Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Bee stings fish?

I was thinking of making a "bug whacker".
My concern is with large bees atracted to the light, esp. Japanese Hornets.

Could they cause harm to fish that might eat them after they are knocked to the water with stinger still active?

In this area Japanese Hornets will readily come to a light. You can kill a whole colony by placing a light on an open bucket with some fuel oil in it.

I remember hearing fire ants are bad for fish - causing some partial kills after heavy rains that wash them into ponds. Japanese Hornets might do the same.

I always dump my yellow jacket traps into my pond and the bluegill eat them up .Sometimes 30 or more at a time with some wasps still alive. I have not seen a problem yet,but I'm not familiar with Jap. Hornets.

what is a japanese hornet? i've seen and been stung by a bald-faced hornet in MD....not fun.

as far as the fish concern, how big is yer pond Ric? i'd make an experiment out of yer question, proceed with bug whacker and record what happens, my guess is no problem, consider the fact that we set hooks into fish mouths all the time and release them, and they do fine, often we catch the same fish over and over. the fish probably have a genetic resistance to bee/wasp/hornet venom since they eat these things naturally.

The pond will be 2.5ac when it finishes filling.

I was guessing a single bee sting wouldn't cause permanent damage. But I'm guessing.
My concern is what would happen if 2 hundred Japanese hornets fell into the pond in one night, which is very likely, could the venom from several stings cause a fish harm?

Here’s a pic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hornet-vespa.jpg

Here’s a link that describes the hornet I’ve always heard called “Japanese Hornet” as European Hornet, but around here they're bigger than 1":

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/ipm/insects/hpm7002.pdf

thanks for the education there ric and bruce. i didnt realize how closely related yellow jackets and hornets are. now i have confirmed that i wuz indeed stung by a bald-faced hornet, it was big, mean (i must have been near its nest and not looked up :rolleyes: ), and had stark white patches on his big greasy lookin black body. i heard him come my way, land on my hand, and drive that stinger right into my pinky finger, which proceeded to swell up to the size of a baseball...ouch!!

still a very interesting question whether or not fish would be harmed........ric, i still vote you'll have happy fish and fewer hornets.......and if i'm wrong, you could order up some of bruce's RES to take matters in hand

RES are really angry!

I've noticed that when red wasp land on my ponds to drink that nothing seems to bother them. Grasshoppers and dragonflies on the other hand don't stand a chance. I was fortunate enough this evening around four to witness the LMB dragonfly circus! No fewer than a dozen LMB completely cleared the surface in less than ten minutes trying to catch dragonflies. Some of them looked like Shamu at Sea World reaching heights of over two feet and turning a backwards summersault. It was a sight to see and wish I had it on film. I almost fell in several times from laughing so hard.

that sounds like alot of fun to see. how did you train them to snatch dragon flies?

Had the place over ten years and this is the first time I've ever witnessed it. The dragonflies were swarming pretty thick (mating and laying eggs), several hundred over the upper shallow end of a 3/4 acre pond. The bass ranged from 1/2 to 2 lbs and are in overall good shape. There were times when two were completely out of the water at the same time.

Every once in a while I see my HBG jump like that. I can't say that I can tell what they're after but I'll see one only 3 or 4 times each summer come clear of the water. Never seen my bass jump. Wish I could see what you describe. That would be fun.

DIED,
We have lots of "bald face hornets" here too. I've only destroyed 2 nests of them since they are great at killing flies. One was on a low hanging limb & the other was built in a night light.
The hornets I'm concerned with readily come to lights & there will be several around my front door at night when the light is on ... very disconcerting. They also destroy most of my apples before they fully ripen.
I may just go ahead with the bug light but put out a light & bucket to check for hornets before hand.
Theo,
I have learned that Bee stings are acidic & wasp stings are alkaline for what good it is. I don't know about fire ants. I guess there's only one way to find out. Maybe I'll find a fish I don't like & feed him some hornets

FamilyTradition, I have seen our Bass jump out of the water too, its always a surprize. I don't know how any one can catch them things when they jump up and spit the lure back in your face. I think they are neat to watch tho, they look like acrobats. :p