Nor Cal West Nile Spraying

[woodyaht]

Anybody have any info on the affects of the spaying they are doing in the valley on our ponds?

[bekko]

Most areas of the country spray malathion for mosquitoes. In the old days, Nor.Cal. would make them use pyrethrum (made from Chrysanthemum flowers) or something more expensive and environmentally sensitive than malathion - but the times, they are a changing.

With a heafty dose (several parts per million sprayed directly on the pond surface), malathion can cause nasty gill damage to fish. Unless they screw up, you are more likely to get a dose which causes no obvious effect on the fish, but knocks back you pond ecosystem by killing arthropods and other creepy-crawly things. The gill damage happens slowly over a period of days so starting a water exchange after the spray truck or plane goes by would probably help.

-stevehopkins

[koinut]

Hey Chris,

They did spraying all up and down the Sac area, and it is from the flower, not malathion. Supposedly very safe, but you may want to check out vector control and find out if they are going to do ground or from air. If by ground, you can put yourself on a no spray area from the website http:www.fightthebite.net A lot of the Camellia Koi Club members used plastic sheets from Home Depot ($3.49) and covered their ponds, and replaced them every day that they were going to spray. Another good measure is to add activated charcoal just in case.

Vector control does say that it dissipates before even hitting land, but won't account for any problems. They'll just tell you to cover it up.

[woodyaht]

They are supposed to spray the pyrethrin tonight.
I found this doing a search. Hmmmmmmm?



Pesticide (Brand Name) Birds* Mammals* Fish**



acephate (Orthene M L L
azinphos-methyl (Gusathion, Guthion) G G EH
biphenthrin (Talstar) L L EH

carbaryl (Sevin) L L M
chlorpyrifos (Dursban, Lorsban,
Killmaster) H L EH
cyfluthrin (Tempo) L L EH

diazinon (Diazinon, Spectracide,
Knox-Out) H*** L H
dicofol (Kelthane) H L H
dimethoate (Cygon, De-Fend) H*** M M

disulfoton (Di-Syston) H H H
esfenvalerate (Asana XL) L L EH
ethion (Nialate) M M H

fenbutatin-oxide (Vendex) L L EH
fenitrothion (Sumithion) H*** L M
fluvalinate (Mavrik) L L EH

insecticidal oil (Summer oil, Volck) L L -
isazofos (Triumph) H M EH
lindane (Lindane, others) H M EH

malathion (Cythion) M L EH
oxydemeton-methyl (Metasystox-R) H M L
oxythioquinox (Morestan) - L EH

permethrin (Atroban, Ambush, Pounce,
Pramex) L L EH
phosmet (Imidan) L M H
pyrethrum (Pyrethrin, Sectrol) L L EH

resmethrin (SPB 1382, others) L L EH
soap (Insecticidal Soap) L L -
trichlorfon (Anton, Dylox, Neguvan,
Proxol) H L M



* Wildlife hazard is based on the following toxicities:
H (highly toxic) = LD50 less than 30 mg/kg and LC50 less than 500 ppm.
M (moderately toxic) = LD50 greater than 30 and less than 100 mg/kg and/or
LC50 greater than 500 and less than 1,000 ppm.
L (low toxicity) = LD50 greater than 100 mg/kg and LC50 greater than 1,000
ppm.

** Fish 96-hour LC50 toxicities are as follows:
EH (extremely toxic) = less than 0.1 ppm
H (highly toxic) = 0.1 to 1.0 ppm
M (moderately toxic) = 1 to 10 ppm
L (low toxicity) = greater than 10 ppm
To convert fish toxicities to pounds of active ingredient per acre-foot of water,
multiply by 2.7.

*** Active ingredient (not necessarily a specific product) has caused wildlife
deaths.

[JasonS]

Yes, CKC sent out a few emails on this some weeks ago when we were aware of the spraying starting.

Like Garry said, the spray isn't supposed to hit ponds BUT I can't see how it would kill anything but high flying mosquitos otherwise. So covering the pond and making sure none gets into the pond is a good insurance policy. Also keep in mind aeration equipment could inject into pond so you problably want to turn that off between 6pm to 1am.

Yes, HIGHLY TOXIC to fish.

[Lee B]

By the time I got to the bottom of the message, the answer had been given.

Personally, if given the choice of pyrethrenes versus malathion, I'd take the malathion any day. In the dose that could possibly reach the pond, it's nearly harmless. Don't forget that malathion can be used in pond treatments in doses much higher than the pond's going to get from the spray. But the pyrethrenes are poisonous at extremely low doses.

If you can't cover your pond for whatever reason, install a couple of pounds of activated carbon somewhere in the system to absorb the insecticide. It will help.

Lee

[saratogatan]

I just ran across some info on the chemical used for mosq spraying in silicon valley. I think ist is called PYRO*****ne 2-25, sorry, cannot remember the whol name, I am getting old.

They said this is safe for everyone except mosq larvae. (yeah right)


stan