Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Mosquito control with BT

I live in Colorado at 7800ft. where we are expecting another summer with West Nile virus lurking around. I would like to control the mosquito population on my 1 yr old, 1/3rd acre pond with BT "Mosquito Dunks" while I am getting my pond ready to stock with fish. Does anyone know if the BT will kill off all the insect (caddis, mayflies, midges, dragonflies, back swimmers)larvae or just the mosquito larvae? Or would I be better off with mosquito fish? Any answers or suggestions would be very welcome.

Personally, I like the presence of mosquitofish. You get insect control and an easy meal for juvenile fish. it also limits the and spawning numbers of other fish because they feed on very small fry. It's natural and you'll end up throwing fewer fish up on the bank.

Nebraskaland magazine just did an article about mosquito fish. In it, they said that mosquito fish are one of the POOREST predators of mosquitos. Many other speccies native to your area would probably be better. What species of fish do you have in your lake? If you get much wave action, mosquito larva might not survive anyhow.

Yes, there has been a lot written about their impact. In many instances, native fish may be better for mosquito control. The though behind the mosquitofish is that they are live bearing fish and become predators faster. I just wouldn't chemically treat mosquitos in my pond.

Right now I only have minnows in the pond. We had temps to -30 degrees over the winter and very few of the brook trout, and none of the bluegills survived. The brookies have disappeared, thanks to a bald eagle, I think. So I'm about to start restocking my pond. Anyway, BT is a bacterial control for mosquitos, not a chemical - it's also used for control of various garden pests, like tomato horn worms. For mosquitos, the larvae feed on it and the BT paralyzes their gut and they die of starvation, without getting to hatch to adult mosquitos. I'm wondering if the BT will do that to other bugs, and thus reduce the available feed that I'll have for my fish. I plan to keep putting minnows in, but, I'd like the fish to have bugs available to feed on as well. I don't want to kill off all the bug life in order to get the mosquitos. Don't other pond owners out there have mosquito problems? West Nile virus hit Colo. hard last year with way too many deaths, and I'd like to have my pond, but not the mosquitos. I'll use the BT but I'd like to find out if I'm going to kill off other bug life before I do it. Any info is appreciated, thanks.

The minnows in your pond will control the mosquitos. Mosquito larvae migrate up & down in the water column which makes them very susceptable as prey for small fish of all kinds.

Great, I'll keep the minnows well populated and hold off on the BT for awhile. Thanks for the info.

have you looked into bat houses? i put up a bunch around my pond. plus we have a lot of bats around this area (it's amazing how many times i've set my hook on a "fish" during night fishing...the bats will occasionally hit the line!). also, martin boxes, but bats are better. type in your search engine something like "bats eating mosquitos" and compare the numbers to martins. mark

I agree with the majority of posts. As a former spelunker, I know that bats love skeeters. I would check into the bat box thing already mentioned and do some resaerch on which type of fish would be the best at eatin' skeeters and still be a good fit for your pond. I def. wouldn't use chemicals. Do you have a dock? Maybe you could also hang a bug zapper or two around a dock or other such structure.

yep, not many skeeters in caves!! good thing, in some of those tight spots it would be difficult to swat at them!! mark

bats do eat there own weight every night in bugs, just not where you want them to. i got over a thousand small brown and big brown bats in my barn, i still got mosquitos lol

ken, did you not put up a bat fence? you gotta train those lil' fellers juuuuuussstt right.!! lol mark