# Anti-mosquito larvae treatment?



## DKRST (Jan 11, 2011)

Anyone know a good anti-mosquito larvae treatment that is aquarium plant-friendly? I have a "water feature" on my front porch. Right now it contains my planted tank clippings, about 25 gallons of water and hundreds of mosquito larvae! While I'd love to put some mosquito fish in the container, it simply gets too hot in the summer for fish to survive - based on experience :-(. I'd prefer something that isn't too toxic since I'm hoping to grow some of my tank plant cuttings in the barrel and want to move them into my fish tanks eventually.


----------



## redchigh (Jan 20, 2010)

Well, it gets too hot for coldwater fish, use tropical fish.

I've kept my guppies at 90+ degrees before when I was treating ich. (enough to make me pull my hand back in pain)

Get a couple preggo female guppies... Or endlers if you want to sell them.

Otherwise, Mosquito dunks are safe. (They are made out of a bacteria that only infects mosquitos and stunts their growth.)

Personally, I'd leave them, and feed them to your fish indoors. They're very nutritious.


----------



## DKRST (Jan 11, 2011)

I like the idea of endlers (or guppies). Unfortunately, when I say hot, I mean HOT. The whiskey barrel gets direct sun about 1/2 the day. The summer water temp gets well into the upper 90's. I'm just not sure the fish can tolerate that for 2-3 months.


----------



## redchigh (Jan 20, 2010)

If they're fed well, and the water is kept clean, then they wil be okl.

Remember, they're tropical fish... You know how hot the tropics are?


----------



## DKRST (Jan 11, 2011)

Yep, been in Hawaii and Panama. Tropics can be less hot than temperate regions are in summer, but your point is well-taken. I'll start with some cheapo guppies and try it out, thanks for the suggestion!


----------



## eileen (Feb 24, 2009)

Well I have my tub pond on a plant roller. I can move it into a shady area if it gets to hot. You can also get Mosquito fish to take care of the mosquitos. The water department in my area gives them away for free . You only need a few depending on how big your fountain is or pond.

Check out the unfiltered tub pond thread by Tankmaster. I put alot about tub ponds in this thread and a picture of mine. Here is a picture of mine.I bought this at a garden shop but they sell them at Homedepot also. Get a good one as the cheap ones do not last and the one I got handles up to 500lbs and has a lock to lock the wheels so it does not roll away. Their is a picture of it on the roller on the Thread unfiltered tub ponds.The picture below has the roller next to the pond.I recently bought a better roller that holds more weight.This tub is a 16 gal. tub. It weights alot with the gravel and water in it even though it is only 16 gal.

I also used shadecloth to shade it part way so that my water lily has time to fill it out and make shade. You can also get a clip on shade umbrella or put a bigger umbrella to shade it some so it does not get really hot. Color of your container makes a differance as the darker colors will retain heat over lighter colors. Pond stores sells those mosquito dunks I think but I thing getting Free Mosquito fish or Platies or endlers,Guppies,Swordtails will keep the mosquitos down also. Check out that Unfiltered tub pond as Tankmaster has a list of fish he tried and recommended for the outside pond.


----------



## DKRST (Jan 11, 2011)

A very neat idea! I had not thought of heavy-duty rollers. Unfortunately, my 5' narrow front porch faces west with no good overhang, so no shady spot to roll it into though. The shade cloth (or an outdoor roll-up shade?) is a good idea. The rollers would be very useful iwhen I store the barrel each winter.


----------



## ikcaj (Jun 24, 2009)

Mosquito fish are the best answer. 

My 80 gallon pond exists entirely as mosquito control. Here in South Florida, the mosquitos were so bad when we first moved in, I couldn't be in my carport for two minutes without getting at least ten bites. I took a pre-built 3'x6' concrete planter attached to side of the house, dug it out and lined it with pond liner. I got six mosquito-fish delivered for free from the county. I bought a dozen tiny goldfish for 13 cents each. I now have at least 75 mosquito fish, 8" goldfish and some other random creatures I think birds may have dropped in there. Best part is I can go anywhere in my very large front yard and not see a single mosquito. I'm in the process of building one for the backyard right now.


----------



## eileen (Feb 24, 2009)

I do not like goldfish as they produce so much poop. I just put some Blue Pastel Ribbon fin female guppies in my unfiltered tub pond the other day. I had a swordtail in there and she had 28 babies and I will be sending them to NC on Monday. I put my 2 pregnate ribbon finned females and the next day they had babies. Here is a picture of my 18 gal. tub pond that I set up this year again with some water lilies and water plants inside. I posted pictures of the lily and baby fish. The mosquito fish are good all year long over guppies or tropical fish. They are also free from the water department to control mosquitos at most. I take down my pond in late October I set it up in May the following year.


----------

