Living in Louisiana, I have some knowledge about water bugs and how to get rid of them in pools. There are two main types of water bugs that can invade your pool, namely water boatman and backswimmers. Water boatman are oval-shaped bugs that are about a half of an inch long and are usually brown or greenish-brown. Their back legs are longer than their other legs with fringed hairs that help them float and paddle around which is how they get their name. They also have wings, and they fly.
Water boatman eat mosquito larvae, and they don’t bite. They also eat algae, which is probably why they’re in your pool. To get rid of water boatman in your pool, you have to get rid of algae first. Use a simple leaf skimmer to get the water bugs out of your pool and then vacuum the pool manually to pick up as much sediment and debris as possible from the water and the pool surfaces.
Vacuum to waste to keep the dirty water from going right back into your pool. You can relocate the water bugs to another part of your yard instead of killing them, as they can actually be good for your backyard environment. //photo of Water Boatman provided by Anita Gould on Flicker.
Call The Pool Guy Northshore for all of you pool maintenance questions, and we will be glad to come out and give you a free quote for our services.