Killing over 200 of these pests a day. What are they?

Started seeing these flies/gnats a few weeks ago. Suddenly they were everywhere. I noticed they were hovering around the houseplant. I inspected it and it was overwatered and funky so I threw every houseplant in the apartment away.

Every day now for the last week I walk around the house with the vacuum sucking up around 150 - 250 of these pesky flies up, and they keep coming. It's been over a week since the house plants were removed.

During the day they tend to sit on walls or the ceiling being more active at night. They like to hang out in the bathroom, tub, and toilet bowl. After a shower they cover the damp towell and washcloths (i did not notice this before I removed the plant). I've done the tape over the drain test with no results. I do not see them going in or out of drains.

They don't bite, and don't seem to be drawn to the trash, open sugar bowl, etc. they only seem to be drawn to water.

Many answers point to fungus gnats, others to drain flies. What do I do?

These are moth flies, aka drain flies, filter flies, or sewer flies (family Psychodidae). They are very common nuisance pests whose larvae live in very polluted water or wet decomposing organic matter. See http://idl.entomology.cornell.edu/files/2013/11/Drain-Flies-29xohvg.pdf for a fact sheet.

you can try some peppermint oil in a spray bottle of water . I use that to keep little flying pests out of my house plants. if you're new to peppermint oil its nice to mix into body wash and shampoo for a refreshing tingle. good luck

Thanks for all of the information.

Is it possible that a small drain fly population could thrive if the conditions in the soil of a large houseplant were ideal? When I inspected the soil of my pigmy date palm tree it was severely overwatered, stinky, and had a small mushroom growing in the corner.

If this is the case will the removal of the house plant and a few Draino treatments be enough to curb the problem?

J

If you read the fact sheet I referenced, you will see that there are several other places the flies could be coming from...

I did read the fact sheet top to bottom, along with a lot of others on the topic. Thank you for that. My apartment is spotless, there isn't anything that comes close to wet or decaying organic material (Besides the disgusting plant that was swarming with the flies I disposed of ten days ago). windows and screens are sealed up tightly. The drains in the apartment flow extremely well. I've tried the tape trap method and the taped bag offer the drain and haven't caught a single fly. Am completely stumped on where they are still coming from.

This is puzzling. I can only suggest that you contact your nearest office of Cornell University's Cooperative Extension Service to see if they can offer any suggestions - see http://www.cce.cornell.edu/learnAbout/Pages/Local_Offices.aspx for links to contact information.