Posting for a friend

[bosco0633]

A friend of mine has a calspa.  He had a party in the summer and after that they stopped using the tub for the rest of the summer.  For the past month he has been running into an issue.

He drained and filled tub and ran jets and noticed a chicken noodle soup style object floating in the tub.  It is white/yellow in color about 2 to 4 inches long.  The tub is saturated in them.  They almost look like toilet paper up close.  I just saw it today and it is crazy.  I thought white mold right away, but he does not think so.  

Has anyone ever heard of this.  He has drained and refilled, added chemicals like crazy and no success.  He has drained several times and every time that he turns on the jets, he gets more of this.  There is thousands of strands of this floating in the water.  Any help would be greatly appreciated, ie. identifying the problem, and possible solutions.

[Ehizzle]

Sounds like water mold to me too. Is it sticky? You have to use like at least a cup of chlorine and run the jets for a long time, then redrain. Sometime if its really bad it takes 2 or 3 times. Nasty stuff. There are also some products for clearing the plumbing of the spa. One is called spa system flush. I dont know if it would help or not.

[drewstar]

Sounds gross.

Don't forget about cleaning/chanigng/burning the filters

and behind any pillows, and what not.

 

[Ehizzle]

Yeah it might be easier just to set the whole spa on fire.  

[Steve]

I have seen this before and it sounds like a string algae or biofilm. The only thing to get rid of this is to super chlorinate, ged rid of the filter and anything else that was in the water during that time, drain, wipe down with a bleach solution (50/50), refill and super chlorinate again.

Here's one suggestion: http://www.spa-essentials.com/HTML/Trouble_Bacteria.html

Treat it like pseudomonas.

Check this link out and see if it helps: http://www.rhtubs.com/cgi-bin/bbs/config1.pl?noframes;read=33649
Good luck!

Steve

[hot tub Frank]

yuck

[Rayman]

Sorry about his luck, I can't help you but i thought you would like to know that I did puke after reading it.

 

[RobRoy]

Ewwww, it sounds like something you may find on the menue at the Texas State Fair.

[hottubdan]

It does sound like white water mold.  The decontamination methods mentioned should work.  Until he kills it all, he won't get rid of it.

Not fun.

[anne]

Sounds like a job for Swirl Away?

[Reese]

Sounds like a job for Swirl Away?

I think you have to make sure everything is dead first.  rhtubs.com has a procedure for decontaminating a spa in the FAQ or one of the guides.

[RUBADUBDUB]

White mold, or Silly string....you choose...

I too vomitted alittle in my mouth

**this is just my opinion**

[Steve]

Sounds like a job for Swirl Away?

Swirl Away is a great product Anne but not for this application. It's great at removing calcium and mineral deposits from the plumbing but what he needs is a sanitizer (chlorine/bleach) to kill this algae. Swirl Away has no "killing" aspect to it.

Steve

[Ehizzle]

I think a good solution of 40 part commet to 18 parts windex otta take care of it.

[anne]

Swirl Away is a great product Anne but not for this application. It's great at removing calcium and mineral deposits from the plumbing but what he needs is a sanitizer (chlorine/bleach) to kill this algae. Swirl Away has no "killing" aspect to it.

Steve

That is good to know. I was not sure what Swirl Away "swirled" away.....now I do. I thought that it helped to detach organic debris from pipelines.