What are these extremely tiny wormlike critters in my pond?

Sorry, no pictures, they aren't very photogenic .......

Just noticing in my pond, just below the surface, many thousands of thin, tiny specks of what I first thought was debris but isn't. Only about 2mm in length, maybe a kind of pale beige or light brown colour. Very little movement on the whole but they do ever so slowly slowly twist and curl (a magnifying glass was the only way I could see them clearly enough).

They kind of look wormlike because I see no obvious body parts or markings, they just look smooth. They don't look like larvae, but I'm no expert.

Any ideas please?

 

My guess:
Culex pipiens - Wikipedia

 

Thanks but they don't look at all like that, the critters in my pond look like tiny worms, even when highly magnified.

 

When I clean out my filter there are thousands of tiny worms clinging to some of the piping, only just started seeing them this late in the summer, I assume they congregate in the filter because the fish eat them in the pond.
I dont know what they are and never tried to find out, I often see tiny leeches as well.

 

Hi,

There are loads of different worm like creatures that can be found in pond water plus many types of paupe etc that various insects leave around the plants/water.

Some are just a nautral occurrence but others can be the result of high pollution / algae from fish and their feeding.

If you do have any fish in there ? - they often feast on such outbreaks as may birds etc.

 

There's no fish in the pond, I often see Mayflies or similar hovering around the surface but it's not their larvae (not Mayfly larvae either). Could be another type of tiny fly though I suppose.

Can't imagine that they are leech larvae, there's far too many of them.

 

Possibly nematodes of one species or another.

 

Nematodes sounds like a possibility, but why are there so many?

 

Because there are is a good supply of food, they often live off bacteria, algae etc. Numbers are probably due to seasonal changes in food supply and end of summer into autumn would expect lots of bacteria and algae etc in ponds. Numbers will drop off as we progress through to winter.

 

Thanks, very interesting. My only experience with nematodes is when I once bought some to try and get rid of a lot of slugs and snails (it didn't work).

 

I've used nematodes for slug control for some years, 4 applications a year from April at 6 week intervals seems to work. Weather is a major factor (temperature, moisture) in them working, don't really work on snails though.
Slugs take about a week to die, but stop feeding after a few days and most die underground.

 

Thanks for the tips.