MOSQUITOOOOOOOES!!!!

Moozillion

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A friend of mine has been having several waves of mosquitoes hatching out IN her house!
She has aquariums with aquatic turtles in her home, so the mosquitoes HAVE to be coming from there.
In researching about them, we discovered mosquitoes have a life cycle of 8-10 days FROM EGG TO FLYING ADULT!!! So it takes no time at all for the winged intruders to reproduce!

Since we just went though Hurricane Ida, even people with house generators and no trees on their homes still have to contend with MOUNTAINS of debris in the yards: fallen branches, deep layers of leaves, etc. That takes a good while to clean up. In all fairness to my friend, we've all been working like mad for weeks to get everything cleaned up. So she neglected her aquarium care for rather longer than she might have. Regardless, our best guess is that a pregnant female mosquito came in with her one day on one of her many trips in and out of the back door of her home during the clean-up phase. The aquarium water, which is slow moving anyway (which mosquitoes LOVE) had not been changed, so the mosquito laid her eggs in the tanks and they hatched out. The larvae NEED oxygen, so they hang/float vertically in the water, often up against an object for stability.
Today we found the source: in ONE of the tanks, what looks like rows of bubbles lining the tank wall is ROWS AND ROWS OF MOSQUITO LARVAE!!!! So, they get dabbed up with paper towels throughout the day, and the flying adults get squished.

My friend's name is LetsPretendItsNotMe ?‍♀️
 

ZenHerper

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Take sheets of cheese cloth and drape the tanks...the bugs can't lay their eggs if they can't get to the water. Bit of an effort to do your daily tank chores, but it works.

If you have air stones, turn them up high and bring them up toward the surface -- mosquitoes like to lay in still water.

No doubt the debris outside is maintaining shaded pools of water, increasing the neighborhood population significantly.

((Hugs)) to your *friend*!
 

Moozillion

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Take sheets of cheese cloth and drape the tanks...the bugs can't lay their eggs if they can't get to the water. Bit of an effort to do your daily tank chores, but it works.

If you have air stones, turn them up high and bring them up toward the surface -- mosquitoes like to lay in still water.

No doubt the debris outside is maintaining shaded pools of water, increasing the neighborhood population significantly.

((Hugs)) to your *friend*!
GREAT suggestions!!! THANKS!!! :)
 

wellington

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This is making me nervous. I brought in two water plants from my pond to float in my two aquariums that have fry in them. I now see tiny, hair thin wormy things floating/squiggling around. Did I just bring in mosquito larvae?
I only see them in the fry only tank which is bare bottom. The other tank has Acara in it and some fry. I assume any worm things in there probably got eaten by the Acara.
 

Len B

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This won't help with the inside mosquito problem but if you have standing water outside and access to pine needles drop some needles in the water. I don't know if the females won't lay in the pine needle water or they lay and the eggs don't hatch. But never seen larvae in water with pine needles.
 

Toddrickfl1

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A friend of mine has been having several waves of mosquitoes hatching out IN her house!
She has aquariums with aquatic turtles in her home, so the mosquitoes HAVE to be coming from there.
In researching about them, we discovered mosquitoes have a life cycle of 8-10 days FROM EGG TO FLYING ADULT!!! So it takes no time at all for the winged intruders to reproduce!

Since we just went though Hurricane Ida, even people with house generators and no trees on their homes still have to contend with MOUNTAINS of debris in the yards: fallen branches, deep layers of leaves, etc. That takes a good while to clean up. In all fairness to my friend, we've all been working like mad for weeks to get everything cleaned up. So she neglected her aquarium care for rather longer than she might have. Regardless, our best guess is that a pregnant female mosquito came in with her one day on one of her many trips in and out of the back door of her home during the clean-up phase. The aquarium water, which is slow moving anyway (which mosquitoes LOVE) had not been changed, so the mosquito laid her eggs in the tanks and they hatched out. The larvae NEED oxygen, so they hang/float vertically in the water, often up against an object for stability.
Today we found the source: in ONE of the tanks, what looks like rows of bubbles lining the tank wall is ROWS AND ROWS OF MOSQUITO LARVAE!!!! So, they get dabbed up with paper towels throughout the day, and the flying adults get squished.

My friend's name is LetsPretendItsNotMe ?‍♀️
A couple guppies or mosquito fish will take care of that problem.
 

Paschendale52

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Mosquito fish are what I like for it. They keep a lot of active movement, the turtles chase but never (or rarely) catch and eat them. And their name says it all for what they like to eat.
 

DoubleD1996!

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A friend of mine has been having several waves of mosquitoes hatching out IN her house!
She has aquariums with aquatic turtles in her home, so the mosquitoes HAVE to be coming from there.
In researching about them, we discovered mosquitoes have a life cycle of 8-10 days FROM EGG TO FLYING ADULT!!! So it takes no time at all for the winged intruders to reproduce!

Since we just went though Hurricane Ida, even people with house generators and no trees on their homes still have to contend with MOUNTAINS of debris in the yards: fallen branches, deep layers of leaves, etc. That takes a good while to clean up. In all fairness to my friend, we've all been working like mad for weeks to get everything cleaned up. So she neglected her aquarium care for rather longer than she might have. Regardless, our best guess is that a pregnant female mosquito came in with her one day on one of her many trips in and out of the back door of her home during the clean-up phase. The aquarium water, which is slow moving anyway (which mosquitoes LOVE) had not been changed, so the mosquito laid her eggs in the tanks and they hatched out. The larvae NEED oxygen, so they hang/float vertically in the water, often up against an object for stability.
Today we found the source: in ONE of the tanks, what looks like rows of bubbles lining the tank wall is ROWS AND ROWS OF MOSQUITO LARVAE!!!! So, they get dabbed up with paper towels throughout the day, and the flying adults get squished.

My friend's name is LetsPretendItsNotMe ?‍♀️
When in doubt,mosquito fish do the trick. Works great for one of my mini ponds. Not a larvae in sight. And they're pretty quick, so the turtles shouldn't get em all. Also, they multiply easily. I think Molly and plates do the same , but I'm not 100%.
 

Tom

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Will mosquito fish get too big for an indoor aquarium? Both my tanks are 40 gallon breeders.
Nope. They are similar to guppies. The turtles might get lucky and eat one occasionally, but they will still do their job. I was going to suggest this and then as I read the thread, I saw that several people beat me to it. Here in CA there is a government office that will bring you free mosquito fish for any outdoor pond to keep the mosquito numbers down. They may have something like that back in LA too. For your friend, I mean.
 

Moozillion

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Nope. They are similar to guppies. The turtles might get lucky and eat one occasionally, but they will still do their job. I was going to suggest this and then as I read the thread, I saw that several people beat me to it. Here in CA there is a government office that will bring you free mosquito fish for any outdoor pond to keep the mosquito numbers down. They may have something like that back in LA too. For your friend, I mean.
Thanks, Tom! ??
 

Moozillion

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Ok.
Dang. Yesterday I spent a good bit of time through out the day sopping up mosquito larvae and squashing any adults I could. I didn't see ANY little larvae bubbles in either aquarium when I went to bed last night.
THIS MORNING WE HAD A HUGE WAVE OF MOSQUITOES AGAIN!!!!

So now I've got cheese cloth draped over BOTH aquariums (there's larvae in both). It's carefully tucked in around filter hoses etc. This way the mosquitoes that are OUT can't get back in (to lay eggs) and the mosquitoes that are IN can't get OUT.
But NOW WHAT?
I read that females mosquitoes can live 4 days without food. I can leave the cheese cloth on the tanks for 4 days, and just lift a corner to quickly drop food in. But the larvae that are there NOW may take a few more days to hatch. So I'll have to keep the cheese cloth on. I anticipate both tanks will be FULL of hungry mosquitoes...at least until they die.
I also read that mosquitoes WILL BITE REPTILES. So whenever Millie and Nelson stick their noses up to get some air, they'll likely get bitten!!!!

I'll call Mosquito Abatement and see if I can get a few mosquito fish to add to each tank. I wasn't able to do that today because I still work, and didn't have the time.

GAAAAAAAH!!!!! (that's a scream of frustration and annoyance)
 

Moozillion

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This is making me nervous. I brought in two water plants from my pond to float in my two aquariums that have fry in them. I now see tiny, hair thin wormy things floating/squiggling around. Did I just bring in mosquito larvae?
I only see them in the fry only tank which is bare bottom. The other tank has Acara in it and some fry. I assume any worm things in there probably got eaten by the Acara.
Be afraid- be VERY AFRAID!!!! I apparently have a protracted battle on my hands with the dang mosquitoes.
 

Toddrickfl1

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Ok.
Dang. Yesterday I spent a good bit of time through out the day sopping up mosquito larvae and squashing any adults I could. I didn't see ANY little larvae bubbles in either aquarium when I went to bed last night.
THIS MORNING WE HAD A HUGE WAVE OF MOSQUITOES AGAIN!!!!

So now I've got cheese cloth draped over BOTH aquariums (there's larvae in both). It's carefully tucked in around filter hoses etc. This way the mosquitoes that are OUT can't get back in (to lay eggs) and the mosquitoes that are IN can't get OUT.
But NOW WHAT?
I read that females mosquitoes can live 4 days without food. I can leave the cheese cloth on the tanks for 4 days, and just lift a corner to quickly drop food in. But the larvae that are there NOW may take a few more days to hatch. So I'll have to keep the cheese cloth on. I anticipate both tanks will be FULL of hungry mosquitoes...at least until they die.
I also read that mosquitoes WILL BITE REPTILES. So whenever Millie and Nelson stick their noses up to get some air, they'll likely get bitten!!!!

I'll call Mosquito Abatement and see if I can get a few mosquito fish to add to each tank. I wasn't able to do that today because I still work, and didn't have the time.

GAAAAAAAH!!!!! (that's a scream of frustration and annoyance)
Guppies from the pet shop would work too if you can't find the mosquito fish. The nice part too is if you get a couple females and just one male you'll never have to buy guppies ever again ?
 

dd33

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If you don't have time to get the fish or if the turtles are too good at eating them, I think mosquito dunks/bits are safe with turtles. They use bacteria to kill the larvae, not a chemical.
Mosquitos can easily get blood from a turtle, especially if your water turtles come out to bask. I've even seen them getting blood from the seams between scutes on a gopher tortoise.
 

ArmadilloPup

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Guppies from the pet shop would work too if you can't find the mosquito fish. The nice part too is if you get a couple females and just one male you'll never have to buy guppies ever again ?
This is so true. A long time ago I had a big oscar that was always begging for food, so I started a tank of little black guppies for him and never ran out. I don't think regular live-feeding is recommended anymore, but starting out with 6 guppies sure helped keep that guy plump and happy for almost zero cost.
 

Moozillion

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Guppies from the pet shop would work too if you can't find the mosquito fish. The nice part too is if you get a couple females and just one male you'll never have to buy guppies ever again ?
I’ve got guppies in one tank, and they appear totally disinterested in the mosquitoes and larvae…?‍♀️
 
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