# Red Mold?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-mold/824782
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 19, 2018, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-mold/824782 "2018-11-19T11:17:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2018, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-mold/824782/1 "2018-11-19T11:17:08Z")
I am familiar with the horror stories surrounding black mold. Fortunately I don’t have any of that in my house. I have a few areas with some black build up. But there seems to be a logical explanation. For example, on my kitchen sink I have some old coffee stains that won’t go away. And more importantly, I haven’t got sick yet.
But then there is red mold. It seems to collect places in my house quite easily. If I leave dishes in the dish pan too long, for example, some red mold may suddenly grow on it. But it doesn’t seem to make me sick, in the rare instances I have come into contact with. Or so I assume, you realize.
Questions: [ul]
[li]What is red mold?[/li][li]Have any of any of you encountered it, in your house, etc.? And what are your experiences with it?[/li][li]_And most importantly,_ Is it dangerous?[/li][/ul]
Thank you all in advance for you kindly suggestions:).
:):)🙂
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### Author:  [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2018, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-mold/824782/2 "2018-11-19T13:05:00Z")
[Probably a bacteria.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratia_marcescens)
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### Author:  [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-mold/824782/3 "2018-11-19T14:57:47Z")
Are you talking about the pink-ish film that accumulates on plastic shower curtains after awhile? I get that and either wash the shower curtain with some towels or better yet just get a new shower curtain! I assume that’s some kind of mildew. I’ve never seen anywhere else.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-mold/824782/4 "2018-11-19T17:17:09Z")
> [@TRC4941](#):
>
> Are you talking about the pink-ish film that accumulates on plastic shower curtains after awhile? I get that and either wash the shower curtain with some towels or better yet just get a new shower curtain! I assume that’s some kind of mildew. I’ve never seen anywhere else.
Probably [_Serratia maracescens_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratia_marcescens). It’s not invariably bad, but can be the source of opportunistic infections so is best eliminated.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2018, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-mold/824782/5 "2018-11-19T19:54:17Z")
I’ve seen it around the drain in the tub and sink in one bathroom. Just a very thin pinkish film where the water takes a while to evaporate. According to what I found out, it is air borne. I would just spray with some bathroom cleanser and it would go away for a day or two.
After several months of this it just stopped.
Dennis