Summer is just around the corner, and ’tis the season to break out the pool floats and bikinis. If you’re lucky enough to have your pool, it’s time to fill it, heat it, and prepare it for the year. A home pool can be tricky business, and April on TikTok has proven that you have to know what you’re doing. Chlorinated pools are a delicate chemical balance that keeps the water safe, clear, and clean.
But when April went to the pool store to pick up the materials to prep her pool, the employee gave her a jug of Aqua Easy Acid and a packet of shock powder to mix in her bucket and then throw in the pool.
With part one of her video showcasing setting up her pool for the summer, April’s followers were already skeptical. Several told her to only put her packet of shock directly into her pool, others said she should mix each with water and put them in separately. Whether she misheard the instructions or the pool store employee had it out for her, April did exactly what she thought she’d heard.
The results were nothing short of catastrophic. As soon as she dumped the chemicals into the bucket a yellow gas started seeping out. April immediately panicked and threw the bucket in the pool water.
Viewers immediately caught on to the fact that April had just made mustard gas. According to Britannica, was introduced as a weapon of chemical warfare by Germans during World War I. While technically not a gas, but a liquid, it fills whatever area it’s released in with a yellow mist that smells like garlic or mustard. Exposure to mustard gas can lead to blisters, chemical burns, blindness, respiratory issues, and cancer.
Understandably, April’s panic was felt by the comment section. Several people urged her to go to the hospital, although a couple of fellow pool owners said that accidentally making mustard gas is a rite of passage. With all of the people chiming in with their own accidental mustard gas stories, it turns out this mistake is more common than you’d think.
In her follow-up video, April is coughing up a storm, saying she thinks she may have inhaled some of the war chemicals she just created. She doubles down that the woman at the pool store told her to do exactly what she had done, and people are convinced that this woman had it out for her. Many are even saying she should pursue legal action, especially if she goes to the hospital and finds out there were damages because of this terrifying mistake.
In her caption, she let her audience know that she did go to the hospital after this incident.
Fear not, April is alive and well, and mustard gas isn’t lethal. She does, however, have another problem on her hands. The emergency room told her she had to drain her pool, considering the dangerous chemicals she just dumped in it. Unfortunately, according to her, the pool is much too big to drain and start from scratch so she’s decided to figure out how to fix it herself.
Hopefully this time, there is no chemical warfare involved.