White Water Fungus among us!!

[Ohio Canoe]

Hello all,

This is my first post. Stumbled across your guys' website and found a lot of helpful info so I decided to join. I figured this board could help me break my dependance on expensive Pool store chemicals.

Anyhow, a little about my pool. I have a 54" deep, 28' round , 18,000 gallon above ground pool. I use the Pool frog Sanitizer/ Chlorine Backpack system with a Cartridge filter. I have added two bottles of Pool frog "bam" algecide that is suppose to last for 3 months at the opening of the pool. I use a weekly non clorinated shock, 1 bag per 10,000 gallons.I usually keep the solar cover on when we are not swimming, but have had it off since the weather has been real hot. We heat the pool with a 4'x20' Fafco solar panel. I take my water to the pool store once every couple of weeks to have it tested and have a basic drop tester that only shows PH and Chlorine.


Two weeks, ago I notice a white "stringy, snotty" substance that was around the skimmer and pool ladder. I also had what looked like piles of dust bunnies on the bottom of the pool clumped together. There was also pink slime on some of the white, snotty, strings.

After some research, I realized what I had was White water fungus. I went to the pool store and they prompted me to use 3 bags of Clorinated shock the first night, followed by a phosphate remover the next night, 24 hrs later sweep the pool to waste, and then add Aqua Doctor, a natural enzyme that helps control pink slime,breaks down oils,water lines,etc. I scrubed the walls,skimmer,etc. and also took out the ladder and the sand bags that held it down and scrubbed everything with the Aqua doctor as directed.This seem to get rid of the pink slime, but I still have the fungus and it seems to be increasing.

My questions:

1. What type of testing kit should I purchase?
2. Will using a chlorinated shock, or bleach, get rid of the White water fungus?

Thanks for the help!!!

[aylad]

Wow, you have been what we call "pool-stored"!

I would absolutely not add anything else to your pool at this point, except for plain, unscented, generic bleach (or liquid pool chlorine, which is bleach at twice the strength). I would purchase the K-2006 test kit linked in my sig (make sure Amato Industries is the seller--they seem to have the best price. If they're sold out late in the day, check back the next morning). It will test for what you need.


You need to shock the pool and hold it there until it clears up, but what your shock level should be is based on your CYA. So....we need to know a full set of test results, taken with drop-based testing, and we can give you recommendations from there. Also while you're at it, please fill out this short form with your pool's information, so we don't waste a lot of time posting back and forth to get enough information about your pool.


Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results


Are you aware that while using the Frog system, you are also adding silver to your water? It is advertised as a good thing, because silver does help slow algae growth, and silver, or any other metal, once it's in high enough levels, adds a whole new level of complication to water chemistry. I'm guessing that we're going to find your CYA at very high levels, which will also be attributed to use of the frog system. You might do better to just switch to plain, unscented bleach for your chlorine once this is all over with.

Welcome to the forum!!

Edit: Frog adds silver, not copper. My mistake pointed out by Dave....thanks for catching that. Too many posts, not enough time!!

Janet

[PoolDoc]

I'll continue this tonight, but I'm going to post some stuff now, in hopes that you can get it on your way home:

+ We recommend the Taylor K-2006 test kit, which meets the requirements above, for many reasons. The HTH 6-way drops kit is a great starter kit, and is compatible with the K2006 (it's made by Taylor). There are a few alternatives; for example Lamotte makes an FAS-DPD kit that's OK -- but it costs 3x as much. But, we're not aware of any test that is better, and since we are all familiar with the K-2006 (and can help you with it) we recommend it exclusively ( Test kit info page )

+ Here are links to the kits we recommend:

HTH 6-Way Test Kit @ Walmart
Taylor K2006A (3/4 oz bottles) @ Amazon
Taylor K2006C (2 oz bottles) @ Amazon

(Get the HTH drops kit tonight, if you can, along with 12 gallons of PLAIN store-brand 6% bleach from Walmart. You can use the link above to see if it's in stock in your area. You'll still need the K2006, but the 6-way is a private label compatible Taylor kit, and will get you started fast, and still be useful later.)


+ It's much easier to answer your questions, when we have the details about your pool in one place. We often 'waste' the first few posts back and forth collecting information. So, please complete our new Pool Chart form -- it takes about 30 seconds, but will save much more than that.

Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

+ Chlorine is the strongest algaecide you can buy . . . but occasionally, you may need a different one. Almost the only alternative algaecide we recommend is polyquat -- poly [oxyethylene (dimethyliminio) ethylene (dimethyliminio) ethylene dichloride] . This product is a GOOD clarifier and a moderately good algaecide, with almost no bad side effects. We often recommend it for use when you are going on vacation, or when you need to lower your chlorine, to prevent remove stains. It has become quite difficult to purchase locally at the normal full strength 60% concentration. If you find it locally, at a 60% concentration, that's fine. But be SURE to check the chemical name. If you need to buy it online, here's an Amazon link:

Kem-Tek 311-6 Pool and Spa 60-Percent Concentrated Algaecide, 1 Quart

(Use the link to the polyquat page for more info -- while at Walmart, check and see if they have some polyquat. It's not likely, but it will help somewhat if they do. Do NOT buy any other products at Walmart!)

Post your test results, as soon as you have them.

[PoolDoc]

Well, I'll wait for your response, before continuing.

[PoolDoc]

Moved post, so you *can* respond! Sorry.

[Ohio Canoe]

Pool Doc and Aylad,

I ordered the K-2006C and should have it by mid next week, but was not able to get the Walmart tester for the short term. I did take my water into my local pool store tonight to have it tested (they use the old fashion dropper method) and here are the results they gave me today:

Cyanuric- 50
Chlorine- .5
PH- 7.1
Alkalinity- 70
Calcium- 170

The store's recommendation for chemicals:

-15lbs of Alkalinity Plus
-5lbs of Calcium Plus
-4lbs of Ph increaser

Pool Doc, is the 12 gallons of bleach that you suggested to shock and kill the white water fungus? If so, do I dump it in all at once?

Again, I currently have the Pool Frog system, with the mineral pack for sanitation and a dial type chlorine system. I would prefer to stay with this chlorine dispenser setup till next Pool season since I still have chlorine backpacs for it, but I would like to switch as much of it as I can to the BBB method, if it is still possible. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks!!!

[PoolDoc]

Don't add ANY of those chemicals! You can continue with the trichlor packs -- in fact, turn them to full.

And, yes the 12 gallons is to kill the goo. Add 3 tonight, in this sequence:

1. Turn the Pool Frog completely off.
2. Make sure the pump is on high.
3. Add the bleach via the skimmer.
4. Leave the pump on high for the night.
5. 15 minutes after adding the bleach, open the Frog units completely.
6. Test chlorine and pH in the AM, and then retest tomorrow PM.
7. Brush and clean every part of your pool tomorrow PM.
8. Add 9 gallons tomorrow PM, following the same sequence as before.
9. Test again.
10. Continue to maintain chlorine levels ABOVE 10 ppm, and pH levels below 7.2 until all trace of the goo is gone.

[Ohio Canoe]

Do I leave my ladder in the pool after I scrub it so that it can bathe in the 9 gallons of bleach and high chlorine? What about my solar cover,pool toys,floats? Thanks

[aylad]

I would leave all the toys, floats, etc. in the pool, so that any remaining stuff on them is also killed. They may lighten in color a little, but I'd rather have them lighter than contaminated!

Janet

[Ohio Canoe]

Notice while sweeping that my cartridge filter must have a tear in it and is letting some debris thru. Do I put in my new filter that I have as a backup in before the fungus is gone or after?is it better to expose the we filter to it but catch the now debris possible or to stay with the defective one and let some debris pass thru?

When it rains,it pours!!