There have been some small black flies around my house lately and I have wondered where they are coming from.

I pull open my filter boxes and there are tons of flies all stuck in the cartridge, mostly dead thank God, but eeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I found out today. I know they didn't start out in there and that it is a natural place for flies but....

Has anyone else ever had this happen and what can I do about it? I am confident anough in my cycle to remove the cartridges and still have enough bacteria, but please, tell me some way this will never, ever happen again.

LOL, sorry Jen~! It's happened to me before too, years ago. I've gotten them in potted houseplants too. It's pretty irritating. I can't remember what I did exactly, but maybe salt would kill off the larval stage? Or some sort of parasite killer, like Jungle Parasite Clear?

I don't see any larvae in there, but maybe they are too small. I think I'll see what happens with changing the cartridges, and then if they are still in there I will use some salt. Eeeeuuuuw!

LOL, the fish probably love them, but I still think they are gross!

I did find a few larvae, eeuuw, eeuuw, eeuw!

I got all new cartridges in, so the floss is all brand new, and that is where most of them were. I did not open the media baskets, partly out of fear and partly because I don't like to mess with them.

I have learned that in my situation I need to change my filter floss more often, not just rinse it but replace it!

Cross your fingers for me that the flies are gone.

i thiiiink i know your problwm do you have any animal with fur?

I do! I have two cats...could they be from them? They have had a light case of fleas a few times (they are indoor only), but not in the last two years. I should try and take a picture of the flies, they are really small and black with brownish wings.

Thanks!

ewww.... I had a similiar problem this summer but with moths in my QT tank filter ick but not as bad as little black flys , I had salt in the tank and the suckers still lived I ended up using Potassium permanganate to kill them off, it killed off my cycle too but since it was the QT tank and I was doing huge water changes everyday anyway I don't think that was a huge deal. ooo just had a thought could they be fruit flies? Do you feed a lot of veggies and fruits? Maybe some left over veg. matter got in your filter and attracted fruit flies.

Ew, gross... I've had that happened in a potted plant. Thank goodness it didn't go into my filters!!!

Now I'm paranoid... I don't want little flies living in my new place.

do you have a cover over your filter? i do and i never had problems.

Whoever said fruit flies could be correct, they have a taste for just about anything "organically processed" AKA digested fish food, hehe.

They're definetly not fleas, fleas don't have wings.

Here Jen, look at this link.....

Jen's gonna vomit because she has flies, HAHAHA!!!

i have yet to experience the lil black flies in or around tank area I hope i never experience it either or i would definitely be grossed out would definitely be puking all over flie are the forst thing i hate mosquitoes are the second insect i hate

EW!!! I hope I never get that problem as well. That would be so disgusting! Good luck with that Jen.

I had some little black flies in my big tank in the kichen one year. They were definately NOT fruit flies - they were larger - very dark and kind of triangular looking with the wings when they are mature and tiny and wet green when immature.

I fought them for over a year - through the dry, cold winter they loved the warm humid filters and thrived.

I honestly do not know what killed them off - I covered the filters with tight lids and I think all my salt and PRazi treatments for Rocky eventually got them, too.

Hang in there - they can be defeated. Yucky things. Ewwwwwwhhhh......

I have not seen any since pulling out all of the cartridges, but I know that doesn't mean they are gone! I am going to wait a few weeks and see what happens before adding anything to the tank, and maybe I will be lucky and have stopped them in time...we shall see!

Thanks for all the advice!