Found coral colored slime growing in humidifier

tildafish · Post by **tildafish** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:18 pm

I clean my heated humidifier once a week, when I clean all the other removable parts, and I add new distilled H2o daily. I also clean my nasal pillows and surrounding area daily, and then run the machine with the HH off until they are dry. This is exactly the instructions I was given, so I thought it was enough.

But, when I went to clean all the parts, filer, etc. this morning, I found a coral pink slime growing in two places in the humidifier. It looks a lot like what grows on shower curtains if they are not taken down and bleached regularly, at least in this part of the country (Florida).

I had to scrub and scrub to get it off, but just because I can't see it anymore does not mean it is still not there.

I have had thrush for over a week and chest congestion for a few days and did not know why, since I had not had any cortisone to cause such a problem. I have an abnormal immune system due to advanced Lyme Disease. I am gargling Probiotics and have tripled my normal daily dose of them, and I am also using a Neti Pot to clean my sinuses, but that won't help clean my lungs.

Does anyone know:
1) what kind of bug this color of slime is? Is it fungus? Bacteria?
2) How to keep it from coming back?
3) How to treat infection with it?

Thanks for any advice. I am really scared.
Klutzo

bap40 · Post by **bap40** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:23 pm

Have you ever done a vinegar rinse on the objects? That might help. I do it about once a week. A vinegar and water solution will kill the same things that bleach does and that includes a fungus.

I'm sure you will get more posts on this subect with more knowledge than I.

Good Luck!

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:26 pm

I once had these strange white whispy things growing from the base of my Remstar H/H tank. I traced it to the plastic membrane over the aluminium base having been damaged during cleaning (hole made through the membrane) & the growth was an interaction between the aluminium base & the water. They grew surprisingly quickly.

It all was fixed when I got a new base for the H/H tank.

DSM

tildafish · Post by **tildafish** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:58 pm

I started this new thread, thinking my first post had not shown up on another thread, but it had. I got the same advice about using bleach or vinegar from people who answered on the other thread, so I used bleach just this once to make sure it was dead, and from now on I will dump and clean it daily with vinegar and let it dry out all day too.....I won't fill it until bed time.

I am thinking that since I am only going to put in enough water to keep it going for one night at a time, and then dump and disinfect each day, I may be able to use plain tap water once my distilled runs out. When it's being changed that much, and tap water has chloramines in it, I can't see how having distilled matters, esp. since it did not prevent the contamination anyway.

Thanks so much for your experiences and advice.
Klutzo

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:08 pm

I would still use distilled water, if I were you. Now-adays, you can't be too sure WHAT is in our water supply.

I too, once found some coral colored residue in my HH. Only using distilled water. I may not have noticed it, but for some reason, I ran a Q-tip around the little ridges inside to dry, and it showed up on the Q-tip.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:13 pm

I used to use tap water until I saw actually what comes out of 4 litres of water when distilled.

I was so horrified I have never used tap water since.

We have a 4 litre distiller that takes about 6 hrs to do one load so I have a couple of 4 litre containers & keep them filled.

We clean the abominable gunk from the distiller after each load as I would not want to deal with more than what I find after just the one load.

DSM

Bookbear · Post by **Bookbear** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:43 pm

Tildafish, one thing to add.... you might use a solution of baking soda and distilled water to clean out the odor left behind by the bleach or vinegar rinses. Let the solution sit in the tank for an hour, then pour out and swish with a bit of distilled water.

Good luck!

Moby · Post by **Moby** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:23 pm

I use denture cleaner in mine, but it is a cheap "disposable' humidifier, don't know if I would risk it with an expensive one. but it doesn't appear to have harmed it.

Di

OldLincoln · Post by **OldLincoln** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:25 pm

I'm sorry this happened to you, but it does confirm my experience of thinking my tank was clean until I tested with a q-tip. I ended up feeding a couple wet paper towels in to and moping it with a butter knife (carefully) in a vinegar solution a couple times. Now at least once a month I let it sit for 3-4 hours in a 4:1 water:vinegar solution and rinse it weekly.

I thought the new tank the DME gave me was a backup until she had me hold them both up to the light. Big difference & I really thought mine was good until then.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:43 pm

In three year, I haven't let anything but water, soap and my wet hands touch the inside of my humidifier. I only air dry it, because the lint left by the material used to dry the surfaces can be a source of problems.

Use other liquids if you have to - but let it air dry, as instructed.

DSM's harm to the surface, as I remember it, was the result of attempting some more cleaning by swishing rice in the cleaning water.

O.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:21 pm

[quote="ozij"]In three year, I haven't let anything but water, soap and my wet hands touch the inside of my humidifier. I only air dry it, because the lint left by the material used to dry the surfaces can be a source of problems.

Use other liquids if you have to - but let it air dry, as instructed.

DSM's harm to the surface, as I remember it, was the result of attempting some more cleaning by swishing rice in the cleaning water.

O.

tildafish · Post by **tildafish** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:34 pm

Thank you all for your ideas!

Guess I will stick with distilled H2O, if the regular stuff is that awful! It also sounds like a Q-tip would be good to use to wipe test the HH for anything my eyes might not see at a glance. I already use a Q-tip every day to clean the white, hard water stains out of the ridges of my nasal pillows after they dry. The water is very hard here in Florida.

I will also be sure to use baking soda to neutralize the vinegar smell if I can't rinse it away. Do any of you rinse your hoses with vinegar as well? I will use a mixture of vinegar and water, not straight vinegar, so that should make it less smelly. I already have many spray bottles of this combo around, since it is my main cleaner. Like many Lyme patients, I have MCS, so I avoid chemical cleaners as much as possible.

One thing I did notice and plan to tell the RT at my DME.....I just got their new and improved model HH a couple of months ago. It is a tougher material and easier to open and close. But, the two areas that developed the colored growth were the only two areas that are differently configured on the new model. I am not much of a believer in coincidence.

I am very glad to learn that those of you who have also had this color of growth in your HH's did not become sick from it. Still, it must have been a shock to see it....at least it was for me. I was under the erroneous impression that nothing like that could grow in distilled water.

Klutzo

Niteair · Post by **Niteair** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 4:47 am

I would not use bleach on a humidifier that has any part made of aluminum, since the bleach will attack the aluminum. Even though these bases have a protective coating on them, there may be a tiny opening somewhere that will allow the reaction of bleach to destroy the aluminum plate under the protective coating.

Needsdecaf · Post by **Needsdecaf** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:41 am

If you are really sensitive in your lungs, I'd spend the $40 on a new tank and use nothing but distilled water. Well worth the peace of mind.

tildafish · Post by **tildafish** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:00 am

Thanks for the tip about bleach and aluminum. I plan to only use vinegar from now on. I was also worried about what bleach would do to the plastic seal, and am wondering if vinegar could disintegrate plastic too.

New tanks for my model cost $125, which I don't have. I only get one at teh copay price once a year. This was a new tank and I had never used anything but distilled water in it. That was my point......you can't trust it unless you disinfect as well as wash, and I'd been told I only needed to wash.

When I implemented my new plan this morning, I encountered a new problem. Now that I am letting the pieces of the HH dry all day, when I went to run the machine to dry out the headgear tube and nasal pillows after washing them, it would not run. Apparently, the machine won't run at all without the HH inside it.

So, starting tomorrow, I will just wipe off the nasal pillows and surrounding area with the vinegar water solution, then rewipe several times with plain water to get the vinegar off so it doesnt' smell or ruin the plastic. Meanwhile, I am stuck hanging my headgear up to dry all day long today. Lesson learned.

Hope you all have a good day,
tildafish

Found coral colored slime growing in humidifier

Found coral colored slime growing in humidifier

Coral slime in HH

coral colored slime in HH

coral colored growth in HH

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