# Mold / slime inside drains? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066 "2004-11-16T15:38:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/1 "2004-11-16T15:38:32Z")
What is the species of the black/green/greyish slimy mold that grows inside sink drains? (And when you run a brush or something down there to clean it, it flops out of the pipe in rubbery strips, often embedded with hair) :Ewww:. Is it toxic, or can it cause infections, or both? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/2 "2004-11-16T18:56:55Z")
Bump. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/3 "2004-11-16T19:27:55Z")
You are freaking me the hell out. I was just going to post a thread about this very topic (well, drain mold). This is about the sixth time I’ve had this experience in the last several days (and all my topics were odd, yet here they are on the SDMB!) My question is: My drain mold (if indeed that’s what it is) is bright blue, like laundry detergent bright blue. What the hell is that??? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/4 "2004-11-16T20:05:48Z")
Clean with a dilute solution of 9 parts tapwater to 1 part chlorine bleach. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/5 "2004-11-16T22:06:38Z")
> [@ggurl](#): > > What is the species of the black/green/greyish slimy mold that grows inside sink drains? (And when you run a brush or something down there to clean it, it flops out of the pipe in rubbery strips, often embedded with hair) :Ewww:. Is it toxic, or can it cause infections, or both? Thanks. So, you’ve been in my bathroom sink! I’m guessing my wife’s hairspray has been building up in the drain and crud that would normally go down the drain is getting stuck to the residue. I’ve used a bottle brush to clear this out and, boy, is it gross! ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/6 "2004-11-16T22:12:39Z")
Oh, god. ::barf smiley:: _Please_ tell me there’s some way to clean this stuff out that doesn’t involve actually coming close to it! ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/7 "2004-11-16T23:10:40Z")
I get the same thing when I clean out the drains in my bathroom shower. It’s probably not mold or slime, but soap. Yes, soap. And hair. And all the stuff that you wash off your hands, face, hair, or whatever else you clean with the water that goes down that drain. So there’s liable to be all kinds of alpha-hydroxy ultramoisturizing antibacterial deodorizing antiperspiring artifically colored crap stuck in there, too. Now, this isn’t to say that there isn’t your normal varieties of household mildew, staph bacteria, earwig larvae and other critters that share your residence with you. But it’s not some exotic mutant drain slime ectoplasm. Unless it’s blue. Then you better call an exorcist, witch doctor, or psychic exterminator. Or Bill Murray, anyway. And make sure he brings the backpack reactor, not the plastic explosives. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/8 "2004-11-16T23:38:37Z")
> [@bughunter](#): > > Unless it’s blue. > > Then you better call an exorcist, witch doctor, or psychic exterminator. > > Or Bill Murray, anyway. > > And make sure he brings the backpack reactor, not the plastic explosives. No, no, no!!! > [@Niblet\_head](#): > > My question is: My drain mold (if indeed that’s what it is) is bright blue, like laundry detergent bright blue. What the hell is that??? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/9 "2004-11-17T00:03:25Z")
> [@ggurl](#): > > Is it toxic, or can it cause infections, or both? Thanks. Well, it certainly isn’t good to eat. Doubt that it would actually be toxic, though. It could certainly cause infections, if you were dumb enough to put some of it into an open cut in your skin or something. Don’t do this! It’s in your _drains_! Don’t take it out and eat it or put it into open cuts or anything like that! If you need to clean out your drain pipes, dispose of the mold/slime when done. Wear rubber gloves if you have any open cuts on your hands, and wash carefully afterwards. You should be fine if you deal with it this way. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/10 "2004-11-17T01:27:48Z")
Oops, see I absentmindedly cleaned the drain when a couple of days ago I had dug a splinter out of my finger. And the stuff got on my bare hand, where the splinter had come out of. So, it wasn’t exactly an open fresh cut, but it was broken skin. I cleaned and scrubbed afterwards, paying close attention to the (probably mostly healed) cut, but…Crap! I guess I’ll watch the cut for a few days for signs of infection! Aaauuggghhh!!! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/11 "2004-11-17T02:10:43Z")
I find that if, about once a week, I squirt Clorox Clean-Up Gel around my sink drains and let it sit till the next time I feel like washing my hands, the gunk builds up less quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-slime-inside-drains/275066/12 "2004-11-17T15:11:17Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, it certainly isn’t good to eat. Doubt that it would actually be toxic, though. It could certainly cause infections, if you were dumb enough to put some of it into an open cut in your skin or something. Don’t do this! > > It’s in your _drains_! Don’t take it out and eat it or put it into open cuts or anything like that! If you need to clean out your drain pipes, dispose of the mold/slime when done. Wear rubber gloves if you have any open cuts on your hands, and wash carefully afterwards. You should be fine if you deal with it this way. I’m gonna hurl.