Slime on wetsuit

[riddler]

I just got a new Excel 4/3 Infiniti wetsuit and spent last week in Fiji diving it. It's a great suit - warm and comfortable. But I noticed that it gave me a bit of a rash on both shoulders by the end of the week. I washed the suit (part of my normal after-trip ritual, using McNett Aquaseal, then Mirazyme) when I got back home. As I was placing my suit in the water (before the first wash), I noticed the inside of both shoulders has some invisible slimy substance. I couldn't see it, but that part of the suit seemed to be really slippery. I suspect that's what gave me the rash, but I have no idea what it could be.

I normally take pretty good care of all my equipment. After each day of diving, I rinse of the outside of my suit with fresh water, then turn the suit inside-out and rinse again with fresh water on the inside part. Then I hang the suit, inside-out, in a protected area (in this case, Dive Kadavu has some convenient open-air lockers) to air-dry. I did this every day after diving last week.

Any idea what the slimy substance could be? This is on the inside of the shoulders of the suit. I've never experienced this with any other wetsuit. Could this be something from the seam sealant?

 

[Lexy]

Could be some substance from the manufacturing process, which was dry when you first purchased the suit then became slimy once you hit water.

Also, To prevent the rash in the future - you might want to purchase a rash guard. It's like a t-shirt but made from lycra or a lycra blend. This will keep the suit from rubbing directly on your skin.

 

[Puffer Fish]

I just got a new Excel 4/3 Infiniti wetsuit and spent last week in Fiji diving it. It's a great suit - warm and comfortable. But I noticed that it gave me a bit of a rash on both shoulders by the end of the week. I washed the suit (part of my normal after-trip ritual, using McNett Aquaseal, then Mirazyme) when I got back home. As I was placing my suit in the water (before the first wash), I noticed the inside of both shoulders has some invisible slimy substance. I couldn't see it, but that part of the suit seemed to be really slippery. I suspect that's what gave me the rash, but I have no idea what it could be.

I normally take pretty good care of all my equipment. After each day of diving, I rinse of the outside of my suit with fresh water, then turn the suit inside-out and rinse again with fresh water on the inside part. Then I hang the suit, inside-out, in a protected area (in this case, Dive Kadavu has some convenient open-air lockers) to air-dry. I did this every day after diving last week.

Any idea what the slimy substance could be? This is on the inside of the shoulders of the suit. I've never experienced this with any other wetsuit. Could this be something from the seam sealant?

Lexy could be correct, but would have difficulty figuring out what they would use that would be soluable in water. Silicone products used for release agents do not tend to react that way, nor would the glue they would use.

As you were in the tropics, there are a whole bunch of life forms that could join you in the suit, including slime molds and bacteria. Both feel this way when wet, sort of slippery feeling but not aways something you can see. If that was the issue, your cleaning method should have killed them, but you might want to double check.

Mat forming bacteria are difficult to kill, even with when using bacteriacides, because the outside guys get killed, but the inside ones live on.

Rinsing and hanging to dry normally is good enough, but if something starts growing, it will continue.

 

[dlndavid]

I get that stuff in my mask around my nose too