Fishpond pest good for dengue control?

By Roberto Garcia

DID you know that a pesky little fish found in fishponds can eat mosquito larvae as soon as they hatch from eggs?

Locally called tuyong, this type of fish breeds so fast in fishponds that it competes with the cultured bangus for food and space and is thus considered a persistent pest.

But instead of being just a problem for fish farmers, tuyong could prove valuable in curbing the spread of the dengue disease, a problem that has been plaguing various parts of Pangasinan, most especially Dagupan, known as the bangus capital of the world.

In other countries, specifically the United States, the government promotes this fish to control the population of mosquitoes that can potentially bring harmful diseases. In fact, it is appropriately called “mosquitofish” because of its ability to feed voraciously on mosquito larvae as part of its natural diet. Studies in the US show that this biological control of the production of mosquitoes in stagnant or running water has been proven effective and that it has become a critical part of their mosquito eradication program.

This species of fish was introduced into Philippine waters from Hawaii way back in 1905, apparently for mosquito control.

In my experience, mosquito larvae unfailingly proliferate in my newly prepared fishponds where there are no fish stocked yet. However, once fish are stocked, these thousands of kitikiti disappear in a matter of a few days.

The mosquitofish has many other uses aside from merely being a nuisance that that eats my costly fish feeds. When its population has grown dramatically, I usually collect them using a net trap and feed them to chicken, hogs, and dogs. It is actually edible and some people savor it as a regular viand or spicy pulutan. This fish is so hardy that it grows even in the most unsuitable conditions and easily breeds.

Back to its potential as a combatant for the spread of dengue, there is an urgency in dealing with the dengue crisis which affects not just Pangasinan but many other parts of the country.  Every available resource or opportunity should be tapped to alleviate the problem. And definitely, mosquitofish has a good potential to control the dengue-carrying mosquito because it is abundant and free, widely available, environmentally friendly, indigenous to the area, and proven effective.

A system for coordination, production and distribution of the fish to dengue affected areas could be established. Even in areas where dengue is not known to occur, the mosquitofish can be stocked as a preventive measure. It could be as simple as getting a bucket of the fish and throwing them into stagnant waters at two to ten fish per square meter, depending on the density of the mosquito larvae.

To quote a former DOH secretary, “Let’s do(h) it!”

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