Nightmare with Bed bugs

M

mypepper

New member
You ask what the title of Nightmare with Bed Bugs have to do with this forum and here's the short story.

My poor wife has been itching and going to the dermatologist for the past five months without no results. Besides my wife, the rest of the household of 3 adults have bee having the same problem for about a month now.

Called Orkin Pest Control yesterday and they have found evidence of bed bugs so they are coming out tomorrow to perform a full heat treatment to our house.

Since they are going to bring the temp up 130 degrees in the entire house for at least 6 hours, I have to take down my 90 gallon reef tank today and re-set the tank in the garage.

Talk about a pain in the rear and with the cost of the treatment, $3,300.00, there goes my new plan for a larger tank this year.

On the bright side, hopefully the bed bugs will be gone and for those that have not experienced this problem, it's a total nightmare.

I have all the new Rubbermaid 44 gal trash cans ready to go, bought extra heaters, have ample spare power heads and have been making extra RO/Salt Water for the temp move.

I'll keep you all posted on how the temp move and re-set up of the tank goes.

Randy
 
What a nightmare. This is a perfect opportunity to re-aquascape since you won't be getting a new tank this year. Good luck with the move.
 
that sounds like a nightmare!! hope you will have seen the last of the bugs when the treatment is done. do they give you a guarantee? at that price, i'd sure want one!

good luck!
 
I almost wonder if massive insulation around the tank and the purchase of a chiller if you don't already have one would be an option?
 
sit by your tank in your underoos and cold beer, ice chest and keep throwing ice in the tank?

Actually, my method for keeping my tank cool was freeze 2 liter bottles with water in them, and put them in the tank. (that way you aren't adding water)... so get about 50 of those ready to go :)


I think you'd need a beefy chiller to handle 130 degrees for 6 hours, not sure if it would be worth it, unless you sold it soon after.. buy used and sell right away?

So.. you could move your living things into the containers and set that up in the garage.. (They'll be fine for 6-8 hours, many fish and corals are shipped in boxes for 24+ hours) then after the treatment change any remaining water in your aquarium. re-acclimate fish to new tank water... I wouldn't tear down the whole tank, and I wouldn't remove any live rock that didn't have corals on it.
 
On man that stinks. Just read about how bed bugs were making a comeback in the U.S. after essentially being totally eradicated for decades in the good old DDT days. It's back now thanks to open borders and so much travel. Several hotels in the area have had to close for days while being treated. Those things hitch hike in on travelers luggage.

Is 130F safe for a house? I can imagine canned goods exploding, refrigerators breaking and the glue in furniture & some plastics melting. Heck I'm womdering if the silicone seals on the tank can hold up. BTW no hobby chiller could pull down 50F.
 
On the bright side, if you were thinking of upgrading, you would have had to take down the old tank anyway. You are just making space for the new tank sooner. ;)
 
Oh man, bedbugs are my worst nightmare. It's always in the back of my mind every time I stay at a hotel.
 
I found one crawling on me in a hotel once... Everything including the suitcase and the undies i was wearing went into the dumpster. Sorry to hear. Make sure to wrap the beds in plastic and on top of that i would move the beds from the walls and on top of plastic sheeting.

Make it hard for any survivors to get to a feeding zone.
 
jrp1588 said:
Oh man, bedbugs are my worst nightmare. It's always in the back of my mind every time I stay at a hotel.
Click to expand...

+1

I always religiously search the rooms I'm staying in, I've had to leave a hotel at midnight due to finding some!

Best of luck with the tank, AND your bed bug problem!
 
Reef Frog said:
On man that stinks. Just read about how bed bugs were making a comeback in the U.S. after essentially being totally eradicated for decades in the good old DDT days. It's back now thanks to open borders and so much travel. Several hotels in the area have had to close for days while being treated. Those things hitch hike in on travelers luggage.
Click to expand...

Actually, they began making a comeback with the advent and widespread use of bait stations to control cockroaches. Previous cockroach control methods inadvertently targeted bed bugs--an example of a goon non-target effect.

Heat is the only sure way to rid the infestation--provided it is done correctly. Otherwise you'd have to move and replace everything you own--including the shirt on your back if the infestation was bad enough (I've seen it this bad among third country nationals in Iraq working at dining facilities--actually had bed bugs under their shirt collars in the food line).

Did you ever notice little brown spots on your bed sheets? If you want to avoid getting them again then check the bed in every hotel you go to before setting your stuff down. If you look at the corners of the mattress where the fabric is sown and there are creases you will usually find them or see the little brown spots that indicate presence. They hide in any crevice they can find that is close to the feeding site and will wander in search of a host/hiding place--getting into your luggage.

They usually poop while feeding and while crawling back to their hiding spots. This is what the brown spots are.

Make sure there is a guarantee. If even one spot does not reach the treatment temp for a long enough period of time they can survive the treatment (such as a crack in the wall where they got in and invaded holes deep in the stud work--they will move to a better area as temps rise too).
 
Ok...tank is down after a process of 7 hours, fish are in their own 44 gal Rubbermaid container along with, heater, power head and airstone. Corals and live rock have the same setup. Feed fishes last night and the ate good. Forgot to mention, I'm using my spare Kessel 150 to give light to the fish.

Since the tank is down at this time, I'm going to take the opportunity to remove all my scratches with the tank. With having sugar size sand and 2 tangs, the acrylic will have scratches regardless on much care you take. I'm also replacing the sand bed with a more course sand this time around.

As for the heat treatment for bed buds, Orkin is coming at 8 am pst to start the treatment. All Dvd's, pictures or items that are extremely sensitive to high heat must be removed. All of our TV'S and home surrounded system will be covered with a heat blanket. We also had to take all our mini blinds as well. Thank goodness we purchased a large Tuff Shed last year, which was well worth the cost. The whole process is very stressful, costly and just a pain in the butt. To add all this, my wife lost her mother last month, which doesn't help matters.

In the end, we should be bed bug free and we'll as any other bugs in the house, plus I'll have a new looking fish tank.

Our mental fortitude is being tested to the limit right now, but in the end, we'll be just fine.

I'll give more updates later on in the day.

Randy
 
Good luck w/ everything, at least you're taking care of the problem the correct way, and you all will not have to worry about it--that will be a nice de-stressor.
 
QUOTE:
Actually, they began making a comeback with the advent and widespread use of bait stations to control cockroaches. Previous cockroach control methods inadvertently targeted bed bugs--an example of a goon non-target effect
-----------------

It seems they were considered eradicated in much of the developed world by the 1940's. DDT, malathon & other pesticides were used then. Of course DDT is banned now and it seems the insects have built up an evolutionary immunity to the other pesticides that worked at one time. There are pesticides that probably work but they are not safe for indoor use and therefore are banned.

Yes, heat is the only approved way of killing them. Apparently 115F will do the trick but a higher temperature would give an extra margin of efficiency. Best of luck to the OP.
 
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