mosquito larvae in rainbarrel

I have been having problems with mosquito larvae in my 20 year old converted oak whiskey barrel rain barrel.
Last year I tried adding bleach unsuccessfully. This year I purchased a gold fish. It died after 2 weeks...
I wonder if there is another solution or if I need to stop using this rain barrel.

 

I use a small piece of 'Mosquito Dunks' in our sump until it runs dry.

"Mosquito Dunks are a safe, non-toxic way to kill mosquitoes. Using a bacteria toxic only to mosquito larvae, they kill mosquitoes within hours and last for 30 days or more. Each package includes 20 Mosquito Dunks and each dunk treats 100 square feet."

I have a small pump in my half-barrel so-called pond. The moving water keeps mosquito larvae from hatching, if eggs are even laid in the first place.

 

Here’s a link to product suggested by @Margot
https://www.summitchemical.com/mosquito/mosquito-dunks/

I see it’s on Amazon Ca

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Old timers used to pour a bit of oil on the barrel water surface (obviously non toxic oil like canola you’d use in your kitchen)

This is based on assumption that you drain the rain water from the bottom (ie a spigot) otherwise you’d be dipping your watering bucket through the oil surface

I notice this old idea is google search result if you’d like to learn more.

Meanwhile
Scoop up some of your guests in to a small bucket (yogurt tub?) and pour a bit of kitchen oil on top and see what happens before committing your nice barrel.

And let us know !

 

For what it's worth, we tried both oil and dish detergent in our sump but didn't notice that it made any difference. Perhaps we didn't use enough.

 

thank you for this info Margot. Sounds like a great product.

 

Thank you for the link and info. I'm going to try the oil experiment because I'm curious and my barrel does have a bottom spigot.
Cheers,
Teresa

 

Margot (above) said they’d tried it ...

But I think give it a try in an experiment bucket (perhaps in the shade cuz this sunshine is so hot! I don’t know if mosquito soup works well :)

 

If your water stays for long period and you are ready to try fish again, then try Guppies instead of Gold Fish. They are tolerant of wide range of conditions. They easily even reproduce in water tanks. Males just loose their butiful colors if water is not clear and well lit.

 

Govt link Regional District of Central Okanagan

Local news link below
ICurbside mosquito control treatment resumes in Central Okanagan - Kelowna News

I saw this news item out of Kelowna BC today

I think the program is administered by RDCO — so maybe the OP can find out more from the Regional District Central Okanagan re what product it is

I would imagine that Okanagan property owners would be curious too - for rain barrels and decorative ponds etc