Every time it rains, I find worms in my pool. Yesterday I vacuumed and drained a bit in anticipation of the rain. The pool was spotless. We got maybe 1/4" of rain overnight. The top of the fence is wet, but the verticle faces are dry. Patio's wet, totally dry beneath the eaves. Meaning: it didn't rain very hard. So why are there huge earthworms in my pool? They didn't get washed there by torrential rains. They would have had to climb out of a planter and cross a couple feet of concrete or come out of the lawn and cross even more concrete to end up in the pool. Then what? Do they commit suicide by drowning? I don't see any on the patio, they're all in the pool.

Anybody got a reason or a theory?

Earth Worm Suicide...

My Dad & I used to raise earth worms and we had to put a light over the beds because they would all crawl out whenever it rained. I don't have an explanation for it but the rain sure makes them crawl.

I'm pretty sure the water fills the air space. They want to breath so the climb up. Since pool deck are typically pitched, they crawl up hill till it's too late.

Scott

I always thought they dreamed of swimming, but forgot they didn't know how...

They gross my wife out to no end. We keep a pool net nearby for scooping the guys out onto the deck. With our pool safety cover, they can only get in at one end via a small opening, but somehow they are able to find it!

Earthworms are nocturnal and only come out at night (so a light will keep them in the ground or container) unless their borrows are full of water. Earthworms actually breathe through their skin so if the borrow is full of water they can't breathe and head for non-flooded higher ground. An Earthworms skin is moist (but not flooded or covered with water) which is why they feel slimy, if they dry out, they can't breathe and die.

I would say that when it rains a pool's coping would seem less flooded and the worms end up there and fall in. Also if one lives in an area with a high water table or poorly draining soil (heavy clay near surface) the worms borrows become flooded easier and just about any amount of rain would drive them out.

Here's the big question: How do worms get into a raised spa off the deck? I have been servicing pool for years and still haven't found a logical explanation for that.

There are two reasons why that happens. One is the owner's children are fishing in the spa and the worms fall off the hook. The other is that the owner puts them in there to make sure you guys are checking and cleaning the spa!

All kidding aside, they probably just crawl up there and fall in from going to far. I found worms in my parent's gutters the last time I cleaned them out. How the heck did they get up on the roof or into the gutter. Did some robin decided to drop a meal and then the dropped worm reproduced?

I guess with worms, there is really no telling. Good to hear that you guys go the extra mile to clean your clients pools and spas.

It's what worms do

Check this thread for some insight.

After you have opened the pool I would say the worms are dropped by birds. Since the worms are closer to the surface after it rains its easier for the birds to get to them. I have seen them drop into my pool while headed to the tree beside the pool. Now as to how they get there when you first open the pool I have no idea, LOL

Your pool is so nice and they all know you do not go out in the rain. So the worms sneak over there and jump in. Then, they realize they do not have arms................

It's your neighbour, he doesn't want them in his garden so he tosses them in your pool!

I like worms - good for the soil. I just don't like them in the pool. I also seem to find a fair amount of spiders running around on top of the water in the mornings. I guess vinyl is too slippery for them to climb out?

I used to have a screen enclosed pool and the buggers STILL got in.

What's worse - we used to get these millipedes (worms with armor) - Nasty!!

http://www.google.com/search?q=florida+millipedes&hl=en&biw=1419&bih=644&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=OiXfTbzdBISbtwen5KjrCQ&ved=0CDUQsAQ

http://atshq.org/boards/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9907

We've had our pool for 19 years and never had worms until just last week. We didn't have them all summer and it rained over the last few weeks. We've only had the worms over the last week. Every morning I find 100+ on the bottom of the pool in the deep end. We have an IG concrete pool and 20 tiles have popped off over the winter. Could the worms be coming in where the tiles popped off? I don't see behind the concrete, but I can't imagine why they are in the pool just over the last week. We had a good rain last night and now there seems to be 500+ in the pool this morning. We've never had worms over the last 19 years. Does anyone have any ideas how to keep the worms from going into the pool? Please help!!!!!

That's been discussed and there are no hard fast solutions.

Take the worms as a good sign. If they're in the pool they're in the ground and that means it's healthy.

We have been having problems with earth worms in our gunite swimming pool the past few weeks also. I read somewhere that if you spread table salt around the edge of the decking it will help to dry up the worms and keep them off the deck/coping and therefore out of the pool. I tried this yesterday using plain old iodized table salt. I sprinkled an entire box around the perimeter of the decking. This morning (it is raining today also) there were no worms in the pool. Is this a conincidence? Not sure but it worked for me. Try it and let me know if it worked for you.

FWIW...

Dump 200 gallons of water on your lawn and watch the worms rise up. When we had a air ring style pool the leakage could be enormous if the ring ever was pushed below the water line. Floods the lawn. Worms all over coming up, we would grab them and throw into the raised garden or actually do this intentionally to gather worms for fishing.

The "Worms in Pools" discussion appears to refer to solid pools.
I have a 12 ft diameter plastic inflated pool with a tightly fitting (elasticated) cover.
The pool stands on a lawn.
There are about 10-20 earthworms lying on the bottom.
How can they get in?

Peter Stephenson

Magic?

(that IS odd btw, I wanna know how too!)