Weird teeny tiny bugs and stinging/flying ant things

[aylad]

The flying ants are a problem here during the summer, especially after rainstorms. If you'll take a 3-4 of those cloth splash balls and let them float in your pool overnight, the ants will crawl up on them. Then you scoop them out and spray them down with ant killer so they don't end up back in the pool. Wash the ant spray out of the ball before putting them back in the pool for the next night. Works like a charm!

Janet

[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.

[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.