Occasionally we have noticed a small bead of mercury in the bowl of one of our toilets. It’s only in one specific toilet, not in the others. We don’t have any bowl cleaners, etc., in the tank or the bowl, so I can’t figure out why it’s there.
Any ideas?
How do you know that it’s Mercury? Any broken thermometers around?
Well, I don’t know for sure that it’s Mercury, but it sure *behaves *like Mercury…breaking into smaller beads, fusing together, etc.
And, nope, no broken thermometers.
We’ve noticed the mystery beads for about 6 months.
Eat anything… unusual lately?
Is it always the same size? Could it be the same bead over and over?
Unless anyone’s removed it, it is the same bead of mercury each time, and it is there presumably because someone put it there.
The beads are most always similar in size. I fished one of them out, so I guess there would have to be at least two. 
Is anyone in the house eating mercury? I believe it passes through the digestive tract unaltered. Perhaps someone in your house has pica and is snacking on thermometers.
Come to think of it, are you sure it’s mercury? Have you actually fished it out and verified that it’s a liquid metal?
Pretty sure no one is eating Mercury.
I attempted to fish out one bead but couldn’t get it out, so I just flushed. It disappeared down the drain and didn’t come back. At the appearance of the next bead a few weeks later, I took a lot of time to fish out the bead and played around with it. It behaved as Mercury from a broken thermometer would behave. I could separate it, but individual pieces would fuse if they came into contact with one another. It was very silvery and slippery and hard to get out of the toilet because it would sort of flatten in the water when I was trying to capture it. However, as soon as it was out, it was spherical again.
We don’t have any Mercury thermometers, so I can’t blame it on the kids breaking a thermometer and trying to flush it.
The bead (I’ve only seen one at a time in the toilet) looks very similar to the Mercury in the photo on this page.
Some solder used in making plumbing joints looks like mercury in water.
This is the weirdest thing I’ve read on the Dope for some time. It’s almost an SCP-level anomaly.
Have you checked in the tank? Perhaps there’s a small pool of mercury at the absolute bottom, which manages to send a few tiny droplets though the valve every time you flush, and they gradually build up into something visible?
Other than that, I dunno. Maybe it’s aliens. From Uranus.
What is the age of the house? You never know what some home owner tried when mercury was easily available.
**Do you have well water and live on or near farm land or land that was farmed???
It could actually be mercury and it might just make it to one toilet based on the physical layout of the plumbing in your home.**
The house is only about 15 years old, but an MD was one of the previous owners. I can see where he might have experimented. We’ve been in the house about 2 years.
Sunspace:
Philster: Nope, no well water. All county/city. I have thought about sending a sample to the health department and/or calling the water authority, though, to find out whether or not other homeowners in our subdivision or area have experienced anything similar.
Is the toilet that it appears in low in the basement or first floor?
You should certainly have your water tested. Long term low level mercury exposure is not good.
This toilet is in the hallway/guest bathroom on the main floor. The toilet in the master bath on the same floor, the two upstairs toilets nor the basement toilet have ever had any mystery beads.
Wouldn’t they be from Mercury and trying to get to Uranus?
Winner.
Good thing they’re not pole vaulters, then.