Green stains on swimsuits

[JJ_Tex]

My daughter and her cousin both have green stains on the white parts of their swimsuits after swimming all weekend. One other time my daughter has also complained about this. It is not all white parts, just certain areas kinda like something was spilled on it. The first time I just dismissed it as dye from washing it with something, but since it has happened multiple times to more than one person, I'm not sure that is the case.

If I were on the other side of this post, I would ask what copper containing stuff they put in the pool. I have been a good TFP'er in my 8 months of pool ownership and only used the recommended chemicals here. My pool is less than a year old and I do have a heater, but no crazy pH at any time that would damage it. Feel free to look at my pool math logs, but nothing seems off to me.

Thoughts?

 

[JamesW]

Do you have a picture of the stains?

Dissolve some vitamin C in water and apply it to the stains to see if there's any difference.

Also, try vinegar.

Do you have any blonde swimmers with any hair color change?

What is the fabric material?

 

[zea3]

You used some trichlor a few months back. Do you remember the brand, or still have the bucket?

 

[JJ_Tex]

Here is the pic of the swimsuit, I'll give vinegar and vitamin C a shot. The trichlor is Pool Essentials 3", I bought a 5lb container over the winter for a floater and still have a few left.

 

[JamesW]

That looks more like iron than copper.

Try the vitamin C.

Crush some up and mix with water and brush it in lightly to see what happens.

It's odd that the stains are limited to certain sections?

It would seem logical to expect fairly even coverage unless there's some reason why it's concentrated.

 

[Richard320]

I'd look at patio furniture and such for any weathered brass bolts or copper accents. They probably weren't in the water the whole time.

 

[JJ_Tex]

No change in vitamin C or vinegar on the stain.

Patio furniture would make more sense. We have plastic pool in-pool furniture and chairs near the pool, but also an old metal patio set on the patio that I guess could be the culprit. I sit in those the most, but maybe it just shows up on wet white clothing. I'll keep investigating, but really glad its not copper and something with the heater. Thanks all!

 

[JamesW]

Maybe put some clean material in the pool for a while to see if it happens again.

The limited stain area points away from pool water being the cause.

Possibly suntan lotion.

 

[Slow50]

Sorry to bring this back from the archives!
@JJ_Tex did you ever get to the bottom of this!?
I have the exact same problem, considered outside of pool as a possibility but keeps occurring in pool, even just leaving daughters top in the pool it will get the green stains!
Cannot get to the bottom of it as yet, initial thoughts were copper.. but levels are ok.

 

[JJ_Tex]

You know, I really forgot about this until you resurrected. I remember finding a repair tie at the bottom of the pool that I could not see and it caused some rust spots near the drain. That could have been the culprit, but we certainly do not have any staining now. Hopefully yours is short lived as well, but I would guess iron or copper.