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Discussion on Larvae in drinking water
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 25, 2010 - 10:08 am:
Hi DrO and others,
Recently when I've filled my horse's water bucket, I've found 4 or 5 small thin larvae swimming around wildly. They appear black, but when I fish them out I see that they are actually red.
What would they be? Not strongyles I hope?
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Saturday, Nov 27, 2010 - 10:09 am:
Any idea, DrO?
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, Nov 27, 2010 - 12:01 pm:
Hi LL there are a few discussions spread around this site about your problem...here's one
https://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/3/256993.html. We had these in the auto waterers at the barn I worked at, still not sure what they were but they seemed to cause no harm.
I think there is one in the worm section also.
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Sunday, Nov 28, 2010 - 8:21 am:
Thanks Diane, I only found threads. I'll check the link you posted.
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Sunday, Nov 28, 2010 - 8:25 am:
Sorry I meant to say I only found threads ON ALGAE 
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Nov 28, 2010 - 9:34 am:
No LL I don't have any idea. They are not likely to be strongyle larvae, which as far as I know don't live in open water and are microscopic. What makes you think these are larvae and not mature worms of some sort? Perhaps a photo of the animals taken next to a ruler would help?
DrO
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Member:
lynnland
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Posted on Monday, Nov 29, 2010 - 7:40 am:
Hi LL,
Shot in the dark here. Some midge larvae are red (chironomids). However, I have only seen them in natural waterbodies. Here is a like to some info on wikipedia. The photos don't do them justice; the ones I see in sediment samples are really obvious. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chironomidae
Lynn
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Monday, Nov 29, 2010 - 2:11 pm:
Thanks for posting this Lynn! It describes the red larvae I have seen in my fountain sometimes.
Here if Florida we call these "blind mosquitoes."
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Member:
lynnland
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Posted on Monday, Nov 29, 2010 - 2:56 pm:
Hi Vicki,
Glad to be of some help. I used to do invertebrate assessments on waterbodies in my early days as a biologist. The communities you find are a good reflection of water quality. Many chironomid larvae can live in some pretty degraded waterbodies.
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Monday, Nov 29, 2010 - 3:53 pm:
Thanks a lot, Lynn - your shot in the dark found the right target I think! The photos look pretty similar to the wrigglers I found which, by the way, almost disintegrated by themselves when I fished them out of the bucket. Does that sound like midge larvae?
I wouldn't IMAGINE they would be harmful, but I think some chlorine is called for anyway.
Thanks again!
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Member:
lynnland
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Posted on Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010 - 7:06 am:
Hi LL,
Yup, they might fall apart when handled depending on the stage in the life cycle or whether they are simply dying before their time.
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Member:
trouble
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Posted on Wednesday, Dec 1, 2010 - 12:37 pm:
I, too, have seen these in my water tank. I usually will see them if I don't clean the tank weekly. I assumed they were mosquito larvae, although I never really researched it. My horses are healthy and have never had any problems so I assume they are not causing any harm.
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Thursday, Dec 2, 2010 - 5:39 am:
Thanks Lisa.
It's reassuring to hear they haven't caused problems in your horses either.
In any event, I'm glad to say they've disappeared now. I pointed them out to the BM and she said she'd put some chlorine in the water, so presumably she did.
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Thursday, Dec 2, 2010 - 11:45 am:
One would hope that the barn manager would also change the water and scrub out the tank, refilling with fresh.
Dumping some chlorine into the water would not be a solution that would satisfy me and some horses would perhaps be inclined to drink less water thanks to such a practice.
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Thursday, Dec 2, 2010 - 4:11 pm:
The water comes from a well.
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Thursday, Dec 2, 2010 - 7:49 pm:
Oh, she put chlorine into the well. I guess that may be necessary from time to time. I thought the BM was just pouring chlorine into the water tank to kill the little critters . . .
I've had sand come out of my well, never larvae, though I guess I have heard of this happening.
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