Cancer or Mold?

[Moonracer]

Hello Everypony!

So, currently I'm in the process of cleaning my ponies in order to make them look presentable (I want to display them on my shelf). When I first dug out the ponies, which I had for some 10+ years, I noticed that one of them, Skydancer, had several brown spots on her. At first, I thought it was some sort of mold which developed over time (I used to give my ponies "baths" quite frequently, when I was a kid). But then I started looking up some information on the internet regarding the pony restoration, and stumbled upon the info on the "pony cancer", and I freaked a little.

Anyway, here are the photos of the spots which my Skydancer has:

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I'm really scared right now to be honest... Especially when I read that there's no cure for "pony cancer". It especially makes me sad, since Skydancer was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid - I don't want to lose her or get rid of her... that would probably be one of the most heartbreaking things for me to do... 

I'm really hoping that it's just some nasty mold that requires some cleaning.

[mlpfan]

it looks like it is cancer. will it come off?

[Moondancer115]

Mmmm I am not sure what it is, but I am new to this also. It looks like cancer to me . Hope a exper can give you advice on this.

[dashlikedashie]

Hi Moonracer
Unfortunately that is what it looks like, I am positively sure, as you can see here in the guide:
http://www.mlparena.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=151706/postdays=0/postorder=asc/start=0.html
So sorry

[mlpfan]

put some armor-all on a spot and see if that stops it. keep her away from your other ponies, it can spread.

[moonflower]

It looks like cancer to me. It seems like Skydancer is prone to it as I've seen one recently which looked very similar with the same marks around her symbol. It was a shame as she was in good condition apart from the marks.

There are mixed views on pony cancer and whether it can spread or not. In my opinion, it can't spread but either way it is not cureable. Probably worth popping her head off and having a look inside though just to be sure she is free from rust/mould.

[Moonracer]

 

I guess I have no other choice but to accept the truth... as painfull and sad as it sounds.

Well... I guess I have no other choice to do, but try as best as I can to give those spots a good cleaning, to at least stop it from spreading.

@mlpfan - thanks for the tip, I'll see what I can do.

@moonflower - I think I can agree with your theory on cancer not spreading onto other ponies, as no other pony from my collection seems to be affected by it. bBefore taking them out, I kept seven other ponies with Skydancer inside a bag at the back of my closet, for some while (five years or something like that) and before that I had them in my old toys box for quite some time. And when I took them out - Skydancer was the only one with spots on. Others were completely intact - no single spot whatsoever. Huh...

But either way, I have to try my best to keep my baby in good shape... she means a lot to me.
 

[mlpfan]

I guess I have no other choice but to accept the truth... as painfull and sad as it sounds.

Well... I guess I have no other choice to do, but try as best as I can to give those spots a good cleaning, to at least stop it from spreading.

@mlpfan - thanks for the tip, I'll see what I can do.

@moonflower - I think I can agree with your theory on cancer not spreading onto other ponies, as no other pony from the collection seems to be affected by it. bBefore taking them out, I kept seven other ponies with Skydancer inside a bag at the back of my closet, for some while (five years or something like that) and before that I had them in my old toys box for quite some time. And when I took them out - Skydancer was the only one with spots on. Others were completely intact - no single spot whatsoever. Huh...

But either way, I have to try my best to keep my baby in good shape... she means a lot to me.
 

armor all is kinda an experimental treatment for pony cancer ,so let us know how it works,if it works:)

[Moonracer]

Oh... I see.

Well, if I'll manage to get my hands on the thing first, I might give it a try. To be honest, I always have this bit of uncertainity in me, whenever applying some kind of solvements onto my ponies, because I never know what the aftermath can be... but I guess this can also be said for other collectors here.

Has anyone else tried testing this method out before?

[Elisto]

I've never heard of armor-all stopping cancer. Cancer is actually a bacteria, so your best bet it to just boil the pony. You'd probably only need to do it for a minute or so. Some people have had limited success with sunfading the spots, but plenty of people haven't too, so up to you what you want to try.

[mlpfan]

I've never heard of armor-all stopping cancer. Cancer is actually a bacteria, so your best bet it to just boil the pony. You'd probably only need to do it for a minute or so. Some people have had limited success with sunfading the spots, but plenty of people haven't too, so up to you what you want to try.

i thought cancer and mold was two different things? that is what i had read anyway. i wish i had a cancer pony to test on, i love science and this kind of this is very interesting.

[Elisto]

They are two different things, but either way, if it's anything alive, boiling it will kill it.

[Moonracer]

Alright, so I today I started working on Skydancer. First I "decapitated" her, to check out what her body looks like inside... and I was horrified... almost all her intetrior was covered in rust. I'll spare you the rest of the details, because it isn't even worth mentioning (that's also one of the reasons why I didn't take any photos).

Of course, first thing I did was to give her a thorough cleaning. I scrubber her interior with a toothbrush dipped in water with Vanish Oxi Action (a "leftover" from my ongoing Glory restoration project) and later with cotton pads and Q-tips dipped in nail polish remover with aceton (to remove the particularly persistant rust stains).

The rust stains disappeared, and now Skydancer looks a tad better. Gosh I'm such a fool... had I only gave that cleaning to her earlier, maybe she wouldn't have developed those nasty cancer spots... I'm so ashamed for myself. 

Speaking of which, I also noticed that after giving Skydancer some of that cleaning, the brown spots on her flanks became a bit lighter (or maybe it was just my imagination?), which made me a little happy. Unfortunatelly there's still some work to be done. In the end I might resolve to sun fading.

One thing I wanted to ask you though: would it be okay to soak Skydancer in some hot water with Vanish Oxi Action? I want to do this in order to remove the rest of the rust stains that have accumulated in those parts I can't reach (the soles of her feet), but then I heard that such products as OxiClean and Vanish Oxi Action tend to remove the glitter from the cutie marks, and I don't want that... Or maybe there's another, safer solution?

[babystarz]

One thing I wanted to ask you though: would it be okay to soak Skydancer in some hot water with Vanish Oxi Action? I want to do this in order to remove the rest of the rust stains that have accumulated in those parts I can't reach (the soles of her feet), but then I heard that such products as OxiClean and Vanish Oxi Action tend to remove the glitter from the cutie marks, and I don't want that... Or maybe there's another, safer solution?

This is correct, Oxiclean isn't a good idea for ponies with glitter symbols. However, you can pour the Oxiclean solution into her body! Just make sure she stays upright in the process. That will take care of the problem without damaging her symbols You may wish to do a few "rounds" as the water will cool off quickly and people seem to see the best results with boiling/very hot water. And be sure to rinse her out thoroughly when you're done.

[rybett]

What about pouring the water/cleaner into the pony, then standing her in a bowl of hot water up to her neck?  Keep the pony warmer longer.