Perplexed newbie - Marginal plant

[EdinSpain]

Thanks John, I appreciate that.

 

[addy1]

Put your hyacinths in a tight group, in a floating rope, in a ring, they love being crowded and grow a lot nicer.

 

[EdinSpain]

More questions!!
As I've mentioned before, the pond has a capacity of 314 liters and we have two pumps, each of 300 l/h which we have running many hours during the day. We're currently going through another spell of
high temperatures, 40º Celsius. My wife mentioned that sometimes when she turns the pumps on she gets a quick whiff of the smell of stagnant water. I guess this is not good!! - Any suggestions?
Today, 2 uninvited guests have arrived in the pond. I've attached a photo but really the camera is not is not up to the job of taking close-up photos of tiny objects. They are 2 white crawling insects, about half a centimeter in length, they have segmented bodies which are dark on the underside. They have many pairs of legs 2 of which trail behind as they crawl, they crawl like caterpillars, expanding and contracting as they go, and they don't seem to like water!! Any ideas?
Thanks to John and addy1 for your replies to my last post, your suggestions are much appreciated.

 

[HARO]

We're here to help! John :wave:

 

[j.w]

Can't really see much like you said in that photo. Could be some kind of bug that lays it's eggs in the water and when they mature they need to get out of the water and move on to green pastures. Dragonflies do that but doesn't sound like them.
Does it look like any of these?

http://www.penobscotswcd.org/publications/insects.pdf

 

[EdinSpain]

WOW - that was quick! No it doesn't look like anything on that list. I suspect that they're not aquatic insects. They look to me more like caterpillars than anything else, could it be that a butterfly has laid eggs on the water lily leaf? I've never seen a white caterpillar though, and they are rather flatter than most caterpillars. They seem to be stranded on the leaf unable to get off because of the surrounding water, I suppose I should rescue them and place them elsewhere in the garden but that could result in half of the garden being eaten!!

 

[HARO]

Rinse them off the leaves into the water. Great fish food! :goldfish: John

 

[taherrmann4]

Could they be aphids?

http://t3.gstatic.co..._4OJ3CWqqUm8_O4

 

[EdinSpain]

Definitely not aphids. My wife likes John's suggestion - a treat for the fish! Thanks for the suggestion.