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 | So many calls have come in from anxious parents, worried about what they heard on television about Stachybotrys, a relatively common black mold. |
| Until you know the answer to that question, keep children away from the area. Keep children away from moldly places in general. |
| Preliminary confirmation of Stachybotrys is available through this web site. The fee is $25 for up to three samples. Laboratory confirmation of my findings is an additional fee of $45 per sample. If you wish just laboratory analysis alone, the fee is
$60 per sample. Although I am not a Ph.D. microbiologist, I have taken courses in microbiology, have trained with a microbiologist, and have years of microscope experience in identifying common molds. I have done preliminary identifications on many samples of black mold and had numerous instances of laboratory confirmation of my findings of Stachybotrys. My preliminary confirmation has always matched the laboratory confirmation for the presence of Stachybotrys spores. |
| Microscope examination means looking for mold spores, as well as other mold parts. |
| Spores are tiny reproductive bodies that are produced by the mold. Spores float away in the air and eventually land on a surface. If they find food (wood, paper, fabric, etc.) and water (moisture in the air is enough), they begin to grow branch-like structures called "hyphae" (pronounced
"high'-phee"). |
| After they grow and divide, there are finally enough of them to be visible to the naked eye. This mass is called a
"colony," which takes about a week to mature. The black mold you see is made up of colonies. Mold colonies could be white, green, pink, orange, black, etc.
Stachybotrys happens to produce black colonies, as do some other common molds. |
| The hyphae soon produce more spores, the spores float away, find food and water, and the process starts again. If no food or water is found, the spores can remain in a dormant state for many years until conditions change. Then they start growing again.
This is why just drying out an area or a carpet doesn't solve the problem.
The contaminated material must be removed, or spores will eventually start
to grow again. |
| If you send me your black mold sample, I'll be looking for the characteristic
Stachybotrys spores. They are relatively straightforward to identify under the microscope. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stachybotrys spores grow in somewhat oval shapes, bunched together like
dark brown balloons at the end of a dark brown stalk. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| One good thing about Stachybotrys spores is that they tend to be sticky, so they don't float off into the air as readily as some other types of mold, such as
Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, etc. If Stachybotrys spores are found in my on-site air samples, then there usually is a pretty good sized contamination present. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stachybotrys can be found growing on surfaces such as wallboard (gypsum board), damp cardboard, under sink cabinets where there is chronic leaking, in areas that were flooded but not properly cleaned up. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If you see dark mold growing at the bottom of the walls in your finished basement, have it checked for
Stachybotrys or other mold. Stachybotrys grows in areas of leaks -
such as roof leaks, plumbing leaks, water intrusion into basements, sink
cabinets where plumbing has been leaking, and so on.
Here is how you take samples of black mold to send to me:
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 | Gather your supplies: Zip-lock bag, labels, and Scotch brand Crystal Clear tape. Get the clear tape, not the clouded, and use
preferably Scotch brand. THE CLOUDY TAPE WILL NOT WORK. If you send in
cloudy tape, I will have to remove as much material from the tape as
possible with a clear tape. The sample will not be as good as what you
originally sent. |
| Take approximately a 3" piece of tape. Stick one end onto your thumb and the other onto your index finger. The sticky side should be facing away from you. |
| Carefully touch the center of the sticky side to the black mold. Then lift the tape off. There should be a black smudge about 1/2"-1" long in the center of the tape. Make sure both ends of the tape are not smudged, because they must be able to stick to the glass microscope slide. |
| Normally, I'd stick this tape, smudge-side down, onto a microscope glass slide. Since you don't have a slide, you'll be sticking this piece of tape onto the inside of the Zip-lock bag. Stick it right to the bag, and turn one end down so that I can unpeel it from the bag easily. |
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| When I receive the sample, I'll peel the tape off the plastic bag, stain the smudged part, put the tape on a glass microscope slide, and look at the smudged area under the microscope. |
| Since the microscope magnifies up to 1,000 times, I could tell if Stachybotrys were present even if the smudge were the size of the head of a pin. I don't need a big sample. |
| Send me at least two tape samples of the black mold. Label each sample, i.e., the date and where you gathered the mold from. A label might look like this: "Nov. 24th - wallboard in basement, 6" from floor, near washing machine" or "Nov. 24th - rear wall in main bathroom sink." |
| Keep the tape sample flat (don't fold it up). Put the samples in a mailing envelope, include your check for either $25 (for 3 preliminary samples) or $60 (for each lab sample) made out to Enviro Health, and mail the package (first class mail) to: Enviro Health Consulting 7104 Red Top Road Hummelstown, PA 17036 |
| Please note that the check is just for identification of Stachybotrys. No other molds will be identified, unless the spores are easily identified. Many spores cannot be identified
in a tape sample. They need to grow in a culture medium first. Stachybotrys spores can be identified under the microscope, fortunately. A brief written statement either confirming or ruling out the presence of Stachybotrys will be issued. If a more detailed report is required, an additional fee will apply. |
| If you need a report for your landlord or attorney, you will probably need laboratory confirmation, so enclose
$60 for each sample to be analyzed. Report write-up in this case will be typically
$60-100 additional, depending on your needs. You may need recommendations for remediation, for example. Please provide the particulars, including names and addresses of the property, the owner, and, if applicable, your attorney, as well as a description of your situation. Note the ages of any children living at the home. |
| If you prefer, just enclose the $25 check to see if there is Stachybotrys first. If positive, then you can send another
$35, plus fee for a report. |
| As an alternative, if you find black mold growing on a piece of cardboard, for example, you get put a small piece of the cardboard in a separate baggie and send it off. I can do the tape procedure at the office. |
| Please allow 1-2 weeks for your report. Enclose your fax number and e-mail address.
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| Is there a genuine concern here, or is it, as one health department official called it, a "media event"? Should parents seek identification of the black mold and then, if positive, hire a professional mold remediation company to clean it up? What if the parents don't have the thousands of dollars such a company might charge? |
| There is no easy answer. Where children are concerned, no one wants to stick their neck out. Better to err on the side of caution. There have been stories of health problems that may be related to severe
Stachybotrys contamination at homes. Several infants had pulmonary hemorrhages, one died. There is no proof that Stachybotrys was the cause, though suspicion exists. Other factors were also present that could have accounted for the illnesses in the babies. |
| The New York City Health Department, working with several other agencies, started to draft guidelines for
cleanup of Stachybotrys. By the time the guidelines were finalized, the title had been changed from
Stachybotrys cleanup to mold remediation in general. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Not only Stachybotrys but other types of potentially harmful molds need to be handled very carefully when present in large numbers. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| The New York City Health Department guidelines are accessible on the Internet.
See Guidelines on Assessment and Remediation of Fungi in Indoor
Environments, available at www.nyc.gov/html/epi.moldrpt1.html.gov.
The problem is that NYC Dept. of Health put a re-direct on this page. Here's
how to find it: go to www.nyc.gov and
choose City Agencies at the top of the page. Then click on the "Jump
to" box at the top and choose Health. Finally, do a search on
"aspergillus remediation." In the top choice, you should recognize
the correct URL. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| For families who must do their own clean-up, the following suggestions are offered:
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These suggestions are sketchy at best. Other topics may be involved, as noted above, such as controlling mold in a damp basement, waterproofing, issues relating to lead or asbestos, ductwork, etc. Consider scheduling an Enviro Health mold evaluation which will detail recommendations specific to your situation, whether you might have
Stachybotrys, Aspergillus, Penicillium, or some other allergenic mold.
| Additional information is found at the Free Info/Flood Cleanup section. |
| Also, call FEMA for a free copy of Repairing Your Flooded Home: 800-480-2520. |
Return to Mold Testing
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© 2001 May E. Dooley -
Enviro Health Environmental Home Inspections |
