Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water, preferably standing water. If your pool has not been used for a while you may find mosquito larvae, or 'wrigglers' as they as often referred to, enjoying an early spring or summer swim. They will also love your pool covers – particularly if they have water accumulating on the top!
In the rare case that a mosquito manages to drop a batch of eggs in your pool or spa, no worries: They won't hatch. The combination of chlorine and/or any other pool sanitizing methods will kill them long before they mature into larvae.
A clean pool isn't inviting mosquitoes. However if they're not properly maintained, swimming pools can quickly become mosquito breeding sites, creating a nuisance for both yourself and your neighbors.
Chlorine. Unfortunately, chlorine won't kill mosquito larvae in moderate amounts. This means you'll have to shock the pool – and even then you might not kill everything.
One of the best ways to keep mosquitoes away from your pool is by keeping it well-maintained. During the summer months, run a pool pump every few hours to create water circulation. Be sure to chlorinate your swimming pool and maintain disinfection levels, as this will help kill mosquito larvae.
Early season mosquitoes will look on these areas of water on your pool cover as ideal places to lay eggs. You can hardly see them – they are tiny rafts of about 100+ eggs that hatch rapidly once the temperatures begin to rise. They will usually hatch before you decide it's time for a swim in the pool.
If you maintain your swimming pool with chlorine and a filter system, it is a very poor site for mosquitoes to breed. Most pools are too deep and have too much chlorine for mosquitoes to use. If you do not clean and maintain your pool, it can become a breeding area.
Or, you'd notice tiny white tadpoles like wigglers on the pool water's surface. These wigglers are mosquito larvae that have hatched out of the eggs. These larvae will feed on the algae or debris in the pool, and they'll rise to the water's surface to breathe. There are four stages in a mosquito's lifecycle.
Are Mosquito Dunks safe for swimming pools? Yes, Mosquito Dunks and the water treated with them are 100% safe for both humans and other living creatures including pets, fish, etc.
Larvae. Within a week, the eggs hatch in water, becoming mosquito larvae called "wigglers." A mosquito larva looks like a small hairy worm, less than a 1/4-inch long. It has a hard round head, a soft body, an abdomen with 10 segments and a siphon tube at the tip of its abdomen.
The floats are “air-filled chambers formed from the outer layer of the egg, the exochorion,” according to Mosquitoes and Their Control by Norbert Becker. The eggs are so small you can barely see them without a magnifying glass.
Impact on Health
Thankfully, mosquito larvae do not bite humans or animals, and even if consumed by animals drinking the water in which they live, they usually do not cause harm.
An Aedes species egg is about 0.8mm in length and under magnification looks like mouse droppings (left). These eggs could be found alone or in groups up to several hundreds. crease in the filter paper. Sometimes the paper needs to be unfolded to reveal potentially a large number of eggs.
And though there are just a few species that can breed in salt water, more common species like Asian Tiger mosquitoes, can do so in areas you'd never consider. Such areas typically lay just on the outer edge of high tide levels along the sea shore.
Dunks® begin killing mosquito larva within hours; you should start to notice a difference in about 48 hours. * Dunks or similar larivicidal products using the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTI) are available in most home centers, hardware stores, garden centers, nurseries, and outdoor pond stores.
If you wish to toss a dunk into y… BTI Mosquito Dunks will not dissolve immediately into water as that is not how they are designed to work. They float on standing water areas to slowly break down over about a 30 day time frame to sterilize the water so no mosquitoes can lay viable eggs in the water.
Mosquito Dunks® can be stored indefinitely because, technically speaking, the dried B.t.i. in Mosquito Dunks® is not living, viable bacteria.
What are Mosquito Bits? Mosquito Bits (here on Amazon) are similar to dunks, and also made by Summit. The Bits release the chemical (same as the Dunks) but more immediately. The Bits are intended for a more rapid control of known mosquito larvae populations.
Each Mosquito Dunk treats up to 100 square feet of surface water. Place Mosquito Dunks in standing water wherever it accumulates around your home: ponds, gardens, flower pots, bird baths, rain barrels, roof gutters, unused swimming pools and more.
Mosquito Dunks
israelensis (BTI) active ingredient is lethal to mosquito larvae but is harmless to other organisms including fish, frogs, and tadpoles.
Mosquito Dunks are very easy to use as all you need to do is place the correct amount of the Dunks to the appropriate amount of water – one Dunk per 100 square feet of surface water.
BTI is the active ingredient in Mosquito Dunks®, the number-one selling biological mosquito control product. When a donut-shaped Mosquito Dunk® is placed in standing water, the BTI in the Dunk™ will kill mosquito larvae for up to 30 days.
Expect to pay between $500 and $2,500 to convert a traditional chlorinated pool to a salt water system, depending on the size and type of pool you have. Salt systems can feature self-cleaning and diagnostics, digital salt readouts, and the ability to control pool equipment.
Any mosquitoes that attempt to stand on the soapy water may sink and fail to lay eggs on the surface. If the concentration of soap is in lavish amount, it can be lethal to the mosquito larvae in the water bodies as well.