Dead frogs in pool - should I be concerned?

[ccolon]

Hello,

I'm new to TFP and had a question about an odd thing that happened this past weekend. I'm restoring a pool that had not been serviced in nearly three years. After a lot of cleaning and a 3+ week SLAM I can see very positive results. My CC has been .5 PPM or lower for two days, and I'm only losing about 3 PPM of FC overnight, so the end is near. I know the folks here love pictures, so I have a before/after shot below.

My question is related to thing that happened this past weekend. I was too lazy to measure chlorine, so I dumped whatever was left in my jug at the end of the day and took a reading after sunset. FC was 22 PPM. The next day I went to check on the pool and saw about 6 or 7 frogs swimming in the pool. I grabbed the net and successfully relocated all of them. When I pulled up the skimmer lid it was a mess. It was full of dead frogs... over a dozen. My guess is that those unfortunate creatures that decided to swim into the skimmer basket got sucked down below the surface and drowned. But could it have been the high chlorine levels? Knowing that this pool started out as a festering swamp, could it be something else in the water? I have seen (and rescued) other bugs and critters during this SLAM process, but had not seen so many casualties up to this point.

Thanks!

 

[COBrien]

I have 1-2 dead frogs in my skimmer each day when I check it. It's not unusual to have 3-4 once or twice a week. My backyard backs up to a creek, and the pond is 100 yards from my fence. That's just the nature of things. (See what I did there...?)

As long as you're getting the frogs out daily, they shouldn't cause any chemistry issues.

As far as chemicals in your pool that may be killing frogs, the only one I can think of would be dihydrogen monoxide. It's dangerous stuff if you get enough of it in your lungs.

 

[Yev]

Animals and chlorinated water tend to not mix well. I would guess based upon your before picture that you will have a lot of animals that are used to swimming in your pond, i mean pool, so I would expect lots of critters over the next year or so.

 

[Sandra B]

I've posted this before and I swear I have no connection to the company, but I had dead frogs in my skimmer several times a week and it grossed me out. Once even a dead bird. Yuck. Then I got these Froglogs (2 in my pool) and I haven't had one frog dead in my pool in over 2 years. It gives them a little ramp to get out as they swim around the edge looking for an opening. I still have frogs throwing swim parties in my pool, both little ones and river frogs--I check out the pool occasionally with a flashlight just looking for frogs because I'm obsessed I guess , but not one in the skimmers since then. The other night there was one lounging on the Froglog. Anyhow, I love the froglogs, you can get them on Amazon or the website. The fabric only seems to last about 1 or 2 years in this sunshine down in Louisiana, but I don't care and I just bought a replacement for one of them. Best thing ever. I have one in each end of my pool:




Action shot:

 

[pooldv]

Yep, I will second the frog logs. I believe that what kills frogs in pools is absorption of chlorine through the skin, after a while it is just too much.

 

[wjaneala]

No frogs here, but I've had a chipmunk and a mouse.

 

[Pogueld]

Lately, I've been having lots of baby ones. Mostly they die, but every now and then one gets rescued. I've had a rat, a rabbit, lots of bugs, and recently a scorpion. It's the country life.