Time to Rant........

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Soooo, my son swam at the neighbors twice over the weekend. Has an ear infection this morning. We kind of noticed last year that his ear problems occurred after swimming there, though we weren't positive on the timing. He swam a whole month in our pool this summer, no infections. Coincidence, or not?
 
I am thinking PH and TA being off in their pool could mess with ears! I read this a while ago and have been letting roll around in my head. Ask him how his eyes feel after being in their pool.

Any way you sneak some of their water home to test?? I REALLY want to know all of their levels but the PH and TA are my major thoughts.

Kim:cat:
 
My kids doc says he thinks it's bacteria in the h2o. My son just got over an external ear infection from swimming in a public pool. It was a birthday party for my cousin. Be a good experiment to check ph and stuff. We are going to another party this weekend(same pool). I wonder if I can sneak a sample? My kids never get ear infections and they swim in our pool every day.
 
@pagirl... I don't think it's a coincidence. I have noticed the same thing with my kids. They swim for hours every day at our house no ear infections. ONE TIME swimming at a public pool and the little one gets an ear infection? I'm thinking it's something different in "those" other pools. It's happened multiple times, too many to be coincidence. JMHO.
 
Jordy Verrill said:
I was already a snob about my fishkeeping hobby, which has a very similar dynamic of doing things the pet store way, or doing things the proper way. Now I'm in the same boat with my pool. Luckily I don't know anyone else with a pool to debate proper pool care, but my friends and family have commented on how crystal clear my water always is and how clean it feels. Then they make fun of me for being a snobby nerd for always doing an excessive amount of research on all my hobbies when I try to explain to them how I take care of it. I am a fish/wine/cigar/coffee/pool snobby nerd to them. But they love my pool.
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I am the exact same way about everything I do. If I'm buying something that's going to cost me much money, I research it to death, I don't want to wind up regretting my purchase or having to buy something 2 or more times. This is the reason I joined this forum a year plus before I'll even be installing a pool, I want to do things correctly.

I told my mom I plan on putting in a pool at my place and mentioned something about using bleach to keep it up, she said "you don't want to pour bleach in a pool" I had to tell her it's the same chemical with a different generic name, she didn't buy it. It'll be my pool, I'll do things the right way.
 

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She will let me test her water, I did the PH before for her. It was around 7.2. She added alkalinity up to fix it, lol. Before that, earlier in the season, it was 7.2 when I tested it for her, and I gave her some Borax and told her it was PH up. Once I was curious as to what the chlorine level was, I took my OTO and got as ample when she wasn't home. It was probably around 10, she had just "shocked". The pool store had her CYA around 55at startup last month, I saw the repot. I've tried to tell her about TFP, but she doesn't "get it". I don't think she would easily understand it, either. I did send her the link for DE filters, as I read about them, and she bumps her filter with it on. I think her TA was 80 before she adjusted it, but I have no idea how much stuff she put in.
He will just have to have good excuses not to go in their pool. That means they'll be in my pool, lol. Most of the time I don't mind.

My son's GF's family came over to swim and her mom commented how gorgeous the water was. I told her I'm obsessed, ha. And I told her, briefly, all about TFP. She thought it was pretty cool!
 
PAGirl said:
Soooo, my son swam at the neighbors twice over the weekend. Has an ear infection this morning. We kind of noticed last year that his ear problems occurred after swimming there, though we weren't positive on the timing. He swam a whole month in our pool this summer, no infections. Coincidence, or not?
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Short answer: yes, the pool water could cause ear infections.

Long answer: External (swimmer's ear) and internal (behind the ear drum) ear infections have the same basic cause: fluid in that part of the ear acts as a petri dish for bacteria.

The external ones are easily prevented by a few drops of rubbing alcohol in the ear canal after swimming (commercial ear drying products are rubbing alcohol in a dropper bottle for a lot more money than a big bottle of it alone, BTW).

The internal ones are caused by the drain tube that leads to the throat either being anatomically positioned poorly (which changes as kids grow, and is why most "grow out" of these types of infections), or because the tube gets plugged (by inflammation, mucus from a cold/sinus infection/etc).

Poorly sanitized pool water may come pre-loaded with bacteria, and certainly may hasten the onset of swimmer's ear. Should some make its way into the ear drain tube, it can cause inner ear infections directly, or by inflaming the drain causing it to not work properly.
 
This is why we blab endlessly about keeping FC above minimum for your CYA. To keep pathogens killed and the pool sanitary. For kids prone to ear aches popping their ears to open eustachian tubes to promote drainage helps a lot. I had ear trouble and tubes during childhood and for decades until I started popping my ears regularly. No issues for many years.
 
pooldv said:
Nothing says I hate your pool like a big ol' test kit for house warming gift! :)
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This made me LOL

Flbeachluvr said:
I've given up trying to tell anyone about TFP. The few people I did mention it to said that they followed the pool store advice and have never had a problem. I guess they've been lucky. I just keep my mouth shut about anything to do with my pool as my friends think I'm a bit obsessive about it. OCD much? :hammer:

We're going to be renting a vacation house in the Florida keys in a couple of weeks and it will take everything in me to not bring my test kit.
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Take your kit n buy some bleach if you have to.

flipr said:
grab a water bottle of pool water, to 'rinse' and take it home? Sneaky, but revealing
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My granddaughter loves playing with empty water bottles in the pool. Give your child a water bottle to play with n when he's done, tell him to bring it to you full of water, cap it and take it home to test.
 
I always seem to get strange looks from people when they comment on how nice my pool water looks and I try telling them about the TFP method. I guess people are creatures of habit and don't like trying something new, even if it works better and saves money. I was a slave to the pool store for the last 5 years and I don't even want to think about how much money I wasted in that place. Any little problem I had with my pool and I was in my car to the store for advice. To be fair, my water did look nice and clear, but now that I'm using the TFP method and testing the water myself, my water is just as clear, if not clearer and I have saved so much money. My pool is much easier and cheaper to maintain now and I couldn't be happier. This is the only method I will use for my pool and hot tub from here on out.
 
An ear infection can come about whether the pool is properly maintained or not. Moist environment for bacteria to grow is the common denominator. You need to get the water out of your ear canal after swimming, whether it be in a pool, pond, lake, or ocean.
 
Conjomen said:
@pagirl... I don't think it's a coincidence. I have noticed the same thing with my kids. They swim for hours every day at our house no ear infections. ONE TIME swimming at a public pool and the little one gets an ear infection? I'm thinking it's something different in "those" other pools. It's happened multiple times, too many to be coincidence. JMHO.
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Pretty certain there was no coincidence.... Her son now has an ear infection. And my son's first one last summer, now that I thought about, came before our pool was even up. I'm not sure how to approach the subject without starting a fight. I'm really hoping the lady at the clinic that sees her son today isn't the same one we saw. I can hear it now.... "Is it YOUR pool that your SIL was talking about that caused the ear infections?" Oh dear. Lol.
 
This is all bringing back traumatic childhood memories of ear infections.

I would get them so bad that they messed up my balance, and gave me high fevers that caused delirium. Everyone thought I was drunk at 5 years old.
 

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