I am no expert, but my guess is aphids. It seems like I recall having them on water lettuce in a water barrel at one time. I think I removed them and blasted them all off with water a few times and it took care of it. I hope this helps.

Aphids?

Happy ponding,
Scott

I dont think they are aphids...at least not any pictures I can find on the internet seem to match.

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A bunch scraped on to a paper plate

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Those are aphids alright.
Aphids

thank you....all the pictures I found of them had them kind of yellow looking

now how do I go about getting rid of them?

Aphids come in many colors. I often get them on my water lettuce. You can try mixing up some water and Ivory soap in a bowl, and dunking the leaves into it. Rinse well and keep out of the sun until it dries off. Repeat every few days for a week or so.

I mix up 1/8 cup rubbing alcohol, 1/8 cup hydrogen peroxide, 8 drops of phosphate free liquid dish soap, and then top off with enough water to make 2 pints of the mixture. Put in spray bottle, spray aphids on leaves until drenched, leave on 30 minutes, then thoroughly rinse. Do not do this in the sun- it can burn leaves- do early in morning or late in evening. This method is per Sean, and has worked great for me- gets rid of them once and for all.

I just ignore the aphids. Sometimes I get them on my waterlily pads during cool weather.

After a while they go away and don't seem to hurt anything.

thanks

I only have about a dozen hunks right now so I just took them off last night and hosed them off real good and put then in a shallow plastic bin.....I'll repeat that tonight and maybe try the soap.

might look for that Aphid X spray for the other plants in and around the pond.

Thanks again
Chris

Those are aphids for sure.

Sean's (Stevens) recipe is a very good one.

Aphids can kill waterlilies.

Sean's recipe is good too - I had forgotten about that. Don't let the aphids get out of control - they are really hard to get rid of once established and not good for your plants.

what is his recipe? or is that the one listed above?

thanks
Chris

yes it is the one I listed above

is that recipe pond safe?? Or do I need to remove the plants first?

who makes a phosphate free dish soap????

It should say on the bottle. We had some Palmolive dish soap on hand and it says on the back label "Contains no Phosphates"... Yes it is pond safe- according to Sean, the alcohol evaporates pretty quickly, and the peroxide adds oxygen to the water. He does recommend removing the plants during treatment if possible though. I remove my water lettuce for treatment since they are simply floating and easy to remove. As far as lilies I just leave them in and spray the pads. Again, make sure not to do it in the sun, as the sun will magnify the alcohol and burn plants, and also make sure to rinse of with water after 30 minutes :-) Good luck!

I'll try it is they keep coming back....I pulled them out Sunday night and gave them a good rinsing and picked off 99% of them.....seen a few here and there the last couple days.
Although the edges of the leaves now look like crap. Might have washed them a little too hard.....I have plenty of tiny ones that I'm sure will grow big. I started with 3 and now have like 10

I went to the nursery yesterday where I got them 3 weeks ago and their entire tank of lettuce and lilies is completely infested.

Yep, I swear every year that I won't have water lettuce again the next year, but then I always do. I think if it weren't for the lettuce I would never have aphids. If your lettuce starts to yellow, place it in a bucket or tub with water and some miracle grow for a day or two, then rinse off the roots and place back in the pond. It will help green them up and grow well :-) Good luck...

Stupid question time...Do you have to dechlorinate plant water????
I filled up a shallow bin sunday night and put them into it after I rinsed off the aphids with the hose.....sprayed a bit of the miracle grow in the bin from the sprayer. Monday morning they were slightly faded and the edges of the leaves were wrinkling back. I picked the remaining aphids off Monday evening and put them back in the pond. They look horible compared to when I took them out covered with aphids.. Could have the heavy rinsing from the hose really damaged them?

I don't think it was the water - I never dechlorinate unless there's fish in there. I have found the leaves are quite delicate.

I don't think it was the water either- did you spray the miracle grow onto the lettuce, or into the water? The miracle grow should be mixed into the water, and they may have a bit of fertilizer burn if you put it directly on them? Not sure though.... But to answer your question, no- you don't have to dechlorinate plant water- at least not in my experience. Hopefully they will perk back up soon.

I didn't think the water had anything to do with it, just thoght I'd make sure. I just picked off a bunch of rotting leaves this morning.

The miracle grow is the bottle on their sprayer so it mixes it as you spray...and not I didnt spray them directly. Its most likely from me spraying them off.

I thought I read somewhere that they didn't like their leaves to be splashed from waterfalls or fountains. I have never tried to grow them because of the full sun. And most people won't ship them to Florida. Glenda

Yes, Sean's recipe posted above is pond safe.

Well, looks like I haven't done any extra damage by introducing lettuce each season then LeeAnne. Bummed to hear that I would likely have aphids anyway, but glad to hear I don't have a reason not to have lettuce again :-)

And I mimic her statement that splashing water offends lilies, but not lettuce in my experience..

Can I spray the plants while in the pond with the fish and snails? Will the alcohol/peroxide mixture hurt them? Also, the bugs seem to be on the bottom of the lettuce leaves as well as on the top. Do I need to spray underneath the leaves too?