This is my first summer with a pond and still figuring things out. One thing I've noticed is I have a decent amount of water bugs that like to congregate together. I read online that they can eventually become a nuisance so I've been scooping them out. Will they cause harm if I leave and alone and is there is anytime of trap, prevention, etc? The oddest thing is I will go out and there's ~30 bugs and I get them all. Next day I come out 30 more and so on. They seem to replenish themselves everyday!?

First year pond owner here also. I noticed a lot of water bugs earlier in the year and I sprayed some Dawn dish washing liquid on the water to reduce the surface tension which seemed to get rid of the water bugs. Then not long after that, I started seeing "Great Diving Beetles" and while Dawn does seem to make them go into a frenzy, it doesn't get rid of them.

I'm looking for the suggestions of others also.

Thanks

I haven't heard of the diving beetle, but after researching I think that's what I have and not water bugs (though mine don't have coloring on them like some photos I've seen). It definitely sounds like them because they will dive and also go into a frenzy when I walk by or start scooping them. All of mine are about 1/2" inch long.

Looks like mine are called Whirligig Beetles (not Great Diving Beetles).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirligig_beetle

Here's a picture that I took of one that I caught.

I have many different types of water bugs and have never had a problem with them or any desire to get rid of them. Even the giant water bugs with the scary nickname. (toe biter)

My little 200 gallon minnow and lily propagation pool has been cleaned out of minnows (thousands of rosies and then gambusia) twice, by what I presume are water beetles (like the toe biter). Forty minnows a day, their obviously punctured but whole bodies on the bottom, until there just ain't no more minnows after some weeks time. I've watched hellgrammites capture minnows, but they dissolve out the minnow until there's nothing but a layer of scales. Thus, I presume, killer beetles...they actually have a breathing tube and can hang under a lily pad. But I never actually saw one.

We get Whirligig beetles going sometimes in the big pond...a small crowd just going roundy roundy...with no apparent purpose. I presume they are harmless.

When our pond was young, we had zillions of them. Now we have hungry fish. No bugs.