Okay, seriously I have about a billion ugly bugs swimming in the pool. They are horrible looking and they are huge (size of dime or bigger). What are these things and why have they taken over my pool??? I just got done brushing the pool and I probably killed about 20 of them. Since having my pool (about 7m) I noticed these small, alien like bugs in the pool with weird legs. But I never noticed there to be lots of them. Then about a month ago I started finding these huge bugs in the pool. At first it was one or two but it seems each day they multiply. And they are tricky little devils b/c once I go on my killing spree, they catch on and swim to the bottom of deep end. Can anyone fill me in on these creatures. Honestly have no desire to share a pool with them...they creep me out!
BUGS INVASION!!!!
- Thread starter Andiejj
- Start date
Andiejj said:
Are you sure they are not your kids???? :lol: Mine swim to the bottom as well when I show up.
J/K. Some pictures would be helpful. If I had to guess, they probably look like ants with wings??? Am I close?
Did they look like these? I've had a few of one or the other. Sometimes I'll even see them in the pump strainer basket swimming around.
water boatman
backswimmer
water boatman
backswimmer
Oh, and here's another. The water scavenger beetle, they get really big ~ 1 inch long and are really creepy (and fast!).
Okay, these bugs are horrible looking so I knew imm. they were not my kids since my kids are kinda cute 
.
I have some of the scavanger beatles - they are small in number and size
The alien bugs I was talking about appear to be the backswimmer. They were skinny and light and color and they zoomed around the pool ~ They are really creepy too but hard to notice unless I had googles on.
So here are my pics. I had a hard time getting clear, upclose pics of them. They either hand out at the top or on the side. They are big. Okay, here goes:
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.I have some of the scavanger beatles - they are small in number and size
The alien bugs I was talking about appear to be the backswimmer. They were skinny and light and color and they zoomed around the pool ~ They are really creepy too but hard to notice unless I had googles on.
So here are my pics. I had a hard time getting clear, upclose pics of them. They either hand out at the top or on the side. They are big. Okay, here goes:
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Yep, that's exactly what's in my pool, but I only have the occasional one. I remember seeing some discussion somewhere on TFP about adding borates (via borax) helps keep these bugs at bay.
Ah, here it is:
Borax and Bugs
Ah, here it is:
Borax and Bugs
Anyone know what type of bugs these are? Dave - thanks for thread but it was all a little complicated for me. If I use Borax then how??? Should I use MA to reduce my ph real low then put Borax in to boost ph back up? Or vice versa? And how long in between the two? SHould I try this to see if it gets rid of these bugs??? UGH!
Andrea,
wow! I feel bad for you. Those pics that you and Dave posted were enough to give me the willies... I would hate to have an invasion of those gross things in my pool.
I would personally do whatever it takes to keep the evil things at bay!
wow! I feel bad for you. Those pics that you and Dave posted were enough to give me the willies... I would hate to have an invasion of those gross things in my pool.
I would personally do whatever it takes to keep the evil things at bay!
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
!
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
!So Dave,
At the risk of a thread hijack.... why did you decide to add the borates? If there's a thread where you discussed this that I missed... just point me the way....
thanks,
steve
At the risk of a thread hijack.... why did you decide to add the borates? If there's a thread where you discussed this that I missed... just point me the way....
thanks,
steve
stevenbrla said:
I added borates for the pH and TA stabilization properties that it offers as well as the algaecide and aforementioned "pesticide" benefits that I have read about on TFP over the last several months since I've been a member. It also seems to give the water an extra "sparkle".
If you do a search for "waterbear and borates" you'll get a lot of good info as waterbear, it seems, has done some extensive experimentation using borates.
Ok, you got my heart racing. I have never added that many chemicals to my pool before and the thought makes me so nervous (and gosh darn it my numbers look great ). I will head to walmart and get some borax and start it tomorrow. Please tell me my pool will not blow up.
). I will head to walmart and get some borax and start it tomorrow. Please tell me my pool will not blow up.It's no big deal, very easy. Just take it slow and test a couple hours after everythings in and adjust as needed. Use Jasonlion's POOL CALCULATOR (if you don't already do so). Very helpful tool!
Also, If you want to do it in smaller steps, that's fine too (e.g. 2 boxes borax + half gal. MA per day for five days - don't have to be consecutive days either). The borates you put in do not go away unless there is water replacement (much like CYA and CH).
If you come up with more questions, just ask!
Also, If you want to do it in smaller steps, that's fine too (e.g. 2 boxes borax + half gal. MA per day for five days - don't have to be consecutive days either). The borates you put in do not go away unless there is water replacement (much like CYA and CH).
If you come up with more questions, just ask!
Adding borates is a fairly large project, requiring significant amounts of both borax and muriatic acid. Muriatic acid isn't the most fun thing to handle, particularly in large quantities. It probably will solve you insect problem, and provide other benefits as well, but I wouldn't undertake it lightly.
Andiejj said:Ok, you got my heart racing. I have never added that many chemicals to my pool before and the thought makes me so nervous (and gosh darn it my numbers look great
For 3 years, I've always had water bugs. Not more than 10 big ones and a small school of the small ones at a time. I figured it was something that went along with a pool. Because of this site, I added the Borax (2 boxes a week) and MA. I didn't know it would keep the bugs away, but when i saw this thread i realized that i can not remember the last waterbug of any type in my pool in almost 2 months....the borax is the only thing i have in my pool that is different than it ever has been. just thought i'd let you know in case you're leaning toward not putting the borax. Now I'm worrying i put too much, i think i'll buy some test strips. Good Luck!
dana
It depends on how high. The normal recommendation is 30-50 ppm. Levels up around 80 ppm aren't a problem. But if you got up to several hundred there might well be some issues.
You also might want to keep your pets from drinking out of the pool if you raise the borate level. If the level gets high enough, it can harm your pet. I'm pretty sure I read that the level recommended (~50ppm) is right at or just below what some would consider safe for their pets, but all in all, I would probably just keep my critters out of the pool or away from the pool if I added borates.