[Kleftiwallah]

Beasties living in my water butt, dark coloured, wriggle like tadpoles but teeny tiny, about 3/16" long.
 I only spotted them as I decanted water into a clear squash bottle.
NOT mozzie larva (I've seen those often enough).  But I'm stumped as to what they are!

Any ideas?

Cheers,  Tony.

[Goosegirl]

I've seen those before and they are definitely larvae of some sort of fly.

[JayG]

Are you certain they're not mozzie larvae, they go through several quite different stages?

As a lad I used to cultivate them in a tin bath for my goldfish and got great pleasure fishing them out with a tea strainer and then watching the fish gobble them up (whilst I scratched at my mozzie bites!  )

[greenjay]

definitely some sort of larvae they are all about the top of my water butts.

[SnooziSuzi]

Agreed, the larvae of gnats and mozzies.

I used to keep a couple of goldfish in my water but to control these and they added nitrogen to the water ready to use on my plants too

[8doubles]

Agreed, the larvae of gnats and mozzies.

I used to keep a couple of goldfish in my water but to control these and they added nitrogen to the water ready to use on my plants too

I am a big fan of 'Goldfish Water' for plants and as you say they keep the mozzies to a minimum !