I've been having an issue with black things (algae?) constantly floating in my toilet. the toilet is not old. The tank is clean, no disintegrating rubber or algae can be seen. I've tried bleach, baking soda & vinegar, plus other cleaners and nothing gets rid of the problem. I regularly put on gloves and stick my hand inside the pipe on the bottom of the toilet bowl where the water comes from to clean that are out. I regularly clean the discharge holes around the rim one by one . I'm not sure where these floaties are coming from. I live in an apartment building and was told by one plumber that once the building stacks are flushed out, the problem should disappear. This was done several months ago and the problem did not go away. I'm at my wits end trying to figure out where this build up is coming from. I'm at the point of wanting to change the toilet but I don't know if that will solve the issue. Maybe it's coming from the building pipes? Any help is appreciated.
Toilet floaties (algae)?
- Thread starter daisyddum
- Start date
Help Support Plumbing Forums:
Ask your bld manager to have the water tested or you can bring a sample to the town or a pool co and they will tell you what's in it
Pictures of the little 'buggers'?
Check to see if any of your neighbors are having the same problem
Bird Doo Head
Well-Known Member
We had black flakes in one of our toilets, too. A test cotton swap showed there was mold in the rim, just above the jets that you mentioned. My guess is that there is mold above the little jet holes under the rim on yours,too.
To kill mold, I'd skip bleach. It's evil to rubber parts and, if it is mold, chlorine puts mold into "defense mode" and it'll throw spores all over the place. Vinegar works. Copper sulfate will also works for mold.
I ended up solving our black floaty problem by emptying the tank and putting in a half-gallon of cleaning vinegar. Purpose: Kill the black stuff if it is mold.
Every few minutes I'd lift the flapper just enough to let the vinegar get to the rim. I repeated until the vinegar was gone. Then I took more vinegar and a bottle brush to wash from under the rim to get vinegar up in the holes. The first two flushes produced a whole lot of black stuff. After several normal flushes, the black stuff stopped coming out.
That was 8 or 9 months ago & we haven't seen black stuff return yet. I hope this provides a simple & cheap solution for you.
Paul
To kill mold, I'd skip bleach. It's evil to rubber parts and, if it is mold, chlorine puts mold into "defense mode" and it'll throw spores all over the place. Vinegar works. Copper sulfate will also works for mold.
I ended up solving our black floaty problem by emptying the tank and putting in a half-gallon of cleaning vinegar. Purpose: Kill the black stuff if it is mold.
Every few minutes I'd lift the flapper just enough to let the vinegar get to the rim. I repeated until the vinegar was gone. Then I took more vinegar and a bottle brush to wash from under the rim to get vinegar up in the holes. The first two flushes produced a whole lot of black stuff. After several normal flushes, the black stuff stopped coming out.
That was 8 or 9 months ago & we haven't seen black stuff return yet. I hope this provides a simple & cheap solution for you.
Paul
