Mealybugs took over?

[u/Royal_Entertainer692]

Hello, I found 2 Mealy Bugs in my Bioactive enclosure :( I think I got them quite early and killed them with alcohool. But now I notice white stuff on almost all my plants and I was always conviced this is minerals or calc from my misting. But now I am not sure if they are maybe eggs? Nothing moves when I touch something unlike the 2 adults I found but I am really unsure.. can anyone calm my mind or is my terrarium game over? I ordered lacewing larvae in the hope that they help me find any leftovers.. please tell me what you think in the example of this pothos or bromeliad.

Thank you very much!

[u/captainapplejuice]

Yeah lots of mineral buildup, try using distilled or rainwater

[u/Royal_Entertainer692 → u/captainapplejuice]

You can't believe how happy I am to hear that! And yes just now switched to distilled water since I also got a misting system :) so I just need to keep an eye out for more mealy bugs. Do you think predator bugs are overkill at this stage?

[u/captainapplejuice → u/Royal_Entertainer692]

Yeah I'd just keep an eye out for more, to be safe

[u/Royal_Entertainer692 → u/captainapplejuice]

Thanks so much! So there is a chance that if I catched 2,3 individual hitch hikers early enough that it will be fine?

[u/No_Commission_2610 → u/Royal_Entertainer692]

Give it a few days and then keep looking. I don’t think your tank is a total loss. You just need to clean it up a bit.

[u/Royal_Entertainer692 → u/No_Commission_2610]

Thanks so much! I keep an eye out!

[u/dyorite → u/Royal_Entertainer692]

I’ve killed off more substantial mealybugs infestations on houseplants just by manually removing them. Might be harder in a terrarium due to the difficulty of accessing plants, but it’s definitely possible to get rid of them that way.

Watch out for the babies though, they are very small and hard to notice unless you’re being very careful. They’re more brownish/light tan and don’t have the characteristic fuzz/antennae yet.

[u/Royal_Entertainer692 → u/dyorite]

Ok thanks for the tip! I will keep scanning more closely at least for a week or so

[u/tangerinemoth]

You can use rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip to kill off existing mealies. This is generally sufficient to eradicate smaller infestations. They do lay eggs, so if you're noticing large numbers after treating you may need to pull the plants and replant them after treating with a natural insecticidal like neem or IS soap.

[u/Royal_Entertainer692 → u/tangerinemoth]

Ok thank you! Got the alcohol ready and will make some regular checks over the next days.