Termites!!!

[goochesfish]

Was just told today I have termites in the house (only seen in my son's room upstairs actually). Anyone have experience with termite treatment and how it affected the reef? Do I have to break down my 1 y/o tank? I think I'd rather have the termites than to poison the whole house.

[davocean]

Depends on infestation, they may be able to locally treat by drill and inject the tunnels in sons room, so just depends on inspection and what they find.
If it's in sons room upstairs, could be only in attic, which is also local treat.
But even if they tent it will still be manageable.

[jonbry123]

Termites enter through the wood at the foundation so they are probably throught the house if you found them upstairs. If you have a professional come in make sure they don't use any kind of insecticide that is airborn otherwise you should be safe.

[OneReef]

One day the bug spray man came. My wife forgot to tell him not to spray my tank room. He sprayed all around my tank. When I got home that night, there was white stringy stuff all over the tank, and all the corals were sliming. White stuff all over the walls. Cloudy water. Looked terrible. I thought it was going to nuke my tank. I did a quick big water change, and a few says later it cleared up and ended up being ok. But that was a nervous couple of days.

[GlassReef]

A fellow in our club (TBRC), here in the Tampa area, had to have his house gassed for termites. First he enclosed the entire tank in 3mil plastic sheeting, then he put the whole thing under pressure by pumping air into the "bag" from outside. He also had an escape line, of course. He says it worked perfectly - he had no losses, at all.

[niftyjosh]

My house was built in the 30's and we get them nasty termites every late summer/early fall. Every year, it is in the same spot (happens to be the room the tank is in) even though all of the eaten wood is replaced. About 2 weeks ago, my mother-in-law told me the exterminator was going to be here in 20 mins to bomb the location and I went into panic mode. I knew I had to seal the tank but my options were limited, I ended up using plastic wrap and sealed the seams with electrictions splicing tape ( I did 3 layers because I knew some plastic wrap was porous). I used an airstone and pump to supply fresh 02 (out the window about 30ft away from the house) and a vent line which I tied in a knot (to provided positive pressure) and also put that out the window.

End result was that everything was fine. The exterminator said it would only take about 12 hours for all fumes to dissipate but I left everything on for about 24 hours to be on the safe side.

note- I did remove the lighting and left my powerhead and skimmer on

[davocean]

Termites enter through the wood at the foundation so they are probably throught the house if you found them upstairs. If you have a professional come in make sure they don't use any kind of insecticide that is airborn otherwise you should be safe.

That would be subterranian termites only, and more common are drywoods.
I guess I should mention I was an inspector years ago.
If tenting is needed then yes, turn off pumps that intro air from out of tank, just run a PH or 2, turn off skimmer/lights, and cover w/ plastic, tape it off.

[goochesfish]

Thanks for all the responses. I'm told they're drywood termites but am in the process of lining up estimates. It doesn't sound like it would be too much of an ordeal. I was really afraid I'd lose all livestock.

[davocean]

Just do yourself a favor and don't go for either microwave or freezing techniques, they don't work, sales gimmicks.