i know im going to get yelled at...

[krap101]

but i found daphnia at the rock river as some of you know. i put them in a 15 gallon rubbermaid and left them outside. i found mosquito larvae/bloodworms (both live) in there today and i netted them out and put like 15 in my tank. my fish have never been happier. i never knew getting fish food/bloodworms was soo easy. just leave it outside and vwala. so im waiting for the daphnia/baby other organisms to grow so i just used a regular fish net so the small things would get through.

might be a good idea but im sure in going to get someone whose going to tell me i wasnt smart by doing that. i know theres risks but i think im willing to take that risk

 

[krap101]

oh and i ecpected them to be mosquito larvae but their not. they look like mosquitos without wings with the tail slanted. if they're straight down then their tail it tilted to the side. i remember them in a book (pond doctor) (i think) where their a baby different bug and they breathe through their tails.

 

[Menagerie]

Just remember pesticides kill. If the area you are collecting has been treated, the pesticides are in the water. Of course, you still have live bugs, so maybe you lucked out.

 

[krap101]

yeah the rock river flows so if it is in the water it'll probally flow out oevr time. and the enviramentalists will stop them b4 that happens. its in the middle of a park 2. like 10 mile radius around the river (park area) so there arent any farms inside. but maybe they might pesticide it further up river though.

any suggestions on the bug? the one with the breathing thing in their mosquito like tail>

 

[PhilMar]

This is stupid, so I'm going to start laughing now , but can fish catch West Nile

 

[fish_doc]

not sure. I know birds, horses, dogs, and people can get it. Are fishes different enough with their circulation system to prevent it.

 

[jaowl]

The horses, dogs & people are being stung/biten by the mosquito. I don't know about the birds, if it's a sting or becasue they ate the mosquito is how they contracted West Nile.

So I would venture to guess that a fish wouldn't get WN unless it is stung. Does that sound about right? do ya think.

 

[krap101]

i dont think they will... but im almost 100% sure their not mosquitos. im going to the library because i know i saw a pic of them in the pond doctor book

 

[Vumeter]

I would get rid of those mosquito looking bugs right away. They sound like the larve of dragonflies (or was it damselflies) which feed on small fish. I found one of those in my tank recently that was killing off my female endlers. I was blaming my female betta until the endler deaths continued after I seperated the betta. During my next gravel cleaning I siphoned one of those bugs into my bucket. Not sure how it got into the tank to begin with. No more deaths since I removed it.

 

[kukerdan]

the only things that are going to kill fish are huge dragonfly larva, or giant water beetles... what you probably have is a damsilfly larva, i have lakefront property, and these things are crawling on the bottom of nearly every rock, does it look like this?

 

[krap101]

they dont look like that. they dont have legs yet either

 

[kukerdan]

its probably a mayfly or caddis fly larva, if it doesnt have legs now, its not going to

 

[bound_for_obx]

Mosquito larva are around 1/4 inch long, give or take, and hang out near the surface. When disturbed they will quickly move around in jerky motions.
Here's a link:
http://www.bugsurvey.nsw.gov.au/html/popups/bpedia_30_vtol_mo-la.html

 

[krap101]

okay sry i said it wasnt mosquito larvae since it is. err. yeah those pics helped. 8P. so i guess well be getting some misquitos this year . (even though 1/4 of my blood goes to mosquito's every year.)

i need a brine shrimp net ;'(. i lose 1/2 of the larvae in the fish net. but i guess thats good because then the smaller ones will grow and ill be able to get em with the net

 

[Endgame319]

Awesome find krap! My betta would die for some mosquito larva.

 

[TankGirl]

Great source of live food, Krap, and thank you for posting about it, since if it had been something nasty you would have found out about it, and now we all know a little bit more about propagating live food.

 

[krap101]

instead of buying daphnia look in lakes/rivers. the rock river is crawling with them and im sure many others are 2 . and i think i can keep them out for the winter 2 . because its something about making more females than males to make the next generation and make males in spring for some other reason .

make sure you dont leave the mosquitos out too long or just buy a couple dozen frogs to keep the mosquitos company

 

[krap101]

oh and any1 want a daphnia/mosquito starter set 8P.

you'll just have to pay shipping. but i dont know how to package it so ill need some tips

 

[vega]

Careful when breeding mosquito larva. In most part of the world, finding mosquito larva in ones house's container is against the law.

HTH

 

[TankGirl]

Right - you might want to keep this a secret from your neighbors, at least around here you can report a neighbor if you are aware of standing water with mosquitoes breeding. West nile virus. Hopefully if you feed all of the larvae then you will actually be reducing the mosquito population, but keep on top of it.