Good evening. I found a pretty big dead rat in our skimmer. Do I need to shock the pool to SLAM level or a decent overchlorination would suffice? (my SLAM level is 24… I already brought FC up to 16ppm and stopped, wondering if I really need to bring it up to 24; it’s last week of vacation and probably summer in MA and letting my kid swim in FC higher than 10 makes me nervous - hence the question… but I don’t want to take any health risks either; my cya right now is 60). Thank you.
Dead rat in the pool
- Thread starter CamiS
- Start date
- May 3, 2014
- 58,567
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
No need. I assume the body was not decomposed.
No issue swimming up to 24 ppm with a 60 CYA. Will not even know the difference.
No issue swimming up to 24 ppm with a 60 CYA. Will not even know the difference.
16ppm should be fine. Let it circulate. Continue to Follow the FC/CYA Levels based on your CYA of 60.
Sadly I've found many a woodland creature in my pool. Having a couple of acres in a neighborhood of similarly wooded properties keeps them around. While normal FC would be fine, I almost always took it to about half SLAM level for my CYA and called it a day.
Many years ago still remember opening my skimmer and finding a dead rat floating in it. Scared the Crud out of me.
Better than the time I found a snake swimming laps.....
Rats take about a month to fully decompose, depending on the size, humidity, temp, ect... There's no health concern to you after even a few days. I've had the pleasure of locating a dead skunk under my gazebo after a few weeks of it sitting there, bloated gassy and all.