How do you shock a well for iron bacteria?
The same shock procedure as any well, with two adjustments for the slime: expect the colony's biofilm to consume disinfectant, so verify with a residual test rather than assuming the dose held, and favor a disinfectant that penetrates biofilm. Chlorine mostly burns the surface layer, which is why bleach-shocked wells so often re-slime within months; chlorine dioxide strips the biofilm itself, per its manufacturer's published data.
Mechanical help matters with a heavy infestation: recirculating with a hose to wash the casing walls, and running the treatment to every tap, puts the disinfectant against the slime instead of just in the water. Expect ugly water during the flush as dead biofilm sloughs off; that is the treatment working.
Finish with the residual test. If the well consumed the whole dose, the colony was thicker than one round, and a second treatment finishes what the first opened up. A bacteria retest one to two weeks later closes the loop.
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