Thank you for the tips.

I did in fact cut one of one out and I managed to do it without damaging the the receiving threads *phew*. I managed, with a little brute force and ignorance, to actually unthread the other one.

Funny thing is... my pool guy put them in this spring... and he's the one who warned me from the very beginning not to put them in very tight. Next year I'll be opening the pool myself and I definitely plan on using the teflon tape to ensure this doesn't happen again.

Thanks again.