Insect and Spider Identification: Ant(?) Identification and Removal help, 1 by KnightLiz

KnightLiz wrote:
Help!

I live in Central Florida, and recently we have had an issue with what we think are ants infesting our pool. We're unsure if they are ants, because they are unlike any ant I have seen. The ants(?) are about 3/16" (1/2 cm.) in length. They have a longer abdomen which looks like it has a light stripe or is "segmented".
When they show up in the pool, they usually cluster together, and when we've skimmed them out, they are often still alive (hence how I got the two in the picture). They show up after a heavy rainstorm, and never seem to appear on the deck. We have tried to find a nest to figure out where they are coming friom, but we have been unable to figure out where they're hiding! We've tried to figure out what kind of ant (?) they are, and how to get rid of them, but we're coming up empty.

Please help with some identification and a way to get rid of them! We're desperate! We've asked our usual pest guy, but all he says is "it's ants, I can bait them" but it never seems to work. He couldn't tell us what kind of ant they were, what caused them to be in our screened-in pool, and what really would get rid of them except baiting or spraying - neither of which seems to work for very long.

Desperately seeking ant relief!

Liz Kelsey
Oviedo, Florida