WHAT is this CREATURE?

[Ice2u]

Longtime lurker and TFP believer, but after 20 years of maintaining a pool I have encountered something unknown to me. I have believed that I have had a terrible case of mustard algae and have SLAMMED my pool now for 8 days. Started with a PH of 7.2, TA - 100, CH - 367, CYA - 20. First 24 hours went to 30 PPM chlorine and over the last 7 days.
I have kept the Chlorine level above 40 - 50 PPM for the entire time brushing my pool 3 to 4 times a day. Everything about this infestation pointed to mustard algae and indeed that's what it may be. But now after 8 days of extremely high chlorine and having crystal clear water ( I add a little DE to my sand filter) I have a half a dozen places that just keep coming back. I have noticed that if I wait 4 or 5 hours after brushing and go back to visually inspect those spots there will be these tiny greenish brownish looking balls sitting around right where the algae is about to appear. So I drew a few of them out and put them in a tube and the pics show what I saw. I have no idea what these are, only that they appear shortly before the algae appears. Can anyone help me with this?

 

[Newdude]

 

[Homebrewale]

Newdude, you were not supposed to taste it.

 

[Ice2u]

Newdude, you were not supposed to taste it.

NASTY....I know ...but WHAT?

 

[Ice2u]

NASTY....I know ...but WHAT?

 

[Ice2u]

Its been about 3 hours since I first posted and BRUSHED the liner bottom. I'm at 23 CYA and 55 PPM chlorine and here are my little green friends again just popping up out of nowhere

 

[mgtfp]

Are they moving? Some sort of mollusk maybe?

Have you checked hidden spots for algae? Behind pool lights, skimmer weir, ladder, pool cleaner hose segments, etc. Sometimes chlorine doesn't get there, especially if there are larger clumps hidden.

 

[AK-]

From what I see it doesn’t look like, but going to ask anyway. Are you sure it no pollen, pollen tubes or other vegetal debris?

I ask that because I left my pool without the solar cover and without pump running for about 5 hours yesterday and the water was green-yellowish because of pollen.

 

[Ice2u]

From what I see it doesn’t look like, but going to ask anyway. Are you sure it no pollen, pollen tubes or other vegetal debris?

I ask that because I left my pool without the solar cover and without pump running for about 5 hours yesterday and the water was green-yellowish because of pollen.

I apologize for not including more information about my pool. I have a 20k gallon, vinyl pool, sand filter, non swg. And i live in Georgia. I did remove the pool light and there was a large colony hiding there. Other than the pool light there are no other big places for them to hide. It's a rectangle 16x32 with recessed steps, pretty basic. About the pollen thing I have considered it but dismissed it on account of these things being localized to the areas where the algae grow. If it were pollen it would be all over. I just pressure washed the problem areas but I'm not optimistic about it because I pressure washed those areas two days ago and it didn't get rid of it. But maybe it's an attrition thing and I just have to keep whittling away till it's gone. IDK. This has been a frustrating thing.

 

[mgtfp]

I first thought pollen, too. But judging from that picture with your fingernail, they seem to be a couple of mm, which seems to be a bit big for pollen.

 

[Mdragger88]

@Ice2u
I am not sure what they are but obviously they are somewhat resistant to chlorine.
You are well beyond any SLAM Process fc level or Mustard Algae shock level & very much risk damaging your liner & equipment if you haven’t already.
Just continue to scoop them out/ remove them & allow fc to drop to Slam level for your cya.

 

[Ice2u]

For sure on the FC levels. I just wanted this stuff gone and just kept upping the FC and have kept it there. Its has killed off the greatest portion of this stuff but not all the way (at least yet). I'm gonna let it ease on down now, Meanwhile I want to find out exactly what this critter is and why it is in my pool and what its relation to mustard algae is. To give you a size reference the plexiglass tube they are in is a standard Taylor FC tube. You can see the thickness of the bottom of the tube for reference. I'm leaving them in there hoping to observe any changes they might go through. There is a crease in the bottom of my shallow end where the algae likes to cling on to. It is on either side of this crease that these little balls appear. There may be 10 or 12 appearing right around the crease over a 6 or 8 hour period. Got me bunfuzzled.

 

[Ice2u]

SOME OF LAST NIGHTS ADDITIONS

So over a 12 hour period these new guest have arrived along with about 200 more. I have a new theory. I have been attributing these to mustard algae because they are showing up in the same cracks and creases. But my pool is surrounded by hardwoods, oak, elm, poplar, beech and others and there are even cedars and pines in the area. Maybe these are from one of those (it is Spring) and maybe my water circulation caused them to gather in the same spots the algae was. I HOPE this is the case. It been a couple of days since I've seen traces of the mustard algae itself. I am going to cut the pump off for a little while which will give me a crystal clear look at what is happening at the bottom of my pool. Maybe after a day or twos observation I will have more information.

 

[Lilypad]

My guess is caterpillar poop. Had similar "deposits" on my deck with those grooves etc.
Finally found out it was .

 

[mgtfp]

Just googled a few "caterpillar poop" images, and yes, the similarity is striking...

 

[AK-]

If that is caterpillar poop...
1 - It is a LOT of poop
2 - It is organic and OP's high level of chlorine should be doing quick work of it

 

[Ice2u]

I havent seen any catapillars but i haven't been looking for them. We definately have millapedes, centipeeds, catapillars and every other kind of creepy crawly thing. The hardwoods around my pool arent directly hanging over the pool but they are very tall and close enough for anything to float down from them. There could be unseen thousands of little somethings up there dropping little turds in my pool. I will definately investigate this possibility.

 

[mgtfp]

Have you done an OCLT after the initial slam before you went up to mustard level? I'd suggest to let the FC come down a bit and do an OCLT to get a baseline.

Staying at 40-50ppm FC for so long can't be good for your liner - that is more than 200% of your CYA (which is 20ppm). Mustard level is about 60% of the CYA level, which would be about 13ppm in your case. Slam level is 10ppm for you. I'd suggest to let it come down to 10ppm and do an OCLT from there.

 

[Bperry]

How are you doing your testing? Your calcium hardness level didn’t come from a Taylor test kit and a couple others don’t look like it either.

 

[Ice2u]

Ok sorry for the delay. I am officially Mustard algae free (passed the OCLT) and Lilypad was right! Those little balls I have been so worried about are in fact CATAPILLAR CACA! They were hanging out in those certain areas because of pool circulation and I guess their only relation to the algae would be that the algae probably consider them a delicasy (LOL)! I have been letting my FC down for three days now so we are getting there. Gotta get everything else back in line. That was a good observation on the CYA numbers. I do test with TAYLOR but I also have a LAMOTTE. I like the preciseness of the COLOR Q and if you keep everything clean its pretty accurrate. Sometimes I compare them just to keep them both honest, but when it comes to SLAMMING the Color Q is useless. Thanks for everyones help and advice. In return (If it would be any use to anyone reading this) would like to offer a technique that I used (I had a SEVERE case of mustard algae.) This has probably been done and discussed but just in casr here it is: In addition to keeping the FC up (it was too high I know) and brushing 3 or 4 times a day I would take a rag and soak it in liquid Chlorine, I would then wad it up and throw it in the pool pushing it down with an old swiper sweeper that I had weighted down. Then I'd let the rag sit over top of the problem area till the next day. (I will send a pic after this) This undoubtedly concentrated chlorine solution right on top of the clinging varmits. Anyway they are gone and if this can help someone thats a good thing. Thank you all again for your help!