How to Clean a Swimming Pool With a Dead Animal in It

When you find a dead animal in your pool, you will need to close up shop during the cleaning process.

1. Use a pool skimmer to fish out the dead animal. If you can't reach the critter with the skimmer, wear rubber or latex gloves to protect yourself from contamination and pull it out. Dispose of the animal appropriately as your local animal control regulations permit.

2. Shock your pool with enough chlorine to reach a chlorine contact time, or CCT, of at least 9600. Adding 20 parts per million (ppm) of chlorine means you will need to wait eight hours to achieve a CCT of 9600. Test the water every so often to ascertain the current chemical levels.

3. Let your filters run overtime to clear out any contamination that has occurred from the dead animal. The Santa Barbara County, California Public Health Department suggests running the filters for at least three turnovers. A turnover is the amount of time it takes to filter all the water in the pool once.

4. Disinfect your filtration system and pool skimmer with a mixture of 20 parts water to 1 part sodium hypochlorite. The sodium hypochlorite should be a 12 to 15 percent concentration.

5. Turn on your filters again and check the chlorine levels and pH of your swimming pool before you let your friends and family swim. Appropriate pH levels range from 7.2 to 7.6. The chlorine levels should fall from 20 ppm to 5 ppm before swimming is allowed.