I suspect they are probably mosquito larvae.

I finally remembered to upload the pictures I took of the tiny bugs. I apologize, they're not super clear, but here they are.

Just for scale, I do believe that's a piece of straw in the water.

I was thinking it might be some sort of gnat but after looking at the pictures, I'm starting to wonder how slugs start their lives? I haven't seen a slug here yet, so I'm not bettin' on that one, but in the picture it almost looks like a mini slug climbing up the plastic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

I have no idea what those are, but they aren't mosquito larvae. The later has a pretty distinct way of 'wiggling' - small white rods that almost bend in half and straighten out quickly.

Honestly, if it were me, I wouldn't worry about them, maybe see what they turn into when, and if, they grow up. :-)

I was thinking something smaller than that, Bean. I have very, very tiny bugs in my pond that persist even after IÂve killed the mosquito larvae with Dunks. I donÂt know what they are, but I was thinking maybe it was what you had, but itÂs not. Mine are WAY smaller. Since yours are long, do/did they "squiggle" around? ThatÂs what mosquito larvae do! If thatÂs not what they are, I donÂt have any other ideas. But I see two different things there. Since you have Picasa, if you crop one of the pics to get a really, really closeup, might it help?

Slugs lay eggs that look like tiny clear round beads, usually on the undersides of leaves or on the soil surface. They wouldnÂt have been in waterÂbut I agree that a few of them look like very small slugs!

Maybe with the pics somebody else will have some ideas. IÂd like to know what mine are too, but theyÂre way to tiny to get a picture of. But whatever they are, they donÂt seem to do any damage to anythingÂor to evolve into anything!

Skybird

I gave my microscope away years ago and will soon purchase a new one for the 6-YO, and these things are not mosquito larvae. Seeing their propulsion thingies (that I can't remember the name of after 3 glasses of wine), these are typical pond dwellers that prey on smaller critters.

No worries. Carry on.

Dan

They are really cute!

I was thinking today, as I was completely covered in mud and bugs while digging out weeds, that if I did not like bugs, I'm not sure I'd love gardening as much as I do.

Oh, wow, that sure is a lot of them!

They didn't wiggle like mosquitos and unfortunately, these ARE cropped versions of the photos. They just get fuzzy any closer. There were a lot more of them but I dumped them all out, laid out the plastic to dry and folded it up (I'd like to say it's put away, but it has only made it as far as the front porch so far).

If I ever see them again, I'll try to take a better photo.

jclepine,
I always thought it was funny that when my stepson was young (about 4 or 5) when he found interesting bugs, he would come to get me, not his dad... Once at a party, he drug me over to watch a moth getting fried by the bug zapper. I could have done without that one :-)

I had a hard time convincing that same kid as a teenager that spiders really were ok. When he moved in with us at 15, his room was in the basement where we did have a few spiders. They weren't big ones, but he sure acted like they were the size of tarantulas!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener