Flea bomb?

So my roomate's nasty cat brought fleas into our apartment and I personally have horrible reactions to fleas and am being eaten alive. The fleas have gotten to a point where I don't believe the carpet stuff is gonna do and I bought some flea bombs. However I didn't think about how this would affect my tanks or what I should do about them...

I have my twenty gallon long with a screen top with my two axies in it and another 5 gallon tank with my betta and two african dwarf frogs which has a top with a huge hole in it...I'm not sure what I should do for the tanks on the day that I set the bomb off? I could turn my mini fridge off and put the axies in there so they're closed in and the air/smoke from the bomb wont get to them..? I had the idea to put like a towel over the top of the tanks but I don't think that would do much...

any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

I'm not sure what you could do but I would definitely move them out of there for the duration. Maybe in smaller containers and then do a thorough water change when you get back (in addition to covering them with a towel, blankets, wood, and whatever else you have around).

Perhaps, in addition to moving the axolotls out (or maybe instead), you could put plastic over the tanks and tape it on carefully to seal it. If you have air pumps, I suggest turning them off and bagging them in plastic too.

Of course the logical thing would be to move the tanks out completely, but if that were a feasible option, I doubt you would have asked the question. Good luck! :happy:

The plastic is a great idea! I was thinking that maybe like a press and seal idea but tape it down... I think that's what I'm gonna have to do moving that big a tank somewhere is really out of the question and the weather is was too iffy to just move it outside... the five gallon I could move but if I'm gonna have to figure something out with the axies it'd just be easier to do the same with that one... thanks for your suggestions!

How cold is it outside? Axolotls like it cold (within reason), and it might be safer there (if properly protected from hungry critters) than inside with the flea bomb.

Oh this brings back horrid memories. Keep in mind that when this happened I was 16 and it was my first personal tank, so this was over 20 years ago. I had some beautiful long tailed comet goldfish that had gotten rather large and I was very proud of them. I took excellent care of them. My dog ended up bringing fleas in and we had to bomb the house. I was very thorough and encased the tank in plastic, sealed with tape and that sucker was air tight. It should have been fine, and what was recommended to me by the local fish store. But in our haste to get all the bombs set off and get out of the house the one thing I had left to do until the last minute, and which I forgot, was the final step of turning off the air pump. When we went back in and I saw it running I was horrified. I immediately did a full water change and cleaned the tank but the damage was done. Within a day they were bright red and stuft was sloughing off of them and they all died. It was horrific and I felt awful. After that I didn't keep any more fish for about 2 years, until I got a job in a fish department and got back into fish keeping. So now I'm super vigilant with tank parameters and being thorough.

Sealing your tank with plastic and tape is the best way to go short of moving it, just make sure you turn off any pumps and either seal them and the tubing in with the tank or put the pump somewhere where no poison can make its way into the tubing.

Thanks for sharing your story! I don't have an air pump but I do have an hob filter which i thought I would just leave on and make sure the plastic wrap went completely over the filter and enclose the cord? and I'm really concerned about leaving them outside in tupperware all day..I'm gonna be gone from 9-6 the day of the bomb (my roomates are gonna actually set it off and take care of it) and I also have a betta tank that I couldn't really do that with so I thought it'd be easier to just do the same thing to both of them..

Having read the previous story, I'd be nervous about leaving any air gaps at all, as flea bomb stuff must be good at getting into gaps to kill the fleas hiding therein. I'm concerned that it might not be easy to get a good seal around the cord. Perhaps you should unplug it and tuck the end of the cord totally inside the plastic.

If it is one of those bio-wheel type filters, you can just put the wheel in the tank to stay wet. Also, empty any water left in the filter and refill it with fresh tank water before restarting the filter.