I had something that sounds very similar to that last year. All my water
hyth (forget what they're called but you know what I mean) had the same
symptoms. I called the nursery where I bought them and they suggested I take
them out of the pond and put them in another container of water, then spray
them with an insecticide, rinse them several times and then put them back in
the pond.

Frankly, I was very leery of spraying them with an insecticide then putting
them back. What if I didn't rinse all the insecticide off and killed all my
fish? I noticed like you did, that if I held the plant under water, the tiny
little bugs would float off the plant and then I noticed the fish eating
them.

I did that for about 3 times a week for about 3 weeks, never did get rid of
all of them and then the season ended and I tossed all the plants (they were
just floating plants anyway) and started with new plants this year.

I've been keeping an eye out for them again this year but (knock on wood)
not seen them yet. My pond btw is small and I can reach all the plants
easily.

Don't know if this helps but at least you've got moral support.
BK

"scs0" wrote in message
om...
I'm having a problem with something sealing up the leaves of my plants
with some sort of a web. The leaves that have this webbing eventually
die, and whatever it was really damaged my Thalia, Pickerel Rush, and
a taro-like plant with smooth (not fuzzy&water repellant) leaves.
Plants that do not have a large leaf sticking out of the water with a
bowl-like shape, like a water lily, iris, Umbrella Palm, were not
harmed.

I originally thought it was a caterpiller because the webbing had tiny
specs in it that I thought were feces, but learned that it was not the
case. None of the leaves were chewed and the other day I noticed what
looked like spit hanging from a large leaf which was really a wad of
webbing filled with those specs: and I finally noticed that those
specs were moving! They are much smaller than aphids and I think they
are mites. Naturally, they are attacking plants that are difficult to
reach.

I've learned that mites hate moisture and saw that in practice as the
ones that fell off of leaves that I brushed against got stuck in some
sweat and stopped moving. So I've been spraying the plants with water
several times a day for about 3 days now. Will this kill them?

The pond is underneath a screened porch and doesn't get exposed to
much in the way of rain. If water is deadly to them, then this might
be the reason why they've thrived so well.

But has anyone else experienced this? What are they exactly? What
causes them to kill the leaf? Are they sucking them dry like an aphid?
Does their webbing prevent respiration of the leaf?

Thanks for any info