Black ant nest 😳

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Hello; According to this result of a search isopropyl alcohol is toxic to fish. A parts per million scale is given but i do not know how to apply such to using it as a spray on ants around the tank. A take is to not use it on equipment which might be used in the water. I did not read the entire link so am not sure if it leaves a residue. Maybe remove nets and such or continue with peroxide close to the tanks.
 
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Okay, I'm guessing here: if pupa are evident, then I don't think the queen is very far away. The queen is not very mobile, she just sits in place eating food brought to her by workers and laying eggs non-stop. The eggs are taken away by workers to nurseries where they hatch and the larvae are fed and cared for; logic would dictate that these nurseries would be in close proximity to the queen's location.

Once the larvae pupate, they are often moved around by the workers; this isn't a guess, it's very common to move a stone or log and find hundreds of pupae where there were none the day before. Immediately upon being revealed or disturbed, the workers begin snatching up pupae and rushing back into the depths of the nest with them. The workers seem to be moving the pupae to take advantage of optimum conditions of temperature and moisture to facilitate their development.

These pupae are what many people refer to as "eggs". Back when I was a kid, dried ant pupae were sold as turtle food and were labelled as "ant eggs".

So...if you are seeing workers moving pupae around in/on your sump or other areas near your aquarium, I'd bet serious money that the queen is very nearby. The ants are not schlepping those pupae into your house from a nest under the far corner of your detached garage; the eggs were laid and hatched, and the larvae raised, somewhere in the immediate vicinity.

TLDR: you have a bit-butt queen ant somewhere close to your tank/sump. She is an egg-producing machine that works non-stop. Trying to rid yourself of ants by killing the workers you see scurrying around does nothing to get rid of the nest; that queen has got to go. Expecting to solve an ant infestation by killing worker ants is like shovelling your driveway during a blizzard using a teaspoon. It's nothing but wasted feel-good effort.
 
Great info jjohnwm jjohnwm appreciate the insight mate!
I checked in the cabinet under the big tank this morning. There was a few solitary individuals walking around, looking lost and confused. No further evidence of workers carting pupae about. I have plans to tear the big tank down in the next month, so I think I’ll just keep an eye on things for now and reevaluate once I pull everything out of the cabinet, buff and repositioned the whole tank 🤙🏼
 
Hello; According to this result of a search isopropyl alcohol is toxic to fish. A parts per million scale is given but i do not know how to apply such to using it as a spray on ants around the tank.
I appreciate this additional info mate. I hadn’t had a chance to research it yet, so thank you! 🤙🏼
 
Hello; Ants are a pain. After i shut down my computer last night I went to the kitchen and found the tiny ants all around the sink and countertop. I had just an hour or so before opened a loaf of walnut bread from Kroger to eat a slice after supper. I put the remainder in a glass PYREX dish with a glass lid, but the ants are small enough to get in at the bread. So, I spent a couple hours dealing with that.
This means I have not found the way they get in or that the nest is already inside. I have set out some TORRO ant bait. This morning found a line comming and going from the bait to a space next to the dishwasher. I filled another spray bottle with alcohol and a second with a 50-50 mix of vinegar & water. I will leave the line alone and will spray the wanderers with the alcohol to kill them. I use the vinegar on countertop to hopefully erase scent trails away from the line of ants. The idea is to allow them free access to and from the nest and bait but discourage scouts from finding other forage spots.

I bought a new brand of ant bait (RAID) as my TORRO stuff is some years old. Have not deployed that yet. The bait idea is the workers will feed on it and take it back to feed the queen.

That the ants have moved the pupa is likely because you disturbed them. I tend to agree the queen could be close by. Back some 60+ years ago in my hometown I saw a column of black ants marching along the curb of a street behind my house. I followed the column for several hundred feet. No idea how many thousands of ants in that column. Just trying to point out a nest can be huge numbers.

Good luck for you and me. I sure miss eating that walnut bread.
 
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