it while the weather is still warm, I could put the small tanks out on the balcony, I suppose, covered and shaded... have to take some water out to reduce the slopover. Big tanks I guess I cover and turn off the filters and hope for the best. If they are trying to do it right, they'll wait for freezing weather though.. that way nothing escapes outside to come back in later on.. except the mice of course . I cannot WAIT for the day I finally can move out of this place. Been here nearly 25 years and have hated it since I saw the first roach run out from under the tap my first morning here. Up 'til then, hadn't ever seen one. sigh. It's dirt cheap and on a pension, that's kind of crucial.


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## splur (May 11, 2011)

You can also wrap the top with some sort of plastic, just be careful when taking it back off and how long you keep it on for.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I was thinking a big plastic painting drop sheet. I'd get a new one.. and just cover the entire shelf and all the tanks, after I turn off the lights and filters and such. Wish they all had pumps, for circulation but only one has a pump.. I don't know if running air stones is a good idea or not in terms of keeping pesticide out, but it would help keep the air exchange going.


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

No matter which way you go, I'd definitely make sure to throw in lots o' activated carbon in the filters to handle any chemicals that find their way in the water. 

I don't know what the size / quantity of your fish is, but reading from your situation, the balcony idea seems the safest, even if you have to make a 'tent' of plastic sheeting and put a space heater beneath (if it was done in the midst of winter). There would be a fire hazard risk though, if employing that method. As lawyers say, 'govern yourself accordingly'. 

Worst case scenario, I'd seal the tanks airtight and run two airline tubes from each aquarium (one for ventilation, one for bubbler), and put a pump outside to bring in uncontaminated air into the aquarium. Towards that end, if you use a sponge filter or cheap box filter, it would not only provide O2 but also a small degree of filtration during the time the tank is sealed airtight. You'd need to make sure that the pumps are powerful, and can push the air thru the long stretch of tubing that you'd need, and also, to be safe, I'd leave the tanks airtight for atleast a day just to lower the chances of the chemicals still being airborne.

Hope this helps.

Al.


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## splur (May 11, 2011)

Fishfur said:


> I was thinking a big plastic painting drop sheet. I'd get a new one.. and just cover the entire shelf and all the tanks, after I turn off the lights and filters and such. Wish they all had pumps, for circulation but only one has a pump.. I don't know if running air stones is a good idea or not in terms of keeping pesticide out, but it would help keep the air exchange going.


No, the airstone is actually the worst out of all of them. You may be able to get away with using a canister filter as it is an enclosed system. Airstone takes air from the room into the tank. The only safe way I could see that you could use an airstone is to have the air pump outside safely away from the pest spray and have an airline going all the way to the tank. Even after the house has been sprayed and you've waited a couple hours, the air pump would be the last thing I would turn on. I'd even wait a day or two. Also remove the air pump from the room, maybe put it in your car, to avoid contaminating it.


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

splur said:


> No, the airstone is actually the worst out of all of them...


Sorry, I guess my post wasn't clear enough. I meant running an airline from the balcony, not from within the room (which would defeat the purpose of sealing it in the first place). Atleast that's what I would do if moving the tank/livestock was not an option, so that uncontaminated air can go into the tank, and since its sealed airtight, the air around the room cannot enter the tank.

Al.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I have a 5 G tank full of Amano and Snowball and baby Ghost shrimp, another 5G QT, with far too many fish in it, who are due to be transferred gradually into my new 30G tank soon as it is cycled.. it's taking longer than I'd hoped it would. Then I have my first 30G with four species of shrimp, several fish & snails, plus the new tank which has nothing but a ton of plants and 3 snails in it. I used a lot of old media in the new tank and thought it had cycled enough to start gradually adding in livestock, hence the snails... but a couple days later I got a very low nitrite reading, so it's not cycled yet. I'll remove the snails and do a WC.. so that tank won't be such a problem during pest control, it will only need an airstone, though I plan to add a sponge filter to it as well. Likely have that in next week.

Putting the pumps outside is a great idea, and very doable, much more doable than moving the small tanks outside, especially if it's cold when they do the treatment. I have two big pumps, so pushing air through a long hose is not going to be a big problem. 

I can seal the tanks with plastic sheet and tape, after I shut down the HOB's, and while I would have covered the pumps up with the plastic sheeting, I would not have thought to remove them from the apartment, so my thanks for that suggestion.. it's a good one. I also would not have thought to load up the filters with carbon.. I don't use it much, but I have some, so I can do that too,again, thanks, also a great suggestion.

The spray is typically dry after the four hours or so.. but if I can take off the plastic on the tanks later in the day, it's probably just as well to leave the long hoses running to the pumps on the balcony until the next day.. really rather be safe than sorry.

It would be quite easy to put both air pumps outside, & then run as long hoses as I need to the sponge filters and air stones. I got tired of buying air hose one hank at a time, so I bought a 500 foot spool of it. Long hoses won't be a problem .

Many thanks for the excellent suggestions.. much appreciated. Hopefully everybody survives the experience.. it's a wretched job just to clear out the cupboards and whatnot.. I've never had to deal with keeping aquaria safe before. If I am very lucky, perhaps they will not spray at all.. and use that gel stuff that does not cause the toxicity problems the spray can. I can but hope.


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

Fishfur said:


> ...it's a wretched job just to clear out the cupboards and whatnot.. I've never had to deal with keeping aquaria safe before. If I am very lucky, perhaps they will not spray at all.. and use that gel stuff that does not cause the toxicity problems the spray can. I can but hope.


Better to have a contingency plan in place, as opposed to scrambling when it happens. Besides, as with all issues, when one member is faced with an issue, all of us benefit from the collective brainstorming, so we're all the recipients of your awareness and fore planning. 

Al


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

That's a good point Mlevi. And because this landlord hasn't been here long, I have no way to know whether they will give me decent notice or not. The rules governing notice say only a minimum of 24 hours must be given.. nothing says they have to give you enough to actually have the time to do it properly. 

And I cannot be the only person living in a place where pest control measures need to be taken, and while I have no idea when they will get around to doing it, I know they will, at some point. Seems to be a fairly standard practice when a new landlord takes over. This is my fourth landlord in about 23 years here.. the place keeps getting sold because it has problems nobody wants to spend the money to repair. The last landlord did pest control one time shortly after taking over, then never again, over ten years of no control ! Only if you kvetched continually would you get any treatment done in your own unit, and then only in the units immediately around your own, not the building as a whole and this practice does not work at all. It merely inconveniences a few bugs for awhile. If control is practiced regularly, the gel works very well. No need to clear cupboards, for one and simply does not pose the toxicity problems that sprays do, because the gel never becomes airborne. But once the problems are out of control, the sprays are more effective for knocking populations back to manageable levels quickly, but at a huge inconvenience for every tenant. I knew nothing about pest control when I moved in here.. but I have had to learn. Know one's enemy !

I really do appreciate the suggestions.. I think when the time comes I have a good shot at not losing any of my livestock because of treatment being done.


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## arc (Mar 11, 2010)

A friend had has house sprayed for bed bugs last summer using some seriously strong chemicals(Restaurant contact). He protected the tanks by sealing it with tape and plastic bags. The goldfish did fine but anything that was an invert died. All snails and 200+ cherry shrimps just dropped dead. These are the bullet proof ones that survived 30C+ temperature and breed. The worse thing is that even after washing the tanks and restarting it, no inverts survived more than a few days so we assumed there was some trace residuals. Good news is that bed bugs never came back 

If you can get some lead time regarding the pest control, you could have a friend to house any inverts for you for a few days or weeks. Just on the safe side though, I don't think you will encounter the same type of chemicals required for bed bugs.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Yikes, that's depressing. Though I'm glad you thought to mention this. Poor guy, he lost ALL the inverts ? that sucks !. I have quite a few inverts. Snails, various species of shrimp, two species of clams, all FW. I'd HATE to lose them.. some are not so easy to replace, never mind the expense. I should find out from my insurance if I have any coverage for something like this. Catching all the shrimp would be a very time consuming job and stress the poor things out badly.

But fortunately, we don't have bedbugs.. I keep praying that remains true, as they are spreading fast in the GTA. Seems the very latest method for treating them is quite successful and completely non toxic, but very time consuming, and sadly, almost as bad for aquariums.. you'd have to remove your tanks or have a very efficient chiller running throughout the process. They use high heat. Once the desired heat level is reached, it is left for about 24 hours, but there is also the time to achieve the needed heat level plus the cool down time afterward. They heat things to, I think ?, [ easy enough to look it up, I'm sure ] 125 F.. until the heat penetrates right through the walls and foundations. It's not hot enough to melt much other than perhaps your soap and candles, but it's certainly hot enough to wipe out an aquarium. I know the only chemicals that work on bedbugs now are extremely toxic.. the wretched things have become completely resistant to everything that used to work on them. Roaches have also become resistant, but to a lesser degree. But at least they don't bite.. they are just dirty and creepy.

But you made me think, and I thank you for that... if they do spray here, heaven only knows how toxic modern roach spray is now compared to what they were using over ten years ago.

I will have to find out exactly what they plan to do and what they plan to use. I think I'd better call a pest control company and ask them what they recommend for their clients. It must be a common question for them.

Catching the snails and clams is no big deal, but shrimp are another story. But if I must, I must. Hopefully I can find someone to take them for a week or so. I have a spare 30 G tank that's not set up, could be used as temporary housing for them all.. I'd just switch the filters from one of the 30s to the spare and only fill it enough with tank water to keep them wet during the move it, then fill it with the rest of the tank water, and then reverse the process when I bring them back. Meantime, I'd have to seal the tanks that stay here air tight, using double layers of plastic and lots of tape to try to make sure they don't get contaminated by any spray. I can put sheets over the plastic layers too. I think sheets or even towels would absorb most anything that might be floating around and could be taken outside and bagged up, to be washed later, before any plastic layer was removed. I hope that running the air from outside to the sealed tanks would keep the fish alive, and I can always use a lot of tape to seal up the air hose entry points.

This is looking more and more like a seriously big job to have to deal with.. perhaps fate will smile on me and let me win that lottery so I can move out before I have to deal with this ? Nah... not a prayer, right ?


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## df001 (Nov 13, 2007)

talk to the landlord - express your concern and get rthe contact info for the company doing the application. If i'm not mistaken they're required to provide the MSDS of the products used if requested.

once you know what they're using, you'll know how to proceed, whether removal to a temp site, or covering them etc will be ok.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

That is a great idea.. I didn't think of it because my relationship with the previous landlord was dreadful. They ignored all attempts to communicate, no matter what I did or said and gave next to no notice when they had to do stuff they couldn't let go.. such as flooding pipes. 

The new landlord has only owned the place since the end of July.. so I've not had a chance to get to know anybody.. nor how they deal with their tenants. Guess this is as good a reason as I'll get to try to start off on a good note.


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