I thought I'd share my experience with backswimmer bugs...we've just recently had a few...I've been bitten twice...OUCH! And they ATTACK! They think it's their pool...we'll...I've got about $20k to tell them different! ******s 
There's also 'water boatmen' everything I found said they didn't bite...not what I had! And "water scavenger beetle" I had one of these....ALL GONE
I've found two solutions so far...there is the TFP, no pool store way thanks to ktdave(hope it's ok to copy/paste out of another thread):
I didn't want to deal with borates or get something else to test for...maybe I'm lazy...
There is another option that I went for...yes...I went to a pool store...but hey, this store has always been honest with me, given me fair rates on equipment and I've known the guy for a few years (California Pools in Richardson TX if you're in our area...both Ed's are two of the 'good guys')
I opted for $18 bottle of BioGuard Back Up...as soon as I said 'backswimmers' Ed sold me a $18 product...maybe a money maker but not like a lot of the stories I've heard from pool stores. I needed the whole bottle for my pool for the first treatment....NO BUGS! Even the ones that would live on the top of the water were dead...oh, and it kills algae! COOL! I figure I might spend about 35/45 dollars keeping these things and algae away but for my dollars...WORTH IT! And it's very simple.
Well, just thought I'd share my experience...these are nasty little bugs, I think having a dark bottom (Ocean Blue Pebble Sheen) pool might have given them the 'pond' look they were looking for...I just don't ever want to see one or have one bite me again! OUCH!
So, thanks TFP for an easy search, a couple of solutions, I just figured I'd roll them all up into one. It has also killed all the other bugs I've seen in the pool, the 'skiters' (sp?), ants don't go near it, and the bi-monthly treatment isn't that much...worth it to me since it's cheaper than me buying enough 20 mule team to treat my pool (28k gallons).
I hope the long post isn't too much for everyone, I'm just trying to consolidate all my searches, reading, experience into one...I'll be happy if it helps one person out!
Hope everyone else gets enough value out of TFP to get a lifetime membership...or better! I think I might be showing more support soon!
There's also 'water boatmen' everything I found said they didn't bite...not what I had! And "water scavenger beetle" I had one of these....ALL GONE
I've found two solutions so far...there is the TFP, no pool store way thanks to ktdave(hope it's ok to copy/paste out of another thread):
ktdave said:Andrea,
If you want to try and add borates, I would shoot for 40 ppm. In that case, you will need 10 boxes of 20 mule team borax (green box sold at Target, Wal-mart, most supermarkets in the laundry section). You will also need about three gallons of muriatic acid.
Put your intelliflow on speed 4 (high speed). Add 1 gal. MA. Then maybe 15 min later add half of the borax (5 boxes slowly into skimmer). I would do a round of brushing between each chemical.
Wait about 2 hours and check your pH and adjust accordingly. You'll proably need to add some MA.
Then I would wait a day or two and repeat, adding the last five boxes of borax and finally get your pH in check.
I just did this myself and I ordered some borate test strips from http://www.lambertshomeservices.com/ for $10 for 25 tests.
Hope this helps and good luck! Ask questions as needed!
I didn't want to deal with borates or get something else to test for...maybe I'm lazy...
There is another option that I went for...yes...I went to a pool store...but hey, this store has always been honest with me, given me fair rates on equipment and I've known the guy for a few years (California Pools in Richardson TX if you're in our area...both Ed's are two of the 'good guys')
I opted for $18 bottle of BioGuard Back Up...as soon as I said 'backswimmers' Ed sold me a $18 product...maybe a money maker but not like a lot of the stories I've heard from pool stores. I needed the whole bottle for my pool for the first treatment....NO BUGS! Even the ones that would live on the top of the water were dead...oh, and it kills algae! COOL! I figure I might spend about 35/45 dollars keeping these things and algae away but for my dollars...WORTH IT! And it's very simple.
Well, just thought I'd share my experience...these are nasty little bugs, I think having a dark bottom (Ocean Blue Pebble Sheen) pool might have given them the 'pond' look they were looking for...I just don't ever want to see one or have one bite me again! OUCH!
So, thanks TFP for an easy search, a couple of solutions, I just figured I'd roll them all up into one. It has also killed all the other bugs I've seen in the pool, the 'skiters' (sp?), ants don't go near it, and the bi-monthly treatment isn't that much...worth it to me since it's cheaper than me buying enough 20 mule team to treat my pool (28k gallons).
I hope the long post isn't too much for everyone, I'm just trying to consolidate all my searches, reading, experience into one...I'll be happy if it helps one person out!
Hope everyone else gets enough value out of TFP to get a lifetime membership...or better! I think I might be showing more support soon!
