Arrrrggg! Backswimmers

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tlwilson said:
Does Bioguard Backup contain copper? If so, I should wait to use it until after the shocking process is done, right? I don't need stains on top of the bug problem.
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I don't know if it does or not. I could not find a specific answer. I definitely would not use it regularly. I only had to use it that one time. I put it in while the pump was running and let it run through for a little while. Then I turned the pump off for the night. The next morning, hundreds of bugs were dead in the pool. Since then, I have only seen one or two bugs that I scoped out and killed.

I don't believe in adding a bunch of unnecessary junk to my pool, but the bugs were so bad and nothing was helping to get rid of them. And they bite - hard! So for me, it was definitely worth using the Backup.
 
As shown in the MSDS linked to earlier, it does not contain copper. It's just a linear quat so is OK to use for this purpose of killing the backswimmers. Just note that it can foam and increase chlorine demand, but it will eventually dissipate and break down, probably within a week (two at most) unless you re-dose.
 
I bumped the chlorine up to shock level last night according to the CYA/Shock scale on Pool school and then checked OCLT at nautical twilight. I get up at 5:30 anyway, but sticking my arm in the cold water, in the dark at 6:10, wondering if a backswimmer was going to bite me took some resolve! Results of the OCLT were an overnight .5 ppm loss and 0 CC. The water is crystal clear, so it passed the 3 tests for shocking. There was also a significant reduction in backswimmers, although there are still a bunch. I brushed the pool last night and again this morning. I called all 4 pool stores in town and nobody carries Bioguard Backup. 3 of the pool stores didn't even know what a backswimmer is. I could order it from Amazon, but it will take a week to arrive, plus I have to pay $10 shipping. :grrrr: Leslie's is the store that knows what a backswimmer is and he told me that this is bug breeding season. He suggested shocking and then closing the pool. He said the winter will kill these prolific and nasty bugs. I'd rather get rid of them and close with a clean pool. Since the Bioguard Backup is a week away, I'm probably going to get a bottle of liquid pool cover and turn off the pump overnight so that the suface film suffocates the creatures. I hope it works. How low should I let the FC go before it is OK to go overnight without the pump running?
 
Thanks chem geek!
I checked the pool this evening and found only 5 backswimmers. Shocking reduced the number from the hundreds to a handful. I brushed again this evening. Everything I've read said that backsswimmers aren't affected by chlorine. Maybe it didn't kill them, but they're gone. I wonder if they went to the neighbor's pool!
 
tlwilson said:
Thanks chem geek!
I checked the pool this evening and found only 5 backswimmers. Shocking reduced the number from the hundreds to a handful. I brushed again this evening. Everything I've read said that backsswimmers aren't affected by chlorine. Maybe it didn't kill them, but they're gone. I wonder if they went to the neighbor's pool!
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Yeah, that's what I have read too. It's either one of 2 things.
A. It won't kill them, but they don't like it, so they leave.
B. It killed off some nascent algae and other biomatter, thus their food supply for their babies and possibly themselves is gone, so they left & went to greener pastures. ;)

I'm thinking a combination of both, and leaning more towards the latter than anything else.
Also, I'd put your ladder in there too and make sure you pass an OCLT with it there.

BTW, I absolutely love what you said, that 3 out of 4 pool stores near you didn't even know what backswimmers were. I mean c'mon, how ignorant can you be? I know no one person, no matter how smart, can know everything, but if they're clearly an issue where you live and they are a water bug, how could they not know??? :eek:
Plus I think you're in the south, right? So hello bugs! HEHE
Just further cements the inadequacy and lack of education at the pool stores.
You should post that into this thread. Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told you
We'd love to have it there in our collection. :D
 
I've read through all the posts in this thread to try and find out how to get rid of these buggers. Just wondering if anyone else has a salt water pool and what worked for them. I don't have a lot of these bugs but I did remove about a dozen last night. I've seen it said in here about using bleach, I was also told by a co-worker of mine, who also has a SWP, to use bleach or chlorine tabs. My worry is that the bleach will effect the ceramic tiles around the pool or even the pebble sheen. Any idea if it will or not? Is it okay to use this Bioguard in a SWP?
 
I have a SWG. I also use bleach in my pool. It doesn't hurt anything. The SWG converts the salt in your water to chlorine so your pool is actually chlorinated. Bleach doesn't add anything to your pool that is not already there. And yes, the Bioguard Backup is safe for a SWG also
 

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Thanks arcadianrose. I'll keep the info you provided in mind. Right now, I used the Super Chlorinate switch on my control box. Will see how that effects them. The weather is getting cooler so I might not have to worry about them much longer.
 
y_not said:
.....Apparently chlorine doesn't effect them, as they breathe air, not the oxygen in the water like a fish.
They come up for air, trap it under their wing and hairs on the body, then go back down. They will lay eggs in your pool, in the algae. Water bugs eat algae, that's their food source, some it's other, smaller aquatic bugs. Back swimmers eat water boatmen and other water bugs.
Get rid of the algae and the bugs will go away, die off and new ones that come in from nearby sources of standing water will most likely leave when they find no food source. You have to get rid of every source of algae, everywhere, pipes, chlorinators, swg cell parts, ladders, fittings, you name it.

Apparently borates will help keep them out, not sure if they don't like it or what, but it is reported to work.<snip>
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As per my post above, bleach/CL shouldn't effect them. In theory you'd have to make it completely unsafe for humans for it to have any effect on the bugs.

You need to either make sure your pool is clean and that there's no algae, you have to pass an OCLT at shock levels to know this. Check the nooks, crannies, etc.. That you do need bleach for, so possibly that's how you mistook it for that.

If that doesn't work, try borates, or else use the Bio Guard Backup mentioned in this thread. Chem Geek also gives alternatives as well.
 
It seems everyone has varying experiences with water bugs. In my case. adequate chlorine seems to work almost foolproof.

I have backswimmers in the Spring until I start the pool up by shocking. They soon disappear and I do not see them the rest of the swim season.
 
Since the products mentioned leave a film on top of the water, I was wondering, how long should you wait before swimming or is it even okay to swim in it at all ? Being in Arizona pool season isn't entirely over yet.
 
I think it really depends too on where you live, climate, proximity to bodies of water. Be it artificial or man made and whether those bodies of water are still, slow moving or fast moving. Also trees nearby seem to make a difference as well.

I think they can fly, hence they can be in trees and just leap into the water.
*Gee that must be fun! :mrgreen:

Definitely CL is a good thing, clean, clean, clean water.
I shall have to capture some lives one next year and do some tests on them. In the name of science of course. Test one in normal pool water. One in tap water as a control. Then one in shock level pool water. Maybe borates + normal pool water if I have that next year.
Then see which one lives the longest. :twisted:

The problem is making samples that small /w proper CL levels.
 
tlwilson said:
Does Bioguard Backup contain copper? If so, I should wait to use it until after the shocking process is done, right? I don't need stains on top of the bug problem.
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According to this page, http://www.parpool-spa.com/Page/PoolCare/BioGuard_Algicide.html, Bioguard Backup is non-metallic. It says it contains carbon-14. Not sure what that is or how it will affect the water.
 
Carbon-14 is in EVERYTHING on Earth and in the universe. Living things have more of it than non-living things.

We are carbon based life forms, so we're in fact made of it. :)
Scientists also use it to date things. Whiiiiich I won't get into. lol

At least that's my rough understanding of carbon-14.
 
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