flea bombs and the aquarium

[Guest]

one of the unfortunate problems with owning a cat is that it will drag in fleas. it seems they have invaded the house and i have to set off flea bombs. the instructions say to unplug your aquarium(s) pumps but they also say to leave the house closed up for 4 hours. i was thinking of doing the downstairs while i sleep upstairs but im wondering if there are any other precautions i should take. i have 2 tanks that cannot be moved and 3 snail tanks i can take upstairs, then do the upstairs tomorrow during the day. what else should i prepare for?

 

[fishfreek]

I have not used flea bombs but I have used with no ill effects the flea powder. What i do is librally put flea powder on the carpet and then use a broom to get it down into the carpet real good. This does cause a large amount of flea dust into the air but never have had issues with it on a saltwater reef tank so I wouldn't imagen it could cause issues with a Freshwater system.

 

[Dominick]

In my opinion I would use the powder I have had decent luck with it
i dont like the bombs because of the fact that it leaves a film of bug spray
on everything where the power puts in where they live
But thats just my Opinion

Good luck

 

[Guest]

lol, while i was reading the replys, a flea jumped on my leg. the powder option sounds better and i will give it a try.

 

[DepotFish]

Be careful for your cats' sake. Never use a flea control product that contains pyrmethrins with a cat or small mammal around. Pyrmethrins kill by disrupting the nervous system of small animals, and its been known to kill cats.

 

[Guest]

the kind i got for the carpet contains 'sumithrin'.......3%.

but the kind i got for the cat(specificaly for cats) contains pyrmethrins .10%, and 1piperonyl butoxide 1%, AND I ALREADY PUT IT ON HER!!! ****

EDIT:
help, should i try to vacuume it off? she hates the vacuume and hisses at it, oh man if she dies... if i get it wet in a bath it will make it worse.

EDIT AGAIN:
by the time i got to her, she had already licked herself pretty good, so it's too late, it's in her system. but it is an hour later and i see no signs of trouble, she is acting normal. i would think there would be some kind of adverse effect by now. i think she will be ok.

 

[pwrflpills]

The only thing that alarmed me was you considering setting off bombs while still in your house. I'm no flea bomb expert, but that sounds like a horrible idea.

If you're worried about your tank not being filtered for a few hours, just do a water change before the bomb, and after if you like. I had no power after Hurricane Wilma for 2+ weeks and all my fish were fine with just a couple extra water changes during that time. If you have extra sensitive or "dirty" fish, I suppose you could adjust accordingly. But I seriously don't think a few hours without power going to affect them.

 

[Guest]

my upstairs can be completely closed off from the downstairs and the flea bomb would not reach me when i slept, but i went the powder route anyways. i breathed one of those bombs once and it made me sick for hours, so i wouldnt take that kind of risk. another drawback is that if i had a fire downstairs, i wouldnt know it until too late.

but it is now a couple hours later and my cat is perfectly normal. thinking about it, i dont know why they would put pymethrin in flea powder if it was known to kill cats, especialy flea powder made for cats 'only'.

i shut off the air to my tanks anyways, even though i used powder. when i swept it into the carpets, i didnt want dust being introduced to the tanks.

 

[DepotFish]

Most bug bombs require you to cover fish tanks with towels or blankets and get other people and animals out of the house. You should ALWAYS have the pilot light off when setting off bug bombs.

Keep an eye on the cat. Hopefully he'll be lucky. because .10 percent is very low.
"Permethrin, like all synthetic pyrethroids, is a neurotoxin. Symptoms include tremors, incoordination, elevated body temperature, increased aggressive behavior, and disruption of learning. Laboratory tests suggest that permethrin is more acutely toxic to children than to adults. There are over 18 brands of permethrin spot-on products available that are labeled for "dogs only." These typically contain high concentrations (45-65%) of permethrin insecticide and are used for flea and tick control. These permethrin products have a good margin of safety when used on dogs, but even a few drops of concentrated permethrin could be lethal to a cat. Owners most commonly expose cats to these products through inappropriate or accidental application. The signs commonly seen with permethrin toxicity in cats include generalized tremors, muscle fasciculation and seizures. Signs can develop within hours or may be delayed up to 48 hours."

 

[Guest]

thanks. i scraped the whole bug bomb idea in favor of the powder. actualy, the cat just now climbed up to the top of a curtain and i had to get the spray bottle after her, so she is acting very normal. i will watch her closely for a couple days, but i think she will be fine. also, the fish are showing no adverse signs from the powder dusting i did earlier and i shut off all air pumps before hand.