Hello all,
Our indoor aquaponic system has been infested with bugs for the past 3 to 4 months.
We have a 125 gallon-tank and a hydroton-filled grow bed. In the tank, we have angel fish and other south-american cichlids. We had been growing a variety of plants (lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, and herbs) with quite a bit of success, until the day we introduce outside plants that we had not grown from seeds ourselves. HUGE mistake!
We believe that the bugs either came from strawberry plants bought at the local nursery, or a hydroponic lettuce bought at the grocery store. This will NEVER happen again...
We believe that we have been infested with a bug called "greenhouse thrips", but we aren't 100% sure and welcome any other suggestions anyone might have.
A couple months ago, we emptied the whole grow-bed, cleaned it up, replaced all the hydrotons, and planted brand-new parsley seeds. The bugs were back in 4 weeks. The pictures below show the condition of the plants after 4 weeks and pictures of the bugs.
We have a couple plan of attacks in mind, but would love to hear how our "fellow-aquaponers" would handle the unwelcome invasion...
Has anyone ever had the same problem?