How to Get Rid of Water Bugs in the Swimming Pool

If you are experiencing an infestation in your swimming pool it is important you know how to get rid of water bugs in order to keep your loved ones safe.

Generally you need to be aware of two types of water bugs:

• Water Boatman: They are brown-colored, oval-shaped bugs that are usually at the surface of the water. Their bites are painful and sometimes cause mild irritations. They usually feed upon algae and other microorganisms at the surface of the water.

• Backswimmers: They look like a regular bug, but slightly thinner in appearance, and are more common than water boatman. They feed upon the same bugs as the water boatman, but unlike water boatman, they can fly as well.

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Related Article: “Types of Water Bugs”

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How to Get Rid of Water Bugs?

Water bugs are not hazardous to people, but you still can’t swim with them. First of all, it’s nauseating, and secondly, their bites are painful. So, let’s get some basic knowledge about effective measures on how to get rid of water bugs:

• Shock Chlorination

The first and most common method used to get rid of water bugs is through shock chlorination. It’s better to double shock your pool if there’s a severe water bug problem. Instead of one, add two one-pound bags of chlorine shock in 10,000 gallons of water in the pool.

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Chlorine works by killing the algae in your swimming pool, so when there is be no food for water bugs, they won’t be able to survive.

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Neither will they be able to lay eggs, and if they do they won’t live for long. Get rid of all algae residue by brushing and vacuuming to ensure complete removal of the food source for water bugs.

• Cooking Oil

Cooking oil may sound like a strange method of how to get rid of water bugs, but it is an efficient way to kill them.

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Cooking oil is denser than water. Therefore it creates a layer on the water surface, thus blocking the oxygen.

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Water bugs can’t survive without breathing, and they’ll die of suffocation within 24 hours. When using cooking oil you need to put some water in a large bucket, and then add a layer of cooking oil to it. Afterward, skim out the water bugs from the bucket, and cover it up. They’ll be killed in a short time.

Some people also recommend putting oil directly into the swimming pool. Though it’ll bring the same desired result, cleaning the water after that massacre will be a real challenge.

• Liquid Detergent

One easy and effective remedy to eradicate all water bugs from your swimming pool is to use liquid dish detergent for this purpose. Add a liquid detergent to the water in less quantity; about 1/8 cup in standard 10,000 gallons of water. Leave it for 24 hours, and it’ll kill all the bugs in the water, and you have to skim them out.

Liquid detergent works the same way as cooking oil does. It creates a film above water surface thus blocking the air for water bugs and killing them by suffocating them.

How to Avoid Water Bugs

Prevention is always better than cure so take these vital precautionary measures, and make them unfavorable places for these aquatic bugs.

• Maintain the cleanliness of the pool. Skim out all the debris and algae out of your pool every day, and brush the sides and floor.
• Put an algaecide in your pool water on a weekly basis to avoid accumulation of algae so there won’t be food for water bugs to survive.
• If practical then use pool covers as well.

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