Re: Mycotoxins in dry conditions /Who

[Guest guest]

Jeanine, Thanks for your input.

I have one culture plate with slimmy stuff on it

but it is cream colored. Could stachy start out

cream colored before it turned black??

Regarding allergies: I developed allergies after

moving into this house and I feel sure there is a

connection. I developed them when I started to

feel sick and sickness seemed to have come from

the mold.

--- who <jeaninem660@...> wrote:

> Barb, heres what I've gotten from several

> abstracts, most fungi's

> (mold) release spores while their growing,and

> blumming, but stachy

> releases them when its drying. stachy has a

> slim covering it and can

> to some point hold moisture a little longer

> because of that

[Guest guest]

Don't waste your time with these mold culture plates. IMO (others may

correct me) but these plates seem to be fairly useless. Why? because

different kinds of molds will grow under different conditions (temps,

esp) with different culture media..

Try to find the mold in your house growing somewhere, then get a tape

lift and send it to some real experts.. Or chop a chunk out of the

mold (a bulk sample) - put it in a clean new Ziplok bag and send THAT

to a lab.

The professionals are out there and they are very good ... (The labs

that process these petri-dish based mold test kits are prob. NOT pros

and I doubt sincerely if they will give you meaningful results.)

Who do I mean by pros? For example, Texas Tech's lab is doing all

sorts of cutting-edge research and their prices seem very

competitive... ( http://www.indoorairresearch.net )

P & K Microbiology are the lab Dr. Shoemaker recommends.. I think they

charge $35 for mold analysis..

[Guest guest]

I *LIKE* culture plates, okay?? We have gone over

this before in group. I'm not relying on plate

to answer all question. I'm just trying to

locate problem areas, just piece of puzzle and

these are plates from and going to Dallas

Environmental Clinic, Realtime Labs is their lab

name I believe. Don't think if culture plates is

mentioned, it means Home Depot. However I did

fine with Home Depot plates also.

I've done this before with Home Depot plates and

professional testing later backed up results in

*general way*, such as which areas were

problematic. However I did testing in winter and

I wanted to do another test in summer humid

weather.

However due to bellyaching here about the Home

Depot plates or from other convenience stores, I

ordered these from Dallas Clinic. I know the

drawback, such as no stachy detection likely,

etc.

It's just that this one plate I did I decided not

to send but something is growing in it that

doesn't look like mold. Decided maybe it is just

bacteria but when Jeanine said stachy was slimy

looking, my ears perked up because his is slimy,

glossy looking but it is cream colored, not

black. I know some molds start out one color and

then change to another when they mature, so was

just wondering. I could send it in also, just

out of curiosity.

Incidentally they were only $25 a piece which is

less than the Home Depot kits (maybe due to no

middle man to sell product), and I consider that

a bargain for the plates and analysis, mailing

not included. They come two day air and tell you

to refrigerate and use within two weeks. I left

one out of refrigerator just to see if it would

grow anything before opening and it didn't.

--- LiveSimply <quackadillian@...> wrote:

> Don't waste your time with these mold culture

> plates. IMO

[Guest guest]

I dont know barb, heard it can be

white.

>

> > Don't waste your time with these mold culture

> > plates. IMO

>

[Guest guest]

Okay, Jeanine. I guess I will send it off.

Might as well know what it is. If it is just

bacteria, then next time I'll know what it is.

It is plate I put in my fireplace. I'll tell you

why. I put plastic over my fireplace to prevent

air leaking down from attic since attic air isn't

good. However it has a damper which should hold

back most air from coming down if not all. So I

thought if I stuck a plate behind plastic and

took a test of that air I would see if anything

is there or not. I loosened plastic a little at

bottom so air could get through. This way if

nothing developed in plate, I could feel

comfortable removing plastic from fireplace and

not have that eye sore. I did get one regular

looking spore and two 'other things', one kind of

satiny looking cream colored disk shaped form and

two glossy irregular shaped blobs, so now I'm

interested to find out what those are, since I

have not seen anything like that in house tests.

--- who <jeaninem660@...> wrote:

> I dont know barb, heard it can be

> white.

[Guest guest]

barb, sounds interesting, let us know what happens. you know, i got

to thinking about this, i've seen slime mold that has had several

different colors, but not in the homes and have no idea what kind it

was or what else could of been involved.but i did see more colors of

mold at the second home, but i cant really say I saw mold slime.

smell from chimneys, fire places even without fires get to me, I can

smell it when it rains. put plastic over fireplace in last apartment

because the back draft was smell was getting to my sinuses. wonder if

bird droppings (moldy dung) might be a factor in

chimneys?

>

> > I dont know barb, heard it can be

> > white.

>

[Guest guest]

attic air getting in through any cracks in the chimney comes to mind. also, the

air from outside could come in through downdraft or shifts in the wind.

who <jeaninem660@...> wrote: barb,

sounds interesting, let us know what happens. you know, i got

to thinking about this, i've seen slime mold that has had several

different colors, but not in the homes and have no idea what kind it

was or what else could of been involved.but i did see more colors of

mold at the second home, but i cant really say I saw mold slime.

smell from chimneys, fire places even without fires get to me, I can

smell it when it rains. put plastic over fireplace in last apartment

because the back draft was smell was getting to my sinuses. wonder if

bird droppings (moldy dung) might be a factor in

chimneys?

>

> > I dont know barb, heard it can be

> > white.

>

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[Guest guest]

Jeanine, re: chimney/slimy mold. Yes and there

was leak around chimney that caused attic to be

moldy and chimney brick is not in good condition,

been repaired alot outside but inside attic

chimney brick is not repaired so I figured air

from attic can come down into house by coming in

through cracks in chimney bricks. That's why I

put plastic over front of fireplace until I can

be sure attic air is clean OR have chimney

repaired or liner in it, attic floor sealed, etc.

A lot of work but I would not be happy in

trailer. Not yet anyway. Maybe some day might

appeal to me when I'm not working anymore, then

perhaps I can travel around, running from mold

plumes like . It could be fun if you don't

need to be any place in particular, like those

people who run after storms, storm chasers. We

could be mold plume runners, MPRs.

--- who <jeaninem660@...> wrote:

> barb, sounds interesting, let us know what

> happens. you know,

[Guest guest]

Leigh, I just posted those same words!

--- Leigh McCall-Alton <mccallalton@...>

wrote:

> attic air getting in through any cracks in the

> chimney comes to mind. also, the air from

> outside could come in through downdraft or

> shifts in the wind.

>

[Guest guest]

We

> could be mold plume runners, MPRs.

lol's barb, just what I always dreamed of being when I grew up

a MPR.

>

> --- who <jeaninem660@...> wrote:

>

> > barb, sounds interesting, let us know what

> > happens. you know,

>

[Guest guest]

Leigh, incidentally, I just meant we had the same thought. May have

sounded different.

>

> > attic air getting in through any cracks in the

> > chimney comes to mind. also, the air from

> > outside could come in through downdraft or

> > shifts in the wind.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I'm really sorry. Clearly I was wrong and jumping in to a thread that

I had not been

paying as close attention to as I needed to.

BTW, some stachy in my old apt. was white.. It varies in color..

Again, I'm so very sorry!

On 8/10/06, bbw <barb1283@...> wrote:

> I *LIKE* culture plates, okay?? We have gone over

> this before in group. I'm not relying on plate

> to answer all question. I'm just trying to

> locate problem areas, just piece of puzzle and

> these are plates from and going to Dallas

> Environmental Clinic, Realtime Labs is their lab

> name I believe. Don't think if culture plates is

> mentioned, it means Home Depot. However I did

> fine with Home Depot plates also.

> I've done this before with Home Depot plates and

> professional testing later backed up results in

> *general way*, such as which areas were

> problematic. However I did testing in winter and

> I wanted to do another test in summer humid

> weather.

[Guest guest]

LiveSimply,

That's okay. I was a being a little dramatic,

anyway. I just use the plates to see where I

need to do more cleanup. I'm not as interested

in what kind of mold it is, just counting how

much there is, and where. My doctor said any

mold can make you sick if there is enough of it.

I had professional testors once two years ago and

no stachy found anywhere. They didn't test

chimney though, so sent that sample with glossy

growth out yesterday. I just have had the usual

culprits, lots of cladosporum, aspergillus and

penicillum. If this glossy stuff turns out to be

stachy, I will be shocked. Someone said it could

also be yeast, so I am hoping for that.

I do intend to do a swab test of some black sooty

dust that is all over insulation in attic and on

some of the wood beams in attic also.

--- LiveSimply <quackadillian@...> wrote:

> I'm really sorry. Clearly I was wrong and

> jumping in to a thread that

> I had not been

> paying as close attention to as I needed to.

>

> BTW, some stachy in my old apt. was white.. It

> varies in color..

>

[Guest guest]

There are aspergillius/penicillium species that are as toxic as stachy!

Did you get the mold speciated?