Weird teeny tiny bugs and stinging/flying ant things

[rpoldervaart]

Janet,

What is a cloth splash ball? Your idea makes sense because they do tend to climb onto any float that's in the pool?

Thanks,
Robert

[aylad]

They're sold in the pool toys section at WalMart or most anyplace that sells pool toys, usually in packs of 3 or 4--they're just balls made of cloth, about tennis-ball sized, that you put in the water and it soaks water up, like a sponge, then your kids throw them at each other--sort of like cloth water balloons. But it doesn't have to be those--you can float a couple of tennis balls, or a nerf ball, or anything else that will float and is small enough for you to cover in ant spray before they all crawl off.

Janet

[rpoldervaart]

Thanks Janet. I know what you're talking about now. In fact, we may already have some of those.

Robert

[Simmons99]

I know they are expensive - but what about a screened pool enclosure? We would never be able to go out from dusk to dawn without one here in FL. You'll get 2-3 mosquito bites just running from the car to the house on a bad day.

Those worm things - they must crawl across the dirt to get to your pool? Have you tried some sort of residual bug killer around the pool so when they crawl over it they die BEFORE they make it to the pool?

[DogPaddle]

We also get the flying ants in the Houston area, especially after rain. (No sign of the wormy things, though... ) I just take my trusty net skimmer thingy and scoop them all off before getting into the pool.

[sailork]

I suspect the stinging flying ants are a variety of fire ants. The red ones we've got are imported. Yours may or may not be local. Your local university extension office probably has some kind of recommended way of killing them. It's a big deal down here, Texas A&M actually has this;

http://fireant.tamu.edu/

Look for specific instructions on when to put down the broadcast baits and you'll probably do as well on your own as an exterminator.

As far as the wormies I've got no idea. Do you use polyquat in your pool? I've noticed that some bugs seem to die faster since I added it. I figure it's because the polyquat acts like a surfacant and "drowns" them the way watered down dish soap kills bees.

[rpoldervaart]

Ugh! I've got those little brown worm things now. I noticed them in the skimmer a while ago, but I thought it was dust that wasn't sinking. I just saw them in the water by the step and picked some up in a cup. I'll post a picture shortly, but needless to say, I almost gagged to see that the dust was moving. They are little worm like things. I mean little, but there are bunches of them. Too small to pick up with net.

Robert

[shagens]

I have those wormy things in my pool and am disgusted by them. Mine don't seem to be on the top of the water. They seem to be more on the bottom and only towards the top when the pool is stirred up from someone being in there. I noticed them when vacuuming the pool. There were TONS of them in the bag. They are tan in color, almost looks like bleached out grass seed. They look just like that picture that's posted. Most of them were not moving, but at a really close look a few of them were. I shocked the pool yesterday and now it is raining today, so we will see how many are there when I am able to vacuum again. I really would like to know what they are. Who wants to swim in a worm pool?

[maryjo22]

I was having a problem with round black bugs about 2 cm across and also those tiny bugs you are talking about and I have cut down a small tree that was to the side of the pool and I moved my security light to another location. The security light was right next to pool. I was proud of the security light there for swimming at night but I did not anticipate the bug problem. I hope this helps you.