Am I toxic?

[callingcolleen1]

Well Marcus I feel for you, cause I have had lots of trouble over the years with them aphids too. They are much worse with excess heat and dry weather. I still get them every year, and I let them have the gooseberry bush by the pond, cause that way at least they are on the other side of the pond and not bugging me. The ant's that I have been blessed with are "farmer ants" and they farm the aphids on the gooseberry and chokecherry bushes every year. I do nothing, the bushes came up wild and they are all over the yard, and I still get lots of fruit. I never get them on the pond anymore since water striders moved in. The water striders are like a spider that floats on water, and they eat lots of little aphids. I also had rosy minnows and they too eat lots of aphids. Notice I said I "had" rosy minnow, for years too, but then I got more koi a few years back and now I have none!

All is not lost, cut the dead and dying or infested pads away, and totally drown the whole Lilly to the deepest part of the pond for a few days, this will knock off quite a few of them nasty Bugs and the fish should be able to eat them better once the whole plant is totally submerged.

See if your local pet store has "feeder minnows", they should be very cheap, and the small minnow has a small eye, as "the small eye sees the small fly"! (Minnow will eat lots of aphids and should reproduce in most ponds)

Last but not least, keep washing off the remaining aphids daily with garden hose.

Not all aphids are farmed some also fly and lay eggs everywhere too. But cheer up, next year the aphids may not be so bad and eventually a predatory bug or spider will show up and eat lots of them.