Identifying mold in inks -- or is it just normal appearance

[Intensity]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

Maybe those folks aren't reading a thread about mold.  Perhaps you need to make a new thread, with a title like "Owners of Sailor Jentle inks in older 50mL bottles, please help!".

 

That is an excellent point!  I've made a new thread specifically for Sailor Jentle Miruai and Chu Shu.

[mizgeorge]

Sorry - I should have said - Chu Shu is definitely amongst those - I think it's pictures 5 and one of the close ups at the end. I've just checked my Miruai, and it's exactly the same - perfectly shiny with a couple of odd dust specks (I live in a 500 year old house with quite a lot of exposed stone and wood, so dust is inevitable)

 

I can dig it back out for another picture if it helps, but probably not until tomorrow.

[Intensity]

1 hour ago, mizgeorge said:

Sorry - I should have said - Chu Shu is definitely amongst those - I think it's pictures 5 and one of the close ups at the end. I've just checked my Miruai, and it's exactly the same - perfectly shiny with a couple of odd dust specks (I live in a 500 year old house with quite a lot of exposed stone and wood, so dust is inevitable)

 

I can dig it back out for another picture if it helps, but probably not until tomorrow.

 

Hrm, ok, I guess something's up with my Chu Shu and Miruai.  It's like some oily bits that are on the surface.  I've tried removing some with a clean cotton swab, but more comes up.  Effectively it looks like someone dripped a drop of olive oil into the bottle, and it's mostly staying on the surface.  Smell and ink appearance are totally normal, there's no stringy anything or textured.  Going to continue using those inks in pens I can thoroughly clean with a mild bleach solution afterwards.

[mizgeorge]

Use a white vinegar solution rather than bleach - kinder to pens and much more effective at removing mould!

[Intensity]

2 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

Use a white vinegar solution rather than bleach - kinder to pens and much more effective at removing mould!

Good to know, thank you!  Is diluted white vinegar okay to use?  I can follow with a pen flush.

[mizgeorge]

Much safer than bleach. Just whatever you do, don't mix the two (if you value your lungs!)

 

You can use a pen flush afterwards, but it won't really add anything. 

[LizEF]

My research suggests that while vinegar is best on porous surfaces, ammonia is better on non-porous surfaces.  Therefore, I've switched to recommending ammonia-based pen flush (or custom solution) for cleaning mold-infected pens.  FWIW.  Apparently bleach is less-preferred than either, but will work somewhat on non-porous surfaces.  (My research was on mold in general, not specific to pens.)

[A Smug Dill]

17 hours ago, Intensity said:

Before diving into adding biocides, I want to check whether that IS mold or not.

 

I don't think eyeballing it without the aid of a microscope is the best way to get a definitive answer, if you really want to know, irrespective of what others may show you in photos for comparison.

[amberleadavis]

On 8/4/2021 at 12:59 AM, Intensity said:

That’s a very interesting thread, but I’m not sure if it’s applicable for my questions here.  Before diving into adding biocides, I want to check whether that IS mold or not.  I don’t have anything stringy or discolored or fuzzy, or otherwise moldy looking things in the bottles.  I’m just seeing a kind of surface shine/oily finish patina type thing; it’s entirely translucent and only on the surface.  Some was confirmed by an ink manufacturer to be a normal result of the constituent ingredients, but I’m still confused by the look of my Sailor Jentle inks.  Is there really no one here with some older 50ml Sailor Jentle ink bottles to compare the surface smoothness appearance with?  Those are popular inks, must be lots of owners on this forum.

 

I am glad you asked Sailor. I think it does not look like mold but I have added phenol to a lot of my inks as a prophylactic measure.  

[Intensity]

I have not asked Sailor!  It was another ink manufacturer of a different ink that I asked.  Based on this and a subsequent thread about Sailor Jentle inks, something’s wrong with my bottles of Chu Shu and Miruai.  I thought they should have stronger biocide, so not sure what went wrong.

[amberleadavis]

I had a few inks go "bad" and it was because I did actually have mold in my office.  Inks cannot be anywhere near houseplants - it's a recipe for mold.

 

When you see mold on an ink, you can see the colonies and it is noticeable.  If you are in doubt call the retailer from where you purchased the ink and ask them.  I would suspect that they will replace it.

[sansenri]

If the ink can be replaced by the seller that is certainly the best way to go.

If for any reason you cannot have it replaced, before ditching it (unless it is in a really bad state) try a biocide.

(so the linked thread comes in useful).

Phenol is not easily available and possibly not recommended.

In the biocides thread, Pharmacists, one of the most knowledged in chemistry contributors to FPN, was mentioning at the bottom of the very first page to try benzalchonium chloride instead, which is a very powerful biocide (widely used in the pharmaceutical industry).

Pharmacist was also saying that it will reduce the ink's surface tension (making it wetter).

 

I made a test with benzalchonium chloride (before ever reading the biocide thread) which is widely available in disinfectants (household but also as a disinfectant for wounds - it does not burn as opposed to alcohol - btw it is also effective against covid...), in a bottle of Monteverde Horizon which had developed, after only two pen fills, a horrid smell of rotten eggs (I could not see any mold on the surface, though).

 

I used Bialcol (a local brand of disinfectant made by Novartis...)

 

the composition is half benzalchonium chloride and the rest is purified water

 

 

I used about 2 ml in a 90 ml bottle i.e. 0,02%

but on second though that has proven to be far too much (ink now smell of benzalchonium, which has a characteristic odour) I'm very much convinced that much less would have worked just as well.

 

In a matter of a few days the rotten eggs smell became fainter until totally disapperaing in less than a week.

I am now using the ink, which seems to be fine, no change in characteristics or colour, not wetter that I can feel, just as a precaution I'm not using it in my very expensive pens.

 

If I had an ink with a funny looking surface of the liquid, a few drops would go in without further doubt...

 

[Intensity]

6 hours ago, sansenri said:

If the ink can be replaced by the seller that is certainly the best way to go.

If for any reason you cannot have it replaced, before ditching it (unless it is in a really bad state) try a biocide.

(so the linked thread comes in useful).

Phenol is not easily available and possibly not recommended.

In the biocides thread, Pharmacists, one of the most knowledged in chemistry contributors to FPN, was mentioning at the bottom of the very first page to try benzalchonium chloride instead, which is a very powerful biocide (widely used in the pharmaceutical industry).

Pharmacist was also saying that it will reduce the ink's surface tension (making it wetter).

 

I made a test with benzalchonium chloride (before ever reading the biocide thread) which is widely available in disinfectants (household but also as a disinfectant for wounds - it does not burn as opposed to alcohol - btw it is also effective against covid...), in a bottle of Monteverde Horizon which had developed, after only two pen fills, a horrid smell of rotten eggs (I could not see any mold on the surface, though).

 

I used Bialcol (a local brand of disinfectant made by Novartis...)

 

the composition is half benzalchonium chloride and the rest is purified water

 

 

I used about 2 ml in a 90 ml bottle i.e. 0,02%

but on second though that has proven to be far too much (ink now smell of benzalchonium, which has a characteristic odour) I'm very much convinced that much less would have worked just as well.

 

In a matter of a few days the rotten eggs smell became fainter until totally disapperaing in less than a week.

I am now using the ink, which seems to be fine, no change in characteristics or colour, not wetter that I can feel, just as a precaution I'm not using it in my very expensive pens.

 

If I had an ink with a funny looking surface of the liquid, a few drops would go in without further doubt...

 

Thank you!  Doesn’t look like this product is available in US.  Have to look for alternstives.  Perhaps I can try this, same ingredients

https://www.amazon.com/INVERNESS-After-Piercing-Care-Solution/dp/B00GOZLRNY/ref=sr_1_42?dchild=1&keywords=Benzalkonium+chloride&qid=1628211156&sr=8-42

 

Almost the same concentration?  Bialcol is 0.1% and this Iverness solution is 0.095%, which is basically the same.

[Intensity]

Update: the Iverness 0.1% solution of benzalkonium chloride arrived today.  I used a clean 0.3ml syringe to add 0.3ml to both 50ml bottles of Chu Shu and Miruai.  Both inks look much better almost right away.  Going to see how they fare in a few days, but there's been a visible improvement already a couple of hours later.

[IlikeInksandIcannotlie]

Ok, just discovered my first bottle of mouldy ink (dammit, just had 1 fill from that bottle (3 Oysters Min)). None of my other bottles have any mould growing in them, but a 10 ml bottle of J Herbin Bleu Des Profondeurs does have that oily slick with dust appearance. I hope this is normal for this ink?

[amberleadavis]

So, I opened a KIngdom Note bottle that I'd never inked from and saw something similar - SO I DID the sniff test and I tried it.  It is just fine.  No problems.