Ants In Tank

[mom23]

It's a 150 gallon tank with tons of molters.

[CallaLily]

If you think they've definitely moved in, I would deep clean. Stinks with a large tank, I know. But that's just my opinion. Someone else may feel differently or have other ideas.

[mom23]

How would I go about that with so many crabs? And molters?

[StarWarsHermitCrab]

Oh...Um... I'm sorry, I honestly don't know what you should do.
Maybe wodesorel can help.

[CallaLily]

How many are down? Maybe just keep collecting the ants the way you have been until more crabs come up. Are you sure the ants have colonized the tank? If you've caught it soon enough, you may be just fine doing what you're doing.

This year, I had put vaseline around my 75 but hadn't gotten to it yet with the 40. When I noticed ants trailing in I did what I first suggested to you. Next day, I saw more ants inside and knew they couldn't have gotten over the vaseline so I went poking around a little. They had started making house inside a hollow resin log! I was able to wash them out of it and scoop/smoosh the rest. So in the end I didn't have to dig.

If you can avoid deep cleaning, at least until more or all crabs are up, it probably be best/easiest.

When I have deep cleaned, I always try to wait for all or most crabs to be up. Then I carefully dig down on one side all the way to the bottom. Then carefully remove substrate coming from the side, that way you can usually notice their caves without disturbing them much. Have ISOs ready.

[CallaLily]

Are you sure the ants have colonized the tank?

Wanted to add that one way to tell, is if you find and disturb their nest, you will see ants moving their larvae. I've seen this in potted plants as I've watered them (which of course you can't flood the tank) but also that day I moved the hollow resin log. Can you follow the trail of ants from the dish of honey to where ever they're coming from? Then carefully poke around the substrate there to see what you find? Just thinking out loud here.

And here's the "official" HCA recommendations for ants.

Ants
Ants are sometimes attracted by the food in the crabitat. To get rid of them, it’s best to find ut where they get in the house and seal their entrance. Applying a thick layer of vaseline around the top of the crabitat might help, but some ants can walk over that or build bridges. Small crabitats can be put on a baking tray filled with water. There is a type of poison that gets carried back to the nest and then fed to the queen and offspring, so that the whole ant colony will died out, this can be put down outside the crabitat. Many ants stay away from plants like garlic, but since those can also harm the crabs, they shouldn’t be used around the crabitat. It’s always useful to find out the exact species to be able to offer an attractive bait for the ants.

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=92537

Doesn't seem to cover if ants have actually taken up residence in your crabitat though.

[mom23]

Calla you are a genius! When John got home we started checking the cork pieces and we found them!!! We removed the cork which held a TON of ants. We've removed the surrounding substrate (even lightly vacuumed the surface) and we are baking all of the cork pieces right now. John said he did see some carrying white things like you mentioned. I think we caught them by surprise and we were quick about it so I'm praying this helps. We are baiting with honey now to see what we can draw out. What do you think I should do now???


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[mom23]

Also what are your recommendations for heat/length of time to bake the cork to ensure any ants (eggs) are dead?


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[CallaLily]

I'm glad you were able to find them! I'm not sure about baking times or temps. From a quick search I see 300F recommended a few times. Keep a close eye on it. Maybe someone who has a better idea of baking temp/times will chime in soon. I haven't ever baked branches. After I think I would just keep a close eye out to make sure you've got them all.

[mom23]

We got the cork baked and checked it carefully and put it back in the tank. So far we've squished a few stragglers, but I'm cautiously optimistic that the worst is behind us. I might have ant nightmares now after seeing them run out of the cork, but my son thought it was awesome.

[CallaLily]

Yay! It's amazing how quickly they show up like that and in such numbers. Fingers crossed!

[StarWarsHermitCrab]

I'm glad to see that you got the ant problem under control.

[mom23]

Thanks. So far so good. I'm hoping I avoided a catastrophe.

[soilentgringa]

I honestly think I would have preferred ants to the german roaches we got in the tote tat. It was sitting on the floor under the main tank and since we weren't using it, just full of sub. I opened the top and a scary movie swarmed out! I dragged that thing outside, off the patio and dumped it over by the tree. It was bad enough that the neighbor's fire caused us to be invaded but the crab tanks too!

[CallaLily]

Ack! Hope you got those under control. Though the crabs probably found them a tasty snack if they could have caught them. (or at least I imagine they would. I know other roach species are used as feeders for some reptiles)