My orchids are plagued
 

Hey everyone,

I am new to the forum, and hate to start off with a question instead of a formal introduction but i have a serious issue that needs to be fixed asap. I have various jewel orchids growing in a large vivarium along with tons of other plants. I recently ordered a dossinodes indras web and a ludisia discolor "black" from the states, and within 1 week both plants died mysteriously. Both had similar symptoms. They started losing their shape, and their stems turned to mush. I removed them, but now my normal ludisa discolor have started to wilt. I removed one and under observation with a microscope noticed tons of white mealy bugs crawling everywhere. I shook it and had around 10 little bugs that looked grey in color and elliptically shaped.


Im very worried about this as i have some very rare and expensive plants in there, along with dart frogs. I cant spray pesticides as its a vivarium, so i need a solution fast.

Thanks!

get the expensive plants away from the vivarium, and treat them with pesticides. in the future, quarantine your new plants so any problems will have time to show themselves before you put them in the vivarium. without pesticides, you're likely to lose all of the plants.

The plants are always cleaned first, guess this slipped by. I am ready to use dry ice in water and seal the tank (without the frogs) and suffocate them for a few hours. I know this works on spiders, centepedes and other insects, how about these critters?

I totoally forgot about that method. Marty (the orchid board administrator) used that method in his vivarium. see this link

plants should always be quarantined first, not just cleaned. most growers quarantine them for 2 or 3 weeks.

I sure hope this works on mealy bugs!

I've had Ludisia for years with occasional mealybug or scale problems, but never had it turn to mush. It had to be in pretty bad shape to die in a week. Along with your salvage efforts, I recommend complaining to your vendor and asking for replacements, if possible. Good luck!