The spa pool was closed yesterday amid what the Otago Daily Times has been told was a sense of frustration about tiny tiles becoming loose and lifting.
The broader Te Puna o Whakaehu complex, worth $19.2 million, opened in June last year.
It consists of an eight-lane 25m lap pool, leisure pool, learn-to-swim pool, and hydrotherapy and spa pools.
Pool user Nancy Higgins said she visited from Warrington about three times a week as part of her rehabilitation from a broken leg.
She tended to use the popular hydrotherapy pool, then the spa.
She described tiles on the spa pool stairs and ramp as "peeling", or becoming loose and popping out.
Regular aqua jogger Maria Mackay said she had been told the tiles were chipping a little.
It felt like she had trodden on a piece of gravel a few weeks ago, but it was a loose tile, she said.
The Dunedin City Council was understood to be investigating the problem.
Ms Mackay said lifeguards seemed to be genuinely sorry about the situation.
She was otherwise a "really satisfied user" of the pool complex.
The council was approached for comment yesterday.
