Cleaning negatives question

Hello!
I recently found some kind of mold or mildew on the emulsion side of my black & white, T-Max 120 negatives. My question - I want to clean it off in the best way possible without scratching the film. It seems to come off using Pec-12 (only enlargement will tell for sure whether it's totally successful). Does anyone have advice on something even better than Pec-12, or on the cloth/pad to use, and what motion to use when removing it (ie circular or swipe-across). I stored the negs for years in PrintFile sleeves and hard, closeable binders, not too full - 60 pages per binder, with no problems until now. Thanks for any response!
Alex

I've used Pec-pad and PEC12 on negatives. If you apply pressure when moving the pec-pad, it will scratch the film surface. I usually saturate the film, fold pec-pad in half, put film in between, pull the pec-pad taught, then pull it though. The scratches did NOT show on prints when printed optically though.

I cannot offer you anything other than this cautionary tale as I have not personally used anything else.

Welcome to APUG.

I fear bad news awaits you. Molds eat cellulose. I think the wisest step is to sequester the film as soon as you can to prevent its spread by spores. Unless there have been advancements I don't know about, the film is now a threat to the rest of your collection.

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Thank you for responding! Wow, that is bad news - I did notice when I experimentally cleaned one that there's still an underlying "crazed" pattern that didn't come off... I feel like a fire has swept through this place as far as my negatives are concerned - I am heartsick about this. If anyone else has suggestions too, I'm all ears. And also on how to store them in future so this doesn't keep happening. Perhaps PrintFile wasn't the way to go...

In my experience you're very unlucky to have mould attacking B/W negatives. Whilst mould likes to dine out on transparencies (especially Kodachromes in cardboard mounts) in my experience it rarely attacks B/W film. I'm sure that somewhere on APUG this subject has been discussed before and it was suggested that the silver salts in B/W film plus residual chemicals from insufficient washing (here I hold my hand up) possibly serve to keep mould at bay.
For my affected slides I've stopped short of binning any, but have segregated any affected and am careful when handling them so as to try to avoid transferring spores. A friend who formerly worked in a film archive once told me that their approach was to give affected material a quick dunk in carbon tetrachloride (CTC) before re-washing and drying. I've done that and it seems to halt the mould, though of course it won't repair any existing damage and I'm told that CTC isn't something you want to get too close to too often.

Steve
Steve

Thanks Steve, so perhaps my compulsiveness to develop and wash my negs to perfection has bitten me in the a*#. It feels like there's a life's lesson in there somewhere...
I just spoke with a museum conservator and they gave me the best procedure for this (and that if the mold was there too long, then the negs are toast - which is what you said, PinRegistered). Here's what they said: "The supplies necessary are Isopropyl alcohol (91 %), Latex gloves (or Nitrile), particulate mask and a very smooth cloth or cotton swab that will leave no residue. Test an old piece of film first to see if the emulsion reacts with the alcohol. Then put on the mask and gloves and proceed to dip the swab in the alcohol, squeeze out the excess alcohol and gently swab over the area of the negative with the mold. The technique is to very gently swab over the negative in a circular motion, not rub. This process will not only remove the surface mold but deactivate it."
So, if anyone has this issue in future - this sounds like good advice.
Thank you APUG members for your willingness to lend assistance, much appreciated!

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