Newbie needs help discovering what is growing in my pond

[absolutjer]

I have been lurking here for months but decided it is time to create an account and get involved here, it seems like a great forum.

I have been building my pond for just over a year and finally got it filled with water 3 or 4 weeks ago. I have not added fish to the pond yet.

It got pretty green fast so I added a 57w UV light in my Savio skimmer and that has cleared it up pretty good, so the green issue I had likely has nothing to do with my problem but I thought I should mention it in case.

There are some little creatures growing inside the basket on my pump and also on the exit falls of my Savio waterfall filter. (I am sure they are other places also, these are however the only places I see them)

I'm not sure what these creatures are but can only assume they do not belong.

I also started the water out with microb-lift, but I can't imagine these creatures are from that.

I just thought I better ask here to find out what these are before adding fish to my pond.

This is my second pond, but I am totally new to pond care. I bought a home a few years ago with a pond in the back and fell in love with it so when we bought our new house I just had to build a pond.

I did not really know what I was doing with the old pond but it seemed well established so there was really minimal work- I basically just fed the fish it came with for 3 years with no problems.

Now that I have built a new pond I decided its time to learn as much as I can about Koi so I can make a nice home for them.

Thank you in advance to anyone that can help me figure out what these are and what I should be doing to get rid of them, or if they are actually ok to be in the pond please let me know that as well.

[luke frisbee]

DAD Gum.
well I ain't got em but I can tellya they do belong..whatever they are.
I hate to tell ya but that looks so clean right now that I could drink it.

[Casw]

Google "Caddisflies" or "Caddisfly larvae" - I'm pretty sure these are the insects laying eggs in your pond. Since some have made it into your basket you might see dead flies when they metamorphose and that should confirm it.

Edit: KoiCop beat me to it but I was going to say Black fly larvae

[KoiCop]

Hello absolutjer . . .

Black Fly larvae.

Mosquito Dunks/Doughnuts in your sump/skimmer will kill them -- which is a wise precaution because the adult fly bites can draw blood.

Here are some closeups of the ones we had in our waterfalls (for comparison) until we figured out what was going on and nuked 'em.

[luke frisbee]

the reason you see them where you do is because the koi EAT them when they can get at them....

'nuke them" and reduce the natural food for your koi.
have you been bitten by black flies?
if not many insect have similar larvae to this

[moikoi]

yeah, i got zillion of those on my waterfall ,but they don't seem to bother the fish.

btw; mine are light brown, not black like Don's

[absolutjer]

Thank you all for your feedback here and thank you Koicop for letting me know what these are!

I was worried it was going to hold me up on being able to put Koi in my new pond. To say I am anxious is an understatement after waiting over a year for this pond to get finished.

I searched for images of these little buggers on Google for about an hour... not sure why I did not think of posting it here first! Maybe it was that old- hate to ask for directions thing kicking in!

Now just deciding if I should get rid of these ;-) or let them stay for the new Koi to munch on... I was just worried they would attach themselves to the Koi also like they have the filter, sounds like that is not the case!

I do truly appreciate the help! Thank you again...

[Meg]

4 weeks! put a starter fish in there and get things going!
nice camera, can we see the pond? please?