Looking for help with a processing fault...

Hello everyone. I recently developed some film in a Jobo CPP-2 and had a processing fault that I could not diagnose. I used one of the large drums and processed 4 rolls of 120 -- 1 was mine, and the others from another photographer (and camera). They were all HP5+ and developed in Xtol 1+1 (no prewet). The processing itself came out just fine, with no sign of ill effects.
That said, there were several black marks on the film that seem to be spots where there was some sort of contamination. They seem to be embedded in the film base or emulsion, not sitting on top. Pec-12 does not remove them. They seem to be brownish black on the film, and they appear as white on scans etc. It looks almost like solid contamination, rather than liquid, but I cannot be sure. They were present in very small amounts on all the rolls, mostly looking like little dust spots. There were not many of them. In two cases, they were larger, and enough to be a real problem for the image. I ran another run in the same equipment (which I rinsed out etc), and they were still there, but only in one or two places and much more sporadic.

I am linking some scans of it. One is the highest resolution of the largest damage, scanned as color positive, and the other is an excerpt of the same image as a black and white negative. If anyone has any idea what type of contamination this might be, and how to avoid it, that would be great.

P.S. Is it ok to wash the plastic reels and drum with soap and water? I know they do not recommend this because of the buildup of residue, but I am wondering if it might help in this case.

Some background too -- I have never seen this before and have been processing in the same way for a while. I used filtered tap water for my solutions and process. The Xtol is relatively fresh -- perhaps 3-4 weeks old in a tank with a floating lid. The develop is used one shot, but the stop is reused. Hypo clear was mixed fresh, and Fix is a two bath method, both with fairly newly mixed chemicals. Could it be residue from the tape? I recently started folding over the tape on the film on Jobo's recommendation. Previously I had been tearing or cutting it off...

It looks like dirt and dust were left in the tank and/or on the reels. They may even be scraps of old emulsion.
They need a good cleaning.
The reels can be scrubbed with a toothbrush using mild soap and water. Be sure to rinse more than you think you need in order to eliminate the soap.

Well, I know what it's from. You probably were air drying your tank, reel, lid and maybe stir stick setting on a ledge just with enough space to put those items located by an open window, windows wide open, like french doors, to catch the nice fresh air, no screen, but finding gently blowing breezes around your lovely place, when the volcano talked, spit up and then said, "I'm gonna put a little dust on your stuff."

"I'll huff & I'll puff and I'll get my stuff on your stuff!"

Thanks Jim. I will give that a try. That said, the reels are only a few months old (tank too), and they look spotless. But that does not mean that they are not contaminated!

You can run the jobo tank and reels through the dishwasher. Dishwashing and other detergents lacking perfumes, softeners and other folderol leave no residue.

It is light on the positive and dark and with orange highlights on the negative (I think you have ID mixed here).

This seems to look like either an underfixed spot or an over developed spot.

In any event, there is an apparent process problem in which either development was uneven or fix was uneven. You can see the streaks. If they run parallel to rotation, that is your key. The second key is the way the streak broadens and becomes darker. Just a guess FWIW.

PE

Bill -- I wish it was that simple! But the volcano is quiet, and I saw the problem immediately coming out of the wetting agent.
Thanks Nicholas, that is good to know -- I may give them a run in the dishwasher...

PE, the spot looks dark on the actual negatives, and it looks light when you invert them as you would for display or to make a print.
I believe that spot above is in the axis of the rotation, that said, most of the spots do not have an obvious streaking...they just look like little mostly round spots. They do not appear in consistent intervals, nor in the same areas. They appeared to a greater or lesser degree on all four films in the tank. It baffled me because I have been doing this a while now and have certainly had my share of problems over the years...this is a new one. I guess my best guess would be either some remaining residue in the tank or reels, or perhaps some contamination in the fixer.
The reels and tank were bone dry when I started because they were the first run of the day.

Failures do not occur at equal distances, which could incriminate machine.
Failures are not placed on the emulsion or base. Analyzed by the reflecting surfaces are clean. Defects are seen only in transparency.
From the photos submitted do not appear mechanical fog (from the machine).
I seen such problems on cinematographic machines and I have concluded that they came from the material. I used to control some old negative. When I put a tail control a fresh box got rid of the problem.
Well, I gave the impression of a problem with fixing and removal of silver from the emulsion.
Perhaps using a fast fixer (with ammonium thiosulfate) could help you?
George