Possible hot tub folliculitis from pool?

stoles

Well-known member
Apr 13, 2022
78
Charlestown, IN
Pool Size
16200
Surface
Fiberglass
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-20
Hey everyone. We have a 16,000 gallon inground fiberglass pool that you might see from some of my previous posts, if you looked, we have been struggling with. Long story short this is the second summer we have had it. Pool builder installed it in fall of 2021 and it was a swamp after the process. We have a mustard algae problem that keeps coming back every time I think it's gone. We have slammed and slammed and slammed multiple times last summer and this summer so far. I used yellow out as a last resort and followed their process after reading amazing reviews online, and I thought it was gone but it's back. We have an auto cover and I keep wondering if the auto cover is harboring it underneath.

Anyway, the water always looks amazing aside from a couple of places where that seems to pop up after a week of jot slamming. I don't really have any issues keeping the water balanced as it should be in those times - just the occasional minor pH adjustment and that's about it. I think you all can actually see my test results from the TF kit. Sometimes I test and forget to actually log them but everything is pretty consistent.

So after some swimming this weekend my 8-year-old developed a rash everywhere her swimsuit touched and a pretty bad case of swimmer's ear. We went to the pediatrician because she has a history of middle and inner ear infections and she said it looked very much like a case of hot tub folliculitis and asked if we had been in one. The only place we've been is out pool, which isn't particularly hot. It just got up to 89 this weekend. It had been around 83. She said it's possible rare to get from a well balanced pool, which was exactly what I thought. Anyway, due to the ear infection she's treating it if that's what it is and used an antibiotic that will cover both plus antibiotic ear drops.

Coincidentally, or maybe not, I also have been finding a few backswimmer bugs in the pool for the last few days. From what I read, it seems like they like algae but I'm not real sure how they get there or how to get rid of them yet.

So everything I can find regarding pseudomonas is related to a hot tub. The one post I can find about a pool was an above ground pool and all the water leaked out of it in the end anyway.

I'm not sure that that's what it is but I'd like to go ahead and take all the precautions necessary. Considering we have the yellow algae that pops back up every few weeks, I'm obviously a little worried about balance.

Can you all give me any advice on treatment in a pool? Considering that is an inground fiberglass pool it's not particularly easy to drain or we would have probably already tried that for the yellow algae. Someone suggested going through the slam process and then also changing the sand in the filter which I was already considering.

Any advice is appreciated!
 
Oops. Forgot to reply to the first part. I just set my alarm so I can get up early and test. I've been off work this week and taking full advantage of sleeping in a bit. By the time I get out there it's hard to tell if the sun has burned some chlorine off or it lost it overnight. Lol.
Will report back on that.
 
And actually I am up so late because my oldest daughter also appears to now have an external ear infection/ swimmers ear. So I guess I should treat this as if the bacteria is in my pool even though it's not a hot tub. 😬😩
 
So I got the level up to 16 last night before I went to sleep and realized that what I thought was the next gallon of chlorine was muriatic acid turned around backwards. That said, I tested this morning before sunrise and it dropped from 16 to 13 - so did not pass, even though I hadn't made it quite to SLAM level. I'm headed to get quite a few more gallons of chlorine right now.
Each time I attempt to slam I do get to a point where it eventually passes, but always right back eventually as soon as my FC gets below about 5.
I am afraid to start this right now because we leave Monday to go on vacation and I'm worried that I won't have enough time to get back to a pass before I have to leave it as is. 🤦
Is it possible for mustard algae to get more resistant to chlorine the more you add? Is it out here building up an immunity every time I add chlorine? Lol

I swear, if only I could go back in time. I would have taken over cleaning the pool out while it was being built instead of listening to this PB who told me repeatedly that it was pointless because it would just get dirty anyway when they did the concrete.
 
You do not raise your FC to SLAM level for the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. FC between 3 and 10 ppm is fine for the test.

It sounds to me like you have never really completed the SLAM Process. Go a few extra days when you think you are complete and you should not lose more then 0.5 ppm during the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test
I mean considering I could see yellow algae it was pretty clear that I was going to need to do it anyway so I wanted to start the process as early as possible before we go on vacation.

I can assure you that I have been through an entire slam process and waited a few days after to stop and bring the chlorine back down. 🤣 I got literal receipts. lol
 
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