Little Black Flies....how to get rid of them?

I've had a problem with these little black flies on and off for about the past year. They are small, about the size of drosopila/fruit flies, but seems a little too small and agile to be the same. They usually hang out around the sink. I've tried to keep the sinks dry and dish free, sprayed with soap or bleach and I've even tried to make traps out of vinegar & soapy water or honey & soapy water. Both catch all, but they never disappear completely. They are both bold and tenacious as hell. You'd think taking a swing at one would make it flee from you plate - not a chance. You almost have to thump it off your plate. I have suffered with OCD my entire life and I can tell you that my house is not mess, dirty or unfit. Yet these flies persist. I am opposed to the use of pesticides - or should I say I was opposed to the use of them. I'm almost ready to try anything to get rid of them. Can anyone help me.

As an aside, I have an aquarium in my house and I don't know if this could be a source of the problem or not. I'm way in over my head. I would hate to drain my tank and call a professional, but I'm literally at my wits end. If you think you can help me, please by all means tell me what to do. Thanks

Reply to
Demhi Moss
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And the location you live is........

Reply to
Douglas C. Neidermeyer

Find out where they're hatching. Use Sherlock Holmesian deduction or something like that. That's the key right there. Every time I've seen little flies they gathered by the sink but came from the garbage pail or fruit bowl. Tossing the fruit or taking the garbage out cured it. I've never had flies breed in my aquariums.

Reply to
Vic Smith

Google Drain Flies, and see if this is what you have. They live in the drain pipes and other damp areas where there is food to live on.

Reply to
EXT

Tell your wife to douche once in a while. If she buys a douche bag, then by marrying you, she would have at least 2 douche bags.

Reply to
Lisa Milbrook

Dehmi:

An infestation of small black flies in a house is usually caused by:

  1. Most commonly, that your kitchen drain pipe has separated under the floor and is spilling solids into the crawl space under your floor. Flies will lay their eggs in that accumulation of soft solid material and you'll have a continuous source of new flies infesting your house

  1. Not taking out your garbage often enough and "fruit" flies laying the eggs in the soft solids in the garbage can (like apple or banana peels or discarded animal tissue). So every three weeks you get a new batch of the little critters emerging from 8 or 9 week old garbage.

I've had this happen to me twice where a tenant in a bottom floor suite would come to me and ask me to do something about the small flies in his apartment. In both cases I tell them it's because they're not taking their garbage out often enough, but in both cases it turned out to be a separated kitchen drain pipe.

The solids that do down the kitchen drain pipe are just the kind of soft nutritious stuff that flies look for to lay their eggs in so the maggots that develop are surrounded by food when they start becoming active.

Reply to
nestork

I agree with this. Place a glass upside down over the drain(s) overnight and look in the morning.

Reply to
Thomas

offer them jobs and they should disappear

Reply to
ChairMan

Yeah, if they're coming from your kitchen sink drain, you can buy these for $1.25 at Dollarama (or I expect any dollar store). You can also buy them for much more at cooking stores.

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It's a stainless steel fine wire strainer that drops into your kitchen sink drain basket to prevent solids from going down the drain and causing your main drain line to clog up over time. I'd buy two of them, fit one inside the other to reduce the gaps between the wires and use it that way.

Reply to
nestork

The old house had a drain that didn't self clean very well. It was a basement floor drain in cement, which came from kitchen and other bathroom. I would have to pour clorox down once in a while. Black triangular flies the seem to lay eggs in stagnant water.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

Do they look like this:

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John

Reply to
John

plug the overflow

Reply to
Robert Macy

Do you have a septic tank? These little flies breed in septic tanks and can enter the house thru the drains, particularly if a drain trap is not full of water. You could have something siphoning a trap dry, which is normally caused by inadaquate venting.

Reply to
marshcrawler

Atlanta GA, USA, North America.

Reply to
Demhi Moss

Any rotting fruit in cabinets anywhere? It's not a geographical.

Reply to
krw

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