Question about live food (mosquito larva )

[BLUElobster99]

Ok so i hear alot of people feed their fish mosquito larva saying that it imporves color and is very healthy.

So i have some stagnant water in my yard with lots of larva.
Is it safe to feed "wild larva"?
Does this larva carry diseases that might be harmful to my tank?
And would any of my fish be interested in it?
I have
5 checkered barbs
2 balloon mollies
1 julidochromis
2 zebra danios
2 crayfish "lobsters" (electric blue and mexican orange dwarf"

So would these fish benefit from the larva.
And would my crayfish be interested in it too?

Another question is whether it would pollute my tank
I have an old school undergravel filter (without cartridges)
Would the larva pollute a tank with an already large bio load?
Btw its a 30 gal

 

[armymp327]

i would think it would be a bad idea just because you are taking them from stagnant water in the wild, who knows what bacteria or parasites are in the water that will then be introduced to your tank (attached to the larva)

 

[BLUElobster99]

So my fish would get sick?

 

[armymp327]

it is a good possibility so for that reason i would not recommend it, i try not to take chances when it comes to the lives of my fish

 

[Craw Chief]

It's definitely a possibility that the larvae are harboring some type of bacteria. I seriously doubt that the larvae would be harboring anything like a disease or something that would harm the fish though. Fish and mosquitos are not typically going to be susceptible to the same diseases. But like I said, there could be some kind of bacteria in that water that you don't want in your tank. It would be a risk.

Your crayfish, however, would eat the larvae no question. They will eat almost anything.