The City of Laredo Health Department's vector control efforts now include the deposit of fathead minnows in bodies of water as an immediate and long-term means of controlling the reproduction of mosquitoes.  The City of Laredo Health Department deposits about 10,000 minnows in creeks, city retention and detention ponds, abandoned pools, and where there is standing water due to recent rains at least once a month.  This important environmentally safe strategy is being conducted in part through a cooperative partnership between the City of Laredo's Health and Environmental Departments.  This effort is not only innovative and efficient but it helps reduce the use of pesticides which are not the best source of reduction.

Minnows are a natural, environmentally safe way to greatly reduce the number of mosquitoes in fields and neighborhoods near stagnant pools of water.  Of the four life stages of the mosquito (egg, larva, pupa, and adult) the adult is the only state that doesn't exist in standing water.  The female mosquito lays her eggs on the water.  Mosquito larvae must live in stagnant or standing water.  Ponds and streams with waves do not host mosquito larvae nor do bodies of water in which fish live.  Minnows are the most widely used fish in the world for mosquito control, known to consume 230 larvae or pupa in one hour.

The fathead minnows were purchased from a hatchery in Robstown, near Corpus Christi, TX.  The cost for 1,000 minnows is $35; they are an inexpensive means to control the mosquito population because they're adaptable to most water conditions, bear live young that begin feeding immediately, and their gestation period is short, so they're able to produce several generations per season.

Even a small amount of stagnant water is dangerous because mosquito eggs are laid on water that has collected in any structure that holds water after a rain.  The eggs hatch into legless larvae that feed on fine debris and tiny organisms in the water.  Tens of thousands mosquitoes can be produced in even a puddle of water.  Once the mosquitoes are reproduced it costs taxpayers a great amount of money to hunt them down and destroy them.

In addition to the minnows, we also want to remind the public to keep their homes and yards clean,  free of standing water and trash, and to cover trash cans and get rid of old tires.