Pseudomonas aeruginosa on water slide

[GeorgiaPoolOwner]

I just returned from vacation for a week, tested the water, and everything is still normal as far as the pool goes (CYA 60, FC 4.5, CC 0, PH 7.6, Alk 80).

However, my wife purchased an inflatable water slide. She deflated it before we left, and I blew it back up today. It felt slimy on parts, which made me think Pseudomonas aeruginosa. What should I do (other than wash it with bleach)? Any chance it could enter the pool from the slide?

 

[eye.surgeon]

You arrived at that because it felt slimy?

 

[GeorgiaPoolOwner]

Yes. I did not say I was certain, but that this was my hunch. The reason being is that:

1) it is apparently common on slides (according to the wikipedia article )Hot tub folliculitis - Wikipedia )

2) I have felt the biofilm on a cheap intex hot tub where someone broke out with folliculitis, and this is exactly what it felt like.

I suppose something else could have created that, but that was my guess. Either way, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[Swampwoman]

Regardless of whether the slime is psuedomonas or something else, wash it with a bucket of water and 20% bleach (eg 5:1 ratio) and you'll be good to go so long as you're maintaining [fc/ca][/FC/cya] per TFP reccs. That the beauty of properly chlorinated water...it will kill pathogens introduced from slimy things

 

[Patrick_B]

Whatever the species, the procedure and formula Swampwoman suggests will eradicate it.