(I'm so sorry I posted this like 1,000 times, it kept giving me an error, so I thought it wasn't posting at all, and I kept re-submitting. I think I deleted all the extra ones now. I didn't mean to do that!)

Anyway here we go again --
I bought a G1 Seabreeze from a thrift store, and I was just cleaning it when I noticed that in the right light, it looked like there was black on the inside. I took off her head to check, and sure enough she's got black ick all over the inside.

Here's an image of what it looks like inside the neck:


I've heard that this can happen to ponies, and that it is mold, so I wanted to know 3 things:

1) Is it dangerous? I've heard black mold is bad.
2) Is there a technique to cleaning ponies with this problem?
3) Is it even worth cleaning? It seems to have also seeped into the base of her tail. I know she's not that rare, but I like orange ponies and fish. x3

Thanks guys!

It seems like tail rust to me Though I haven't opened enough ponies myself to say for sure.

Glacia471 wrote:

It seems like tail rust to me Though I haven't opened enough ponies myself to say for sure.

Would tail rust spread all over the inside? This black stuff is inside the wings, all four feet, and the head, too.

Give her a good soak in some hot water and soap and if its mold a lot of it should come loose. Try not to get it on you or breath in any particles or anything like that lol. But most mold found in ponies is just... eh... mold. Or it could just be dirt/muck/unknown, that happens a lot. If it's rust, toothpaste would take care of it but since it's black I dunno that that's the most likely case?

I do know rust can spread all over like that If it's bad enough tail rust, it can even be found at the base of the mane plugs. I'd suggest taking a wet q-tip and rubbing off some of the black stuff. If it appears an orange/brown/redish color then it's tail rust

lemontwist wrote:

Give her a good soak in some hot water and soap and if its mold a lot of it should come loose. Try not to get it on you or breath in any particles or anything like that lol. But most mold found in ponies is just... eh... mold. Or it could just be dirt/muck/unknown, that happens a lot. If it's rust, toothpaste would take care of it but since it's black I dunno that that's the most likely case?

Thanks for the advice, and I didn't know about the toothpaste! x3 Good tip to know.

Glacia471 wrote:

I do know rust can spread all over like that If it's bad enough tail rust, it can even be found at the base of the mane plugs. I'd suggest taking a wet q-tip and rubbing off some of the black stuff. If it appears an orange/brown/redish color then it's tail rust

Okay. I also just got advice that if it is tail rust, toothpaste will help remove it. I never would have guessed that. xD

Thank you!

That's indeed rust.

tiz tail rust matey

here are some pics of my argie twilight that was *beyond disgusting* outside AND inside her body when i recieved her but i do lurve a good pony-cleaning challenge and she came up soooo good once i'd got all the rust out (toothpaste with baking soda is the way forward) and then i had her in oxyaction to get rid of the majority of the pindot mold - yeah the black dots is pindot - and then untangle and condition her hair then sunfade the marks out

i havent got any after pics but she looks amazing, so its totally worth the effort of cleaning yours up!! sorry for the huge size, i'm running late for work and just wanted to post the pics before i forget so i'll resize them later if there's a problem with them...

breaking that neck seal...


insiiiiide, eww...


the rust that came out when i shook her. yes, loose rust, her tail washer clamp had pretty much disintegrated into her tail hair


what was left of the washer clamp in her tail


her tail seperated and free of all rusted particles, the brown stuff is the original argentinian cotton thread from the factory and i wasn't removing that


hope this helps

I remember buying a FT Baby Bouncy from a charity shop. AS you know, she has a yellow body, but this one was uniformly, and weirdly, greenish. When I removed her head, I dscovered why she looked so green...it was due to the almost complete layer of rust inside her *ick* It hadn't altered her colour, luckily, and once it was all washed away, she was back to her yellow lovely self again!

BTW, I use dishwashing detergent (Fairy Liquid for choice) to remove rust. Never tried toothpaste before, I might have to give that a go some day.

Ew, that is gross. Yeah, it does look like tail rust though.

Sounds like you need to take a good look at the stickied threads about general cleaning at the top of the Pony Corral. Tail rust is one of the simplest "struggles" you will face if you are collecting G1s.

Here is the link in case you missed it (it's stickied at the top):
mlparena.com/Forums/vi...59894.html

lemontwist wrote:

Give her a good soak in some hot water and soap and if its mold a lot of it should come loose. Try not to get it on you or breath in any particles or anything like that lol. But most mold found in ponies is just... eh... mold. Or it could just be dirt/muck/unknown, that happens a lot. If it's rust, toothpaste would take care of it but since it's black I dunno that that's the most likely case?

Thank you for your advice! I cleaned her up today using your tips, and now she looks AMAZING! It was so worth cleaning her up. She's actually ORANGE now! xD
Take a look!:

Glacia471 wrote:

I do know rust can spread all over like that If it's bad enough tail rust, it can even be found at the base of the mane plugs. I'd suggest taking a wet q-tip and rubbing off some of the black stuff. If it appears an orange/brown/redish color then it's tail rust

You were absolutely right, it certainly was rust! I'm glad it wasn't some kind of scary mold (some types of mold make me sick!)

I cleaned her up using tips people gave me, and she looks great now!

Thank you for your amazing photos and tips! I cleaned her up tonight, and although it took quite a while, the result was amazing! She's actually orange now, and looking very nice: