If white vinegar is poured into a small water pond will it kill the bees

[annette]

I keep my hives up at a yoga school up the block from me. Have been there since 2006.

They have a small water pond, where one pool pours into another pool. They have found mosquito larvae in the pond and want to pour white vinegar into one of the pools.

My bees drink the water from this pond and I asked them please not to do this until I found out some information.

So are the bees safe if they use vinegar in the pools??

Also they have a cat that drinks the water as well. Will she be safe?

Thanks for your help
Annette

[Spear]

I'm sure that the cat wont suffer any ill effects from the vinegar, however I'm sure of the bees... Sorry could not be of much help with regards to the bees...

[Steel Tiger]

 I've heard of people adding vinegar to their sugar water to lower the Ph.

[greenbtree]

Wouldn't throwing a few feeder goldfish in the pond work?

[iddee]

Some beeks add a teaspoon per quart of vinegar to their sugar water to retard spoilage.In that concentration, it doesn't hurt the bees.

[rober]

vinegar won't hurt but goldfish or minnows will do a better job, are cheap, & will last longer. I have a friend who puts goldfish in his rain barrels. some are on their 3rd year

[GSF]

I use a teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar per quart of sugar water. I've never used white vinegar.

[nella]

Well Annette, I don't know if this will help but my porch is thirty-six ft. long and at the end is a fieldstone wall about five ft. lower than the porch floor, to save me the chore of traveling up a flight of stairs I will go to that end of the porch and do a whizz. I do get in some trouble for that but---oh well that is another story. My bees are about forty ft. from the fieldstone at the end of the porch and frequent the dry stones gathering something, so I would think that apple cider vinegar might not harm them.

[annette]

So it seems to depend on the concentration. Not sure how much they had planned on pouring into the pond.

Regarding the goldfish and such. We had many goldfish in there, but the bull frogs ate them all. We also had some sort of mosquito larvae eating fish that the county gave us for the pond, but I think the frogs ate them all as well.

Maybe it is time to get rid of the bull frogs and get the goldfish again.

Thanks for all the responses.

Annette

[RHBee]

So it seems to depend on the concentration. Not sure how much they had planned on pouring into the pond.

Regarding the goldfish and such. We had many goldfish in there, but the bull frogs ate them all. We also had some sort of mosquito larvae eating fish that the county gave us for the pond, but I think the frogs ate them all as well.

Maybe it is time to get rid of the bull frogs and get the goldfish again.

Thanks for all the responses.

Annette

I'm pretty sure that the vinegar won't hurt the bees. I would get rid of the bull frogs and restock the goldfish. The frogs are kinda like a pond apex predator. Besides, they're pretty good eating.  :-D
Ray

[Dimmsdale]

You can get mosquito dunks from lowes or Home Depot.  They are made from BT and will not harm your bees.  Very effective at killing larva.

[schawee]

Annette, if you need a good Cajun to come take care of your bullfrogs,ill  come help you out.i guest I would have to bring jp.cause he said I owe  him a frog trip  lol.     schawee

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

copy on the dunks. they work, and won't harm the bees or the fish. it isn't a chemical thing it is a bacteria thing. larva eat bacteria, bacteria grows inside and kills larva.

[annette]

Annette, if you need a good Cajun to come take care of your bullfrogs,ill  come help you out.i guest I would have to bring jp.cause he said I owe  him a frog trip  lol.     schawee

Are you gonna bring the boat also?

[annette]

copy on the dunks. they work, and won't harm the bees or the fish. it isn't a chemical thing it is a bacteria thing. larva eat bacteria, bacteria grows inside and kills larva.

Yes I am going to Home Depot and getting the mosquito dunks.

Thanks to everyone for helping me out.

Annette

[sarahplusbees]

Do the dunks kill other insect larva living in the pond as well? What about fish or tadpoles that eat the bacteria infected larvae?

[divemaster1963]

Do the dunks kill other insect larva living in the pond as well? What about fish or tadpoles that eat the bacteria infected larvae?

the answer is no the bacteria is digestible in fish and animals. In mosquito larvae its not digestible and grows. Their stomach acid can not break it down. Just read the label for the engredants and precautions.

John

I use a colrine pool floater set to the lowest setting. Bees will use the water before using the dirty water and creek. Don't use it if you plan on keeping the frogs or fish though

[jayj200]

here is my thoughts
you can drink vinegar without any harmful affects, other than the slight burning.
people have used it for hundreds of years

bees will drink from pools with chlorine before drinking from fresh water in a pan.
go figure
we also drink water treated with chlorine 

[jayj200]

to kill off frogs and toads

splash with sudsy ammonia

[AL from Georgia]

I agree with some of the others that fish do a great job and should improve the pond overall.  Feeder goldfish or fathead minnows are easy to find and tolerate weather changes and poor water conditions well.