The Puffer Forum

My apartment is under a constant invasion of silverfish, and after berating the apartment maintenance staff over properly dusting the building, I realize I am left to my own devices.

I recently bought one of those Hot Shot brand "No Pest Strips" from Walmart to try and remedy the situation. It releases a chemical over the course of 4 months in an airisoll form. Its supposed to kill most all crawling/flying insects, including the silverfish which plague the building.

Then it occurred to me:

I keep crickets in the house.
I feed the crickets to my fish.
My fish are in the same room as the strip.

Has anyone had experience with fish getting sick/dieing from these pesticide strips?

I wouldnt try it. Better safe then sorry. would the caulking like bait pesticide not work?

Bcummings8521 wrote:I wouldnt try it. Better safe then sorry. would the caulking like bait pesticide not work?

Baits only work when used in attics/crawl spaces with silverfish, based on my reading. Since they mostly live in crawl spaces and in walls there is little I can do which will keep them out of my apartment. When I asked the staff about it, all they did was spray the border stuff around on the baseboards and left. It seems like they're hoping for a placebo effect since that won't do much of anything.

I decided to put the strip back in its package and return it to the store tomorrow. It seems like these things are excellent at killing crickets, and since they';re my only puffer food option I need to keep them alive.

at the moment you only feed crickets? wow... I wish I could get away with that

Silver fish thrive in warm and humid environments. I had them in my dorm room and once I cut back on the heat and humidity I never saw them again. Perhaps you can keep your place cooler and get a dehumidifier.

Is it just a sticky strip? or does it give off fumes? I would think that if it didnt give off fumes that could mix with the water you would be fine

It works by giving off fumes.

Also, my apartment is kept pretty cool and dry. I cant say the same for the crawlspace above me and wall cavities, though.

J-P, why cant you keep crickets? I used to breed snails when I lived with my parents but they do terrible in the water here. Not to mention the smell.

I think having that pest strip is a bad idea, not only because you are feeding the crickets to your fish, but also because the substance can "fall" into the tank water and poison your fish.

Are you saying that you only feed crickets to your puffers? If that's the case, I think you should start giving them a more varied diet, crickets are okay every now and then, but they aren't as much a natural part of their diet as say shrimp and mussels, and other foods.

Crickets are their staple. I also occasionally feed them blood worms once a week.

The crickets are fed a tropical fish flake high in vitamin C. They should have plenty of nutrients, and are crunchy enough to keep the puffs' teeth in check.

I give crickets slices of oranges to feed & water them.

I'm not so sure that crickets are enough to keep a puffer's teeth in check. Sorry, but I feed crickets to my chameleons and they just don't seem that tough to me.

I've been feeding my puffs nothing crunchier than crickets for over a year now and their teeth are just below the lip line. In fact because the crickets are easier for them to fit in their mouth I almost seems as though their teeth are better now than they were when they mostly ate ramshorn snails.

I tried some insects for my SAPs and they won't touch them. Crickets, grasshoppers, moths... all a no go. They're just too picky.

Either way, aerosol anything should not be used around any fish tank. I'm not sure i'd even want to breath that. A well rounded diet will always be better too.

jdak wrote:Either way, aerosol anything should not be used around any fish tank. I'm not sure i'd even want to breath that. A well rounded diet will always be better too.

Exactly