Question about shock and chlorine

[BigDave]

I just noticed that your Alkalinity is pretty high.
Is this also true of your fill water?
Is this the same water your daughter (with the rash) bathes in?

I ask because I have read, and I don't know that it's true, that high Alkalinity can cause skin irritation.

[PoolDoc]

The third (six-year old) woke up the next morning with tiny red bumps all over. Very itchy. I remember her being more sensitive last year, too, so I can't say I'm that surprised. We're treating her with various lotions and baking soda in the bathtub but swimming is out of the question for awhile. Which leaves me with a question. Is this the "pool rash" I hear so much about? And, if so, what causes it?

Caution! These links include medical nudity. (They are also gross, Watermom!)

http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swim...-tub-rash.html
http://dermdiaries.com/wp-content/up...d-1024x590.jpg
http://hardinmd.lib.uiowa.edu/folliculitishottub.html
http://www.medbc.com/annals/review/v...vol9n4p204.htm

It sounds like your daughter may NOT have folliculitis; the incubation period is longer than than that. However, chlorine is NOT an allergen.

Period. End of story.

We dealt with this at great length, earlier this year. What finally put it to bed was discovering that dermatologists still routinely use an old treatment, "bleach baths" with 50 - 100 ppm of chlorine, to treat a wide variety of skin conditions!

Unfortunately, the hodge podge voodoo blended shocks, like the one you have (see below) DO sometimes contain chemicals that are known allergens and irritants.

Also, though sodium bromide -- and bromine generated from sodium bromide -- is not an allergen so far as we know, bromine in solid form is bound to DHM -- dimethyl hydantoin -- which can be a SEVERE irritant.

About the shock. The package doesn't list any other ingredients other than the dichlor. It just says 58.2% dichlor and 41.8% Other Ingredients. :-)

That means, 42% potential problems!

Give that stuff away. Or flush it down the toilet, a little at a time, but ONLY if you are on sewers. Do NOT dump a bunch in septic tank.

. It's been over a week since I put any in but the ones I have are 99% Trichloro-s-triazinetrione / 1% Other Ingredients.

My daughter is mostly recovered from her rash but my wife has (not unreasonably) vetoed any further swimming until I figure out what happened. She also was talking to someone who suggested dropping chlorine and using bromine. I don't know much about that but what little I've read makes me not want to do it. Plus, it would mean that the chlorine problem defeated me.

The tabs are fine.

I looked at your chart -- 4,000 gallons doesn't cost that much. If it's not a big deal for you, drain and refill it. But NOT till you are ready to follow a plan. Read the Intex recipe in this section of the forum, and be ready to follow it BEFORE you drain and refill.

[donovan.lambright]

As promised, I have checked the pool again.
Chlorine: 1
pH: 7.5

My understanding is that these are both in the acceptable range. I will refrain from using any more of trichlor shock.

Clarification question for PoolDoc: Are you suggesting that I need to drain and restart now or only if I decided to use bromine instead of chlorine?

Looking at those pictures, there are some differences between them and what my daughter had. The bumps were smaller, there were a lot more of them, and they were much more densely packed together. So I'm not sure what to think.

BigDave: Yes the alkalinity in my fill water was pretty close to that in the pool. And it is the same water she bathes in.

Unless PoolDoc tells me I need to drain and refill, my next move seems to be adding a few chlorine tabs to keep the chlorine from dropping any further and tackling the alkalinity issue based on the information aylad posted. Or should I just start using bleach as outlined in PoolDoc's Recipe?

Thanks again for all the help.

[BigDave]

...Yes the alkalinity in my fill water was pretty close to that in the pool. And it is the same water she bathes in...

That rules out the Alk as the cause of the rash. Good to know.

[donovan.lambright]

We tried swimming again today (Sunday). Chlorine was at 2 and pH at 7.8; other tests in the hth 6-way kit were the same as previously posted. Once again, she got the rash. This time, the itching started within a few hours. She can't sleep tonight because of the itching, which is why I'm writing this in the middle of the night.

I'm sure my frustration is worse right now because of the lack of sleep but I'm just about ready to take the pool down. I'm willing to drain and refill but not without some firm idea of what will change. As it is, all the test numbers appear to be within the acceptable range. Alkalinity and hardness are high but they're equally high in the fill water, which we use to bathe in without incident. They only thing I can see as a possible answer is that I put in 3 times the recommended dosage of AquaChem Shock Plus at the pool opening, almost a month ago. With 42% unlisted ingredients, it's hard to say what effect that might have had.

But that's all unproven hypothesis right now. As I said, I'm willing to drain it and try again but, with the source of the problem still unknown, I fear adding another 4,000 gallons to my water bill only to have the same problem yet again. I've ordered the Taylor kit but it hasn't arrived yet. Is there any test in that kit that measures something which could account for this? I feel like I'm shooting in the dark.

Sorry to vent like this. I'm just about at my wit's end and am seriously thinking of throwing in the towel. Thanks for listening.

Donovan

[Watermom]

Donovan, I totally understand your frustration. As a mother myself, I know how it feels to have your little ones hurting and not know what is causing it. Let me ask Ben to look at your thread and see if he has any ideas. He is on a family reunion and may not be back around the forum until tomorrow, so sit tight for now.

(Maybe try an Aveeno oatmeal bath in tepid water to help calm the itching?)

[waterbear]

I am going to throw out something else. Is the rash on areas that were covered by her bathing suit or on areas that were not? What is the suit made of and how has it been washed?