I use a #2 camel hair paint brush with some distilled water or straight ink to "prime" my fountain pens when the nib dries out. I always keep some distilled water handy in a shot glass, or corked glass vial to moisten and /or rinse my brush in. Something weird has been happening to my water. Gross "stuff" grows in it and I don't know where the "stuff" is coming from. I can only speculate that it is some kind of mold, mildew, or algae substance. It has a slimy, feathery, threadlike appearance and seems to thrive on, or attract the ink that is in the water. I just emptied my rinse vial today and a bunch of thick, slimy black globs came out of it. I don't understand. I keep my rinse vial corked. There's never more than about one ounce of water in it and I only use distilled water.

Here are the questions I am faced with:

• What is this seemingly organic disgusting substance that keeps appearing in my water?
• Where is the substance coming from?
• Is it coming from the ink?
• Is it coming from the brush?
• Is it coming from the air?
• Is this stuff going to transfer to, then contaminate and grow in my nibs and ink bottle as well? (Same brush has been dipped in ink well)
• Is this stuff what keeps clogging my nibs, and if so how do I eliminate it?
• Has anyone else here experienced the same phenomenon?

Today, I took to decontaminating my rinse vial and brush with bleach and boiling water. I'll be replacing the cork, as I don't think that can be decontaminated. Don't worry, I'm not about to attempt these cleaning methods to clean my pens.

ANY time you leave water (even distilled) stored in such a manner, you will get "stuff" growing in it. How quickly it grows is directly proportional to how noticeable it is. If it were plain tap water, you would notice it much more quickly (although, residual chlorine from the treatment process may actually retard the growth somewhat).

It will end up in your brush, your nibs, converters/sacs/barrels, and then your inkwells/jars/bottles. Try a few drops of an anti-slime ink additive in the water to see if this slows the problem. You should also add a drop or two to each bottle or well that's been exposed to pens/brushes that have been in the water, too.

I have done a similar thing in the past, but I always rinse the water containter and brush very well immediately after each sitting, just to be safe. An ounce of prevention, as they say. Worked like a charm.

Welcome to the forum!!!

~~King

Sooner or later, a specific microbe will come along that eats anything you own. The little beasts are everywhere and on anything that didn't just come out of an autoclave or that isn't red hot. There are bacteria that eat jet fuel. There are critters that eat glass. You can get an additive for ink that will slow 'em down considerably (the ink should have it already). Tryphon sells it. It is called "Sterilink". I have used it ever since a bottle of my ink and a pen turned into a biology experiment. It will work as long as something doesn't come along that eats it too.

Paddler

Oomyetes of some species or another, I'd guess.

Do not store water for this purpose, just put some in a small container to dip you nib in as needed, but fill it fresh every day. The dyes and other organics in ink are a nice food source for these critters, and there isn't enough of whatever preservative is present in the ink to prevent growth in the water.

Tap water is fine.

Peter

It was my favorite science project in grade school to let different sources of water sit until it had life. And they all did.

Ahh, the gentle foetid odour of a hay infusion... Or a jar of tadpoles that have died and gone to a better life.

Reminds me of DeKruif's book "Microbe Hunters"