Keeping critters out

[red-beard]

Now that my new water is under control, the two biggest headaches are worms and fireants.

Worms: I'm always finding them in the pool in the morning. I think they do not like the watering of the yard. But they drown in the pool. Stupid worms! I need some sort of "worm fence".

Fireants: The next sunny day after a rain, the fireants send out royalty to found new colonies. They are attracted to the shining water (a vote against Borates!). For one or two days, the pool is full of ants. Scoop 'em out and more land, until dark... I hate the S.O.B.s on general principle, but to get in my pool! The WORST is when there are enough that they create a living ant ball!

I don't think there is anything that can be done. Just venting.

PS - After scooping the ants, I "flip the net" to seal it and then put it in the hot tub to drown the suckers!

 

[mgtfp]

Tell me about it... Worms basically every morning. Little frogs about one or two a week at the moment. Very agile swimmers, trying to escape my rescue net. But they usually survive as long as I remember to check the pool in the morning. Don't wanna be there:

Help!! Exploding Toad

Our pool is open all year round, just with reduced filtration time in winter. The 40 m3 pool runs on PHMB/Peroxide, sand filter. There's a bubble cover that's used from spring onwards. pH, TH, TA, peroxide and PHMB levels are all spot on. Yesterday, when taking the bubble cover off for the...

www.troublefreepool.com

And ducks. They look very cute and innocent, but they only need a fraction of a second to make a mess of the pool. Sometimes you hear them landing, run out, and they basically perform a perfect go-around. But they still manage to drop their load into my pool.

Oh, and the male trap door spiders are on the move (at least they're not funnel webs, more of a Sydney thing). Part of their mating ritual seems to be to show off how long they can hold their breath in my pool. Apparently quite a long time, these critters keep walking along the pool floor until they end up in my net or the suction cleaner. I don't think I got a dead one out of the pool in four years of pool ownership. Got two of them out this morning, sitting in opposite corners of the pool, each trying to win the contest. Very good reason to keep the pool clean, don't fancy them hiding under leafs. Springsteen described that nicely on one of his Melbourne gigs a couple of years ago: "Only in Australia...".

And twice I had to get blue tongue lizards out. I actually built a little boat ramp for them with a bit of pool noodle as a floater, so they have a chance to get out again. Blue Tongues are our friends, they eat all sorts of critters, particularly lettuce destroying snails. Speaking of snails - they also like to go for a dip, but their swimming style resembles that of pebbles.

Ants should be back in summer.

 

[RMcGirr83]

We've had success using a bug block type of product, like this one

https://www.lowes.com/pd/ORTHO-Ortho-BugClear-Granules-10-LB-10-lb-Lawn-Insect-Control/1002373604

 

[red-beard]

That won't stop the ants. They FLY!