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Ponds in the UK

mosquito larvae help

17 years ago

hi my 6 week old natural pond is stuffed with the mozzy larvae and i wondered what i could do about it. i have a think a frog and a toad living within but it doesn't seem to help. i don't want to have fish. i don't have any pond skaters yet in case that would help. what can i do?

thanks

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Comments (7)

dampflippers
17 years ago
Hmmm. Fish and newts love them, but you don't want fish, and newts may take a few years to arrive.
You could get a fine net and try to skim them off, but it won't really help much.
Pond skaters and pond beetles should fly in or otherwise arrive by themselves.

Maybe someone else can help.
By the way it always takes a new pond a while to settle down and get in balance. Has it gone green yet? That usually happens.
lowlife
Original Author
17 years ago
no it looks like french onion soup but i've been skimming it every day. the little larvae just drop to the bottom as soon as the water is disturbed near them. the pond has a frog and toad (i'm guessing this as they're different colours) already.
i take it the bti dunks are not licensed in this country??
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dampflippers
17 years ago
Have you got lots of oxygenating plants in the pond yet?
dampflippers
17 years ago
Just a thought. You say it is a wildlife pond. Don't forget bats will love to swoop over your pond to eat the mosquitos once they emerge. And when diving beetles and dragonfly larvae etc arrive in your pond, they, being carnivores, will need something to eat. The wider the range of plant and live food, the greater the range of creatures your pond will potentially support. So think of the mozzie larvae not as a pest but as a resource or "bait" for pond creatures.
Roderick Starns
8 years ago
if you have marginal plants you might get dragonfly larvae who eat them
big_kid
8 years ago
Yes, plants of all kinds, just like Dampflippers says, that's the answer. I'm really sad that I haven't seen any bats here for a few years now, but I delight in seeing the occasional dragonfly swooping around my garden, looking for its grub.

Great to see you back, Dampflippers!
big_kid
8 years ago
Oh dear, just realised this post goes back to 2007. Come back, Damplippers, all is forgiven!

Big Kid

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