Springtail or Water Boatman bugs?????

[kc101]

We have had our 24,000 gal., below ground, gunite, swg pool for three years. All has been wonderful until, suddenly, this summer our pool has been invaded by these tiny, sub-surface, fast swimming bugs. They have been occupying certain, less circulating, corners of our pool.

I browsed the forum for bugs attempting to identify the culprits and have come to the conclusion that they may either be Springtails or Water Boatmen bugs. I attempted to copy of a photo to this post, but was unsuccessful. They are tiny (1/8”) w/ two “backward” facing legs.

FC level is 4 and I have no idea how they are surviving, but they are. I decided to shock the pool and the little intruders are still thriving. The last time my PH level needed adjusting I poured muriatic acid directly into their schools and I think they enjoyed it!!!!!!!!!!

Can you please help me identify these little varmints and, more importantly, rid my pool of them?

[kc101]

This looks like them:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/backswimmer.aspx

[Watermom]

Is this what you have? (Pic in link.)

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?3596-I-found-a-water-boatmen-in-our-pool...

[kc101]

That's them.

[tammyncook]

I've been finding the bugs with the oars for legs :) in my pool dead, so SOMETHING must kill them!

[sunlove]

Can someone please help me. I have these YUCKY bugs in my pool and despite bleaching/shocking it every evening they are still there...nothing else has survived not even the algae so not sure why they are still in there...how did you kill them??

[PoolDoc]

Basically, they can live in the same water you can swim in. You can probably get rid of them with foamy algaecide, but that also messes up your water for YOU, to some degree.

You don't say if you have springtails, which are just there when they hatch, or water boatmen who can live there. But, if it's water boatmen, they can fly, and will mostly leave now that there's nothing for them to eat in your pool.

[sunlove]

They are what we call backswimmers which I think is the same thing as water boatmen. There was one dead one floating but the biggest one is still there, along with a couple other smaller ones. Neat to watch but I'm not swimming with them ;) Will scoop them out and step on them if all else fails!

[PoolDoc]

Will scoop them out and step on them if all else fails!

Step hard and fast: they bite!

[AnnaK]

Wikipedia is your friend :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backswimmer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corixidae (Water Boatman)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springtail

Backswimmers swim upside down near the surface of the water. They are predatory and bite.
Water Boatmen swim near the bottom and don't bite.
Springtails are very much smaller than either of the other two and are probably not what you're seeing.

I seem to remember a discussion by Waterbear elsewhere that adding borates to pool water helps keep these insects under control.

[Watermom]

Boy --- that springtail is ugly!