I decided to open my pool today and when I went out there I smelled a very foul odor. Upon pulling the cover back I discovered a dead animal in the water. I pulled it out and disposed of it, but now I need some advice. Do I need to completely drain my pool? What do I do now??
I think I have a serious problem
- Thread starter ray
- Start date
You should finish opening, get the pump running, remove all of the debris you can, and shock the pool. Shocking should take care of it, no need to drain the pool.
I don't believe I'd drain it - you can sanitize that water. Chlorine is your best friend. You'll need to elevate your FC to shock level for your pool. Get us a reading on your FC, CC, ph, TA, CYA, and CH levels and post them here. What kind and size pool do you have? What kind of filter? And how does the water look? If you get us this info, we'll help you clear this up.
I had a dog in mine when opening it for the first time 
Chlorine, remove as much dead matter as possible and more chlorine. That cleared it up for me.
Chlorine, remove as much dead matter as possible and more chlorine. That cleared it up for me.
Once you’ve pulled out everything you can see, run the filter long enough to turn the water over half-a-dozen times and shocked the water, it is no different from your fill water. After all, hasn’t your fill water also been in contact with dead animals (and worse) before it was filtered and sanitized?
denisbaldwin said:I had a dog in mine when opening it for the first time
Oh no! Your own dog? How awful, regardless of whose dog.
No fence? No steps for the poor thing to get out?
denisbaldwin said:I had a dog in mine when opening it for the first time
AnnaK said:
Not mine, thankfully. The pool had been neglected for 3+ years before I got to it. The fence around it had all but fallen down. There was so much trash in it and this poor dog was just saturated in leaves and filth. No one in the neighborhood claimed it when I went door to door to ask about it, so it may have been a stray or someone intentionally drowning it.
AnnaK said:
Steps are there and intact. That's why I think it was either dead before it got there or someone forced it's demise.
I don't think I've ever felt sicker than when I found that
I have 3 little chis of my own and this little dead dog (perhaps a yorkie?) really hit home. My dogs, while not fond of the water, do swim and seem to do fine in it. I can't even imagine what would happen if one of them got hurt.
Oh Denis, that must have been a terrible find! An acquaintance lost his dog as a result of a drowning accident in their backyard pool. He thought his mother had come to get the dog for company when it wasn't in the house when he got home after work. Turns out the dog had somehow gotten out and got under the pool cover, then couldn't find its way out. This story gave me nightmares for a long time and is one of the reasons why we do not cover our pool.
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