Question
I have a homemade atrium, but I am having problems with something eating my plants. I have a 20 gal. aquarium that I turned into an atrium for my office. I started with some small ferns (cheap) just in case this happened.  I can't have any bad smells in my office, so is there a natural way to get rid of these pest?  Anything you can tell me should be of great help.  These pest are tiny, almost invisible. I hope you can help me.

Answer
John,

It's hard so say for sure what is damaging your plants. It could be a small insect or mite but it could also be a plant disease or even something cultural like too little light. Insecticidal soap would be a good, low toxicity treatment that would control small insects and mites without any danger of insecticide residue. Take a look at this article http://www.livingwithbugs.com/insecticidal_soap.html if you are not familiar with this material. Insecticidal soap is excellent against almost any small, soft bodied pest like aphids or spider mites.

Jack DeAngelis
http://www.livingwithbugs.com