Water bugs in pool

[SouthernClass]

I have not seen many people speak water bugs. We had a problem with them this year, for the first time. They are crazy fast so catching them with your net takes care of your daily cardio. Im addition to them not being welcome, the.little $h*** bite and it stings. I read up on them (yes I have OCD) and found out they live off of algae. Once I read this I checked our pool and yep little black spots of black algae. I'm currently in the processing of slamming now. Algae is their food that is why I noticed one or two then next day was three or four,you get the picture. They come up at the surface to breathe so there is a chemical that covers the pool that "suffocates" them but I'm not adding anything to my.pool like that. I would rather just take away their food source. I live in N. GA and was wondering if anyone else is having these problems and if what I'm reading is correct. My hubby did say
last time he was in the pool it felt.like he got stung underwater. Let me know what you guys think or any experiences

 

[cpowderly]

Some seem to think adding borates helps to ward them off. I used to have one or two show up every day or so but have not seen any since adding the borates to the pool. Could very well be a coincidence as its only been a week since adding it but it does seem to be a positive side effect. Either way your first step is to knock out that algae

 

[techguy]

Focus on clearing out any algae then determine if you still have waterbugs. No food frequently means no bugs.

 

[yeggim]

If they bite they are Backswimmers. Backswimmers are predators and do not eat algae. The suckers pack a little punch in their bite.