# Ants! ANTS! ANTS Everywhere! Help!!



## PSREED

I have been invaded! I have a serious ant problem in my fishroom. 
The ants are in fish tank powerhead filters, around and under the hoods and lights! These little things seem to be everywhere! Please let me know what you use to kill ants around the fish tanks. I do not want to use "Raid" for fear it will get into the tanks and filters and kill my fish.

Thankfully they are the non-biting ants. Or at least they are so far. I have been going crazy killing them with a rag and my fingers. There are too many to keep up.

Please give me your suggestions and help ASAP!!
Thanks! Pete


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## Ravenatnm

Can you get one of these from your zoo for a couple days?









J/K


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## Ravenatnm

Could you try some of those sticky fly strips?


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## herb

I think diatomaceous earth will kill them, in a powder form, you can sprinkle it around the room, it will kill them. and it is not toxic.

herb


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## Cook.MN

I'm having an ant problem too...go figure eh?

I have cats and dogs and I'm unsure what to use around them...


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## PSREED

Where can I buy some diatomaceous earth? I am ready to try anything at this point. I would even love getting an anteater from the zoo. 
Pete


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## crabs

you can get D. Earth from a pool shop.

There is some stuff you get in a little white bottle, thinks its called ant rid. You put a few drops of it around and the ants pick it up and take it back to the nest and it kills them all.

Because its only a few drops around the place it shouldnt get into your tank, plus you are not going to have to spread D.Earth around everywhere... give it a try.


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## SOLOSHOOTER

If you have ants in one room, I would assume you have them through-out the house. I would address the problem one the outside of the house first. Apply a barrier of pesticide around the outside parimeter of the house. Place a couple of ant traps in each room of the house. If problem persists call a pest control company. What you need to do is apply a pest control powder so the critter can take the poison to the nest and infect the rest of your pests.

I had a problem with black ants. Needed to call a pest control (Orkin) cost me approx. $600 for a years worth of treatments but afterwards no ants.

I've never heard on diatom filter power being a poison to kill ants. If that were the case how can we use it to filter your aquariums?


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## MalawiLover

Another good (mostly non-toxic) way to treat the ants is borax powder (the most popular brand is 20 Mule Team), you can find it in either the cleaning aisle or the laundry aisle. For some reason the ants will take it back to their nests to feed the colony, except it kills them instead. I would not put it anywhere it could go into the tanks, but it has no fumes and since it is granular, should be easy to see if you got it on your hand.

We have started using this method anywhere the dogs would be able to get to it. It doesn't seem to interest them like the ant bait stations do.


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## bell

we have a large carpenter ant colony within a few hundred feet of our house.....they never get in our basement so they didn't bother the fish, but we also have cats.
our exterminator came and did the diatomaceous earth stuff in some spots the cats couldn't get to and within 2 weeks the problem was gone. $600/year sounds outrageous for treatment imo, our guy charged us about $80 and came back twice to reapply......we did not use orkin.


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## MalawiLover

bell said:


> $600/year sounds outrageous for treatment imo, our guy charged us about $80 and came back twice to reapply......we did not use orkin.


It does matter a lot on where you live for the prices, and the type of ants. Carpenter ants (while huge and scarry) really only come into you home if you are on a migration trail (our kitchen in Connecticut was Grand Central Station for those guys for about two weeks every spring). Here in the DC area we get those annoyning little ants (some people call them grease ants since they always show up in the kitchen) and it can cost upwards of $1000-$1500 for a year long treatment plan. They come in when the weather starts to get warm in the spring (looking for water) and agin in the fall as it starts to get cold (before they hibernate). Last year an appointment for inspection and a single treatment was something like $140.


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## Deeda

Terro liquid ant bait also uses boric acid. It comes in drops or in trap form. I'm using it now in bathroom & basement for small ant problem. Seems to be doing its job. Its also safe around your pets.


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## bell

MalawiLover said:


> bell said:
> 
> 
> 
> $600/year sounds outrageous for treatment imo, our guy charged us about $80 and came back twice to reapply......we did not use orkin.
> 
> 
> 
> It does matter a lot on where you live for the prices, and the type of ants.
Click to expand...

i guess that makes sense 

my wife and i are moving to florida this summer.....can't wait to see what kind of little critters we get to deal with.......palmetto bugs suck


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## MalawiLover

bell said:


> my wife and i are moving to florida this summer.....can't wait to see what kind of little critters we get to deal with.......palmetto bugs suck


Remember never to try to kill a Florida bug by droping a brick or stone on it.....it only makes the bugs mad _and_ gives them a weapon.


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## peterl

Deeda said:


> Terro liquid ant bait also uses boric acid. It comes in drops or in trap form. I'm using it now in bathroom & basement for small ant problem. Seems to be doing its job. Its also safe around your pets.


Boric acid is supposed to work very well, BUT you should not use it if you have other pets (i.e. cats or dogs). I would also worry that ants might carry it into the tanks, too.


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## BillD

The normal way of using Borax is to mix it with sugar (50/50). The ants take the sugar coated with borax to their hill or nest, where it usually wipes out the colony. 
Diatomecious earth is not a poison, but kills insects by clogging their spiracles so they suffocate.
Ant traps should do the job in this case.


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## Shwaine

If you don't want to pay a professional, become an ant detective. Start observing outside the house for any points of entry they might be using. Fill in any holes you find. If you find the main nest, note where it is for baiting. Trap a few and view them under a microscope to identify species. This will help target any baits to that species. Get a bait for that species and apply it outside to the nest (if you found it) and around any points of entry you discovered.

For the ants still within the house, hopefully they aren't nesting in the walls. Vacuum up any you see. If you sealed all the entry cracks, you should notice the ants disappearing after a week or so. If they still seem to be streaming in, return to being an ant detective. Pay close mind to things like landscaping bushes that may be touching the side of the building and providing paths you didn't check before.

I had horrible ant problems when I first moved in here last year. After spending a couple weeks observing them, I found three gaps they were using to get in. So I baited around those areas and sealed the gaps. I've only had one indoor ant incident this spring and that was because there was a secondary crack next to one of the three I'd sealed that I hadn't noticed last year. Unfortunately, the ants are still in the yard because they are a species that form mega-colonies (many queens with all the workers able to go into any queen's nest freely) and my neighbors don't seem to be willing to work with me on an irradication plan. But the house has been reclaimed at least.


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## dogofwar

Grants for Ants traps have always worked greta for me. Takes a few days.


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## PSREED

I bought some ant traps and set them out and think the ant problem is over for the moment. Thanks for all your ideas and solutions. I wound up killing most of them by hand and setting up the traps in their path and now I only find a stray ants here and there.

Thanks again!


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