What are these gross creatures?

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Pulled my pump for the season yesterday and placed it in a bucket of pond water in the garage for the winter. All these creatures in the pic must have been living in the pump housing, they now all are attached to the bucket at the water line. Any clue what they are? Are they bad for the pond?

EF60A543-AD3D-4903-BB9D-1E923DB069A8.jpeg
 

JRS

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The waterline location you mentioned made me think of mosquito larvae at first but not if they came from the pump. A bit fuzzy in the pic, gammarus maybe https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gammarus or dragonfly nymphs https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/dragonfly-larvae. If not one of these then I would guess another type of insect larvae such as a damselfly https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/damselfly-larvae
I think they had to come out of the pump as they showed up only after I put it in the bucket. Surprised they can survive the cold here in Iowa.
Assuming nothing I need to worry about in my pond though? It was only my 2nd season and it was a pretty disappointing one as I didn’t have one single day without really green or brown water.
 

addy1

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it was a pretty disappointing one as I didn’t have one single day without really green or brown water.
I wouldn't worry about the bugs, I always find all sorts of stuff when pulling my pump for the winter.

To help with the green water put in a bog or a lot of plants. I only filter with a bog full of plants and always have crystal clear water.
 
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What may be gross to us can be very beneficial to our ponds, such as this thread dragon flies play a critical role in controlling insects. It's like the muck we pull out of our ponds the dead decaying pond scum we remove as soon as well find it. Place this muck in your vegitable garden and watch how gross your plants feel about it. Odds are they will grow as if you had a IV bottle with miracle grow with a drip system.
 
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They don't look like the dragon larvae I get (somewhat similar). There are a lot of different dragon flies and their larvae are most likely not the same.
 
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I hate those darn thing and they multiply really fast too
I think my tilapia love to eat those tho
I dont have thay on my pond
But i have that on my bog filter or on my duckweed /water lettuce
They cling to the plants and eat those dead leaves
 

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They don’t look exactly like scuds (? Scientific name?), but if they are, they are beneficial to the ponds ecosystem. I’m not crazy, though, about larval forms of things that can eat baby fish, tadpoles, etc. They kinda creep me out — I’ll stick to my little scud-buddies!
 

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