The last few weeks I've had a lot of small, blackish bugs (about the
size of gnats) on my the water lily pads. I have been rinsing the
leaves off in pond water and they come off, but they come back in a
few hours. My first guess would be aphids but they are a lot smaller
than the aphids I would get on other plants such as roses. I had to
get a magnifying glass to see these guys well. Any ideas as to what
these little bugs are and what to do about them? They seemed to
appear or become more prevalent when the weather turned cool and
cloudy, although that could just be coincidence. Laura Zone 9 or 10 - So. Calif

Yes, they are aphids. As you've found, rinsing them off doesn't help for
long and can spread them to your other pond plants. Ideally, squish them,
and remove any damaged or old pads as weaken plant parts attract them.

We think that the aphids (or other plant bugs) cause the decline, when
actually the plant and/or plant part was already in decline and attracted
the bugs causing a decline we can finally see.

There are various forms of aphids, various sizes and colors, they don't all
like the same plants. One poster claimed that it was the prune & cherry
aphid that migrated to lilies, I don't know. I do know that if you squish
them it does eventually eradicate them. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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