just throwing this out there... spent about 3 hours of cutting and raking weeds from my pond YESTERDAY. TODAY, i've got little bumps that look like mosquito bites or pimples all over my feet and legs. roughly just to my knees and that's how deep i waded... could this have came from something in the pond? i didn't notice these till today. they are red and itch like crazy. i'm at a loss here....

Could this be swimmers itch?

Poison Ivy? I have it now, for over a week and it sucks. Itchy like crazy and red bumps.

Scruffy -

Whenever I get a severe case of Ivy or Oak I request a steroid and cortizone shot and it's cleared up in a day. Not worth the suffering!

I bet swimmer's itch. I think it is caused by a small organizm that has a life cycle of birds and snails. It burrows into your skin and causes the bumps and itching. We have it in quite a few lakes in MN. Some beaches will apply chemicals to keep the little organism out of the area but it only works until it dissipates. See this web site:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/swimming/swimmersitch.html

Swimmers itch would be my guess as well. Did you towel dry after getting out of the water?

after searching the net, my best guess is chiggers. still uncertain though. i've had swimmers itch and i don't remember it being so.... defined little bites. not oak or ivy...

My experience with chiggers is they don't stop at your legs...They go for the crotch if they can. They are brutal as what you described.

poison ivy normally isn't a bunch of little dots that look like bites. Poison ivy will blister and will be bunched up. The blisters come from the oil so if you brushed against it, it will be typically in a line. Unless you rolled all around in it....lol !!!

Sounds like swimmer's itch to me as well. After last summer I'm an authority on it.

Just be aware your doctor may not be familiar with swimmer's itch if you got it bad enough to see him or her. Apparently they don't see a lot of it.

Guys I wasn't aware poison ivy grows under water or chiggers lived under water! Seriously isn't it telling the welts are only where Sadworld made contact with water?

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Schistosomiasis

heres the confusing part... in my research i found that many, many folks claimed to have the chigger bites around the ankles or between ankles and knees. matches the description perfectly right? well, so does swimmers itch if i only waded in up to my knees. it must be one of these, i'm just confused as to which one?

That's why my vote goes to Swimmers Itch. Chiggers wouldn't limit themselves to just where your legs were covered with water, and chiggers aren't in the water, they are only on land.

just for added info... my pond is basically in the woods. very close proximity about halfway around and mostly tall weeds and grasses at the very edges. this is party why i was torn tween chiggers and swimmers itch? also i don't know if its worth noting but i restocked this year so a little water from another pond got in there, PLUS i added beneficial bacteria too this year....

if its swimmers itch how does it get in there and how to get it out.....?

Read Cecil's link in post #220857. Stocking RES should help, but keep any ducks/geese off of the pond as well.

I'm kind of leaning towards chiggers.Were there a lot of cattails around where you were working? I've had something biting me for the last 4-5 weeks working around cattails and weeds. They may not be chiggers but they itch like them. But it seems like the bites stop where my clothing gets tight. The worst bites are in the crease between my biceps and my fore-arms. Been putting my wifes clear fingernail polish on the bumps to kill the itching. (Now thats a way to get dogs away from you).

Way too low for crabs!!