Animal poop in pool

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FloridaPoolNewbie

Bronze Supporter
May 5, 2021
170
Florida
Welp, really was hoping to avoid this. Woke up this morning to see this. Not sure if it's a raccoon or opossum or otherwise. For some weird reason their were some grub worm or chinch bugs near the poop. If it's raccoon, I'm terrified as the CDC website says you can get very sick. Suggestions? I attempted to push in a bucket and it just breaks up...considering a shop vac.

https://imgur.com/a/rumiQHy
 
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FloridaPoolNewbie said:
Welp, really was hoping to avoid this. Woke up this morning to see this. Not sure if it's a raccoon or opossum or otherwise. For some weird reason their were some grub worm or chinch bugs near the poop. If it's raccoon, I'm terrified as the CDC website says you can get very sick. Suggestions? I attempted to push in a bucket and it just breaks up...considering a shop vac.

https://imgur.com/a/rumiQHy
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Just scoop it out and dump it in the trash or in the weeds for fertilizer. No need to be afraid of it. Just don’t eat it, but that same advice goes for any poop not just raccoon.
 
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Bperry said:
Just scoop it out and dump it in the trash or in the weeds for fertilizer. No need to be afraid of it. Just don’t eat it, but that same advice goes for any poop not just raccoon.
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LOL, well my concern is the little kids we have. They certainly drink water from the pool while swimming and based on that CDC link, they mention chlorine doesn't kill the parasite that may be in there.
 
Best to be very cautious. Racoon feces' is extremely dangerous and can leave residual bacteria even a SLAM level cannot compete with. Let's give Matt a little time to have his first AZ coffee and reply. @Donldson may already be awake and have some info.
 
FloridaPoolNewbie said:
they mention chlorine doesn't kill the parasite that may be in there.
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It takes heat that's too high for your pool surface, be it either boiling water or fire.
The parasitic eggs (*if* present) can survive for years on their own in soil. You can drain the pool and scrub the sides and then drain that too and still miss half of them. You'd just be swishing them around from over here to over there. Or they'd be trapped in your filter / valves / pump basket crannies / etc.

But. The likelihood of ingesting a couple eggs spread through thousands of gallons is very very low.

SLAM it in case there are any other bacteria/viruses present just to feel better about it. I would try a 5 gallon bucket to get it as a whole piece. The pool net may atomize it or allow drippings.


Screenshot_20220712-082516_OneDrive.jpg
 
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Sometimes those websites are a bit over-zealous in the fear department. Just get it out of the water and bury it and then Increase the chlorine level for a bit if there’s concern. General common sense advice like wearing gloves is good. Who wants to touch poop with their bare hands anyway?

Some things should be obvious like not using a propane torch to burn animal poop indoors. (I think it’s also dumb to burn it outdoors as well but who am I?)
 
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Have you been able to collect any of it?

If you can collect it, and handle it only with rubber dish washing gloves on, then you can have it tested (possibly).
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Have you been able to collect any of it?

If you can collect it, and handle it only with rubber dish washing gloves on, then you can have it tested (possibly).
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No, it was breaking apart to easily from being in the water. TBH, as I look online, I'm leaning more towards possum vs raccoon poop. I used a shop vac which sucked it up. Currently SLAM'ing pool which I'll do for a few days then I'm going to just replace the cartridge filter. Not sure what else to do.
 
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You could also use a flocculant to drop everything out of suspension but that is tricky to do AND it will wreck your cartridges. I would only do that if you are absolutely ok with buying new cartridges.
 
Newdude said:
I'd give it a MA bath and keep it. If you missed any eggs they'll be just as trapped in the new filters. It's a never ending cycle if you start.
Click to expand...

Better to use trisodium phosphate (TSP) and bleach. Use the old cartridges to clean as much as possible and then swap out with new when everything is back to norma.
 
FloridaPoolNewbie said:
Can you elaborate?
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See the link below.

Re: How to clean a cartridge filter

Re: How to clean a cartridge filter After 7 years, I've replaced my 4 cartridges in my filter (I could have gone longer, but the straps were starting to break and I figured I had a good run with these cartridges). The replacement cartridges for my Jandy CL340 were from Unicel® and they had...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Texas Splash said:
See the link below.

Re: How to clean a cartridge filter

Re: How to clean a cartridge filter After 7 years, I've replaced my 4 cartridges in my filter (I could have gone longer, but the straps were starting to break and I figured I had a good run with these cartridges). The replacement cartridges for my Jandy CL340 were from Unicel® and they had...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
Thank you. Welp that new cartridge is already ordered soooo 🥴
 

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