Sal's C in 2 gal. SIP looked a little static.  No changes since potting to SIP on 12/23/2013.  See this thread.  Separated buckets and found this in the bottom bucket:

Are they on the surface of the water?  Are they getting blown around, or do they seem to be moving on their own?
(I don't know what they are, I'm just not sure what I'm looking at...)
Jim

They are on the surface of the water moving around on their own.  Wind blew a little and moved them later on in the video.

Previously posted in a another thread....


From and Orchid website....

BTI - Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies Israelensis

There is a naturally occurring soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies Israelensis (BTI) that kills the larvae of fungus gnats, mosquitoes and black flies . When BTI is eaten by these larvae toxins are released into their gut which causes the larvae to stop eating. Without food the larvae die. This interrupts the life cycle of these pests and the population then dies off.

BTI is not harmful to humans, birds, fish or mammals. Deemed Fit For Organic production by the USEPA in accordance with the USDA's National Organic Program.


You can get BTI in "Mosquito Dunks" and use it in your watering can. They sell them at Home Depot and Lowes.
"Yellow Sticky Traps" are supposed to work well also on the adults

Rich, already using Gnatrol in watering regimen.  Also using Yellow Sticky Traps.  These things are contained in the bottom bucket of an SIP.

Ok,
I googled Gnatrol and found out it has BTI in it. I thought Gnatrol was some sort of a chemical poison.

Danny, I see these bugs in my sump pump hole and I've seen them when opening the lid for the septic tank. they seem to like dark watery places. I don't know what they are called though.

Put a couple of drops of DAWN or other dishwashing fluid in that bucket. It'll destroy the surface tension that those little *%#&s are skating on, and they'll drown!

Yep, Ruuting is right!  Soap kills everything, and if it doesn't, they will never come back.  Many people spray with soapy water.  Bugs don't like the taste, and if you ever had your mouth washed out with soap (one time for a bad word that slipped out), you will understand why!

Suzi

Until you know what they are you can't be sure whether they're harmful or beneficial....

Danny, if you can get some better pictures, somebody on the forum is bound to ID them...
Take a look on the web for buggers called "springtails."  There seem to be some variates that hang out on the surface of water.  They may have gotten in from the soil above.
Jim

Springtails?

from this site:http://extension.missouri.edu/p/g7363

Management Homeowners who see these tiny, grayish insects in and around houseplant containers are often concerned that they are likely to harm their plants; however, this is not the case. Springtail activity is an indication of healthy, moist, organically rich soil. If springtails remain confined to the soil of houseplants, it is not necessary to initiate control measures unless there are so many that they cause a nuisance.

hope that is the case!

Springtail is the common name for a class of arthropods known as collembola.

Here's a snippet from Wikipedia:
"However, by their capacity to carry spores of mycorrhizal fungi and mycorrhiza-helper bacteria on their tegument, soil springtails play a positive role in the establishment of plant-fungal symbioses and thus are beneficial to agriculture.They also contribute to controlling plant fungal diseases through their active consumption of mycelia and spores of damping-off and pathogenic fungi. It has been suggested that they could be reared to be used for the control of pathogenic fungi in greenhouses and other indoor cultures."



Jim

Hmmm.........Curious little buggers aren't they. I'm usually pretty good at IDing natural little critters like this. But I'm just not familiar with this one. At first I thought mosquito larvae but both the color as well as their movement doesn't jive with that answer.

Please keep this thread going until someone is able to ID these little critters. Pretty cool little guys IMO. That is unless they're eating your fig roots. Then they're bad little swimmers, bad!

If no one is able to ID them we can always start offering each our own conspiracy theories about government cover up of tiny alien creatures that want to control our minds.  They're real man!! I've seen them on youtube!!!  You get the idea :-) .

  

Well Grasa and Jim. My post is no longer nearly as humorous now that you've found that info.

What can I say. Good finds. Good info. Cool critter stuff.

I still kind of favor the alien mind control conspiracy though :-} . 

Maybe they're gubment drones!

i say soap 'em and let god sort 'em out. 

Thank you everyone for the wonderful replies.  The bucket was dumped and cleaned out with bleach.  Unfortunately I didn't keep any of the litter buggers to ID.  I'll check the other SIP's to see if anything is in those.

I didn't know about the soap trick.  Going to add that weapon to my arsenal for next time.  Thank you for that.

Jim,  I think you are correct and they are Springtails.  Seem to be beneficial.  I should've kept one for ID.  Damn!  Anyway, here's a few videos from YouTube:

Further investigation reveals that letting the plant dry out will get rid of them.  Googled "springtails self watering container".

Saxonfig -- just because they've been ID'd (tentatively) as springtail arthropods doesn't mean that they aren't Alien artrhopods with mind control capabillities!  They could be gathering their masses for an assault on the earth!!  Maybe they've identified Ficus Carica as the most intelligent species on the planet...  Or maybe the Springtail is the galactic nemesis of the fig wasp...
   ...sorry, too much caffeine...
Jim