Mosquitoes?

[off_da_grid]

Other than changing the water out everyday, What can be done about mosquito larvae in the goats water trough? I just cleaned and filled them yesterday and today I already see them in there. Is there something goat-safe I can add to the water? What about those mosquito fish? How big a body of water is needed for them to survive? Does anybody have a solution?

[Woodroe]

How about some apple cider vinegar. I use it sometimes and it seems to do OK.

[DixyDoodle]

I did the old thing of putting goldfish in the trough, but most of them died. I found the fish made the water "skanky" smelling and just as much trouble than dumping the water more often. I'm not sure how long it takes for skeeter larvae to mature (I would assume longer than a week?), but if you can change the water before that point, you would be ok.

Some people also put a few drops of bleach in their water, but be careful with the amount. Also, the bleach solution is often done for horse troughs, so check with an expert before using it for goats. Me, there's just something gross about drinking water that has bleach in it. Reminds me of city water, YUK!

[Tricky Grama]

Can you add a little orange oil to the water? Don't know if this would harm goats but it kills the skeeter larvae.

Patty

[Alice In TX/MO]

Mosquito Dunks

http://www.ghorganics.com/MosquitoDunks.html

[fishhead]

A single goldfish should be enough to eat all the larvae and may not be enough to make the water smell fishy. It won't hurt the goats even if it does smell a bit.

You could always throw a few feeder guppies in the tank and periodically sell off some of the offspring to the pet store for feeders.