I found a water boatmen in our pool...

[gonefishin]

What a strange looking bug! It was swimming in and under the water with the greatest of ease With legs that appeared to be backwards.

Well...I couldn't catch the thing...but I ended up splashing it out of the pool. But I couldn't find it outside of the pool to squash it.

I've never seen a bug like this before...and wanted to touch base to find out if this particular bug could point to a problem I may not know yet (are they attrcted to xyz condition?)

Never seeing this bug before...is this a bug where I see one...I'll be likly to see many more?

Is there anything you could do to keep them from getting in the pool? do they fly?

The pool looks great...crystal clear...holds it's chlorine very well (with a cya of 30). I vacuum, run the filter and check the water often.


thanks,
dan

[poolrx]

I believe the picture is one of a backswimmer. Very similar to a water boatmen. Backswimmers fly and they can bite. I have had them periodically over the last several years. You have to kill them or direct them into the filter to get rid of them. They are not agressive though. They usually swim away when you get near.

See link for more info
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2037.html

[gonefishin]

Thanks poolrx,

The picture in the other post is one I found while searching the internet. It isn't of one of my bugs...but very similar looking. I'll have to get a picture of one of them.

I had two more today...so perhaps this will be a new battle I have on my hands. They're kind of neat to watch swim...but still too quick for me to catch, except with the vacuum hose

thanks again,
dan

[lizzie64]

Hmmm -

I think I just found 3 of these little buggers in my pool. At first I thought they were tadpoles since I didn't know there were any bugs that could swim underwater.

Very weird.

[matt4x4]

everyone gets them, they like water, they almost make a game out of the whole catch and destroy routine.
The net works well, that's actually how I get most bugs etc. out.
They tend to live through shocking too.
My neighbour had one the size of a quarter when he opened his pool, I told him that whatever's growing in his pool, this thing obviously likes it, it was probably 10 times bigger than the ones I catch in mine.

[gonefishin]

They are such strange little creatures...and quite good swimmers! Well, I haven't seen any for a while. I've found that they're much easier to catch with the vacuum hose...but do be warned. I sucked a few up in the vacuum hose but you still need to kill this things. I've had them pinned in the strainer, under vacuum for over an hour...when I emptied the basket they start to take off...so I squashed'em! I imagine if you turned the pump off without taking them out of the pool...they'd just swim away.


Have you squashed a water bug lately?

dan

[NWMNMom]

We have had some that swim under water too but do not look like that (eyeballs/head way different) They come up every so often, then dive back down to hang on the ladder or the sides. They are black and have more of a rounder/beetle body with two legs they swim with We only get them if the cover is off at night. We keep it tight to the sides and seem to avoid having any - our 18' round softside had them terrible just below the rim of that inflated top. Just once so far this year.....hard to catch and jump if you net them, they have other legs they use when they hit the ground...

[MBeardsley]

Ew! I have them terribley. It rained last night and there seems to be more. I have fished out at least twenty of them today and as you all have said you have to squash them or they just fly back in. The pool store guy said there is a chemical that you can put in the water that pushes them to the bottom of the pool and ultimately drowns them, but he himself did not seem to be sold on it. Has anyone else heard of anything to keep them from getting in the first place. They are so ugly! Thanks in advance for any help!

[moedo]

i dont know how to get rid of them either, but i just caught 2 of them, threw them on the deck and watch after 10 min. 1 started edging toward the pool, grab the net threw it down on the ground, meanwhile i looked for the other, he's gone. i was watching the pool again, then i saw the baby, couldnt catch him, i'll wait til tomorrow to see second episode.

[poolrx]

Ew! I have them terribley. It rained last night and there seems to be more. I have fished out at least twenty of them today and as you all have said you have to squash them or they just fly back in. The pool store guy said there is a chemical that you can put in the water that pushes them to the bottom of the pool and ultimately drowns them, but he himself did not seem to be sold on it. Has anyone else heard of anything to keep them from getting in the first place. They are so ugly! Thanks in advance for any help!

I don't know how to get rid of them. I haven't heard of any chemicals, not even shocking the pool kills them. I will say that the 1st year when I was using the pool store chemicals I had quite a few of them. Since I have switched to bleach, borax, and muriatic acid(haven't needed baking soda)and I only recall having one or two of them last year and only 1 this year! Probably just a coincidence or maybe they like the neighbors pool better Only other thing I can think of is that they feed on insects. If you have a lot of insects floating around it may attract them. Everything I read says that the only way to get rid of them is to kill them