[Nhcoll-l] Test for formalin

Thu Aug 31 09:47:33 EDT 2017

I agree with Andy and Steve, Rob Waller's test strips work very well.

There are commercial formaldehyde test strips available, but they are
designed to detect very minute traces of formaldehyde and thus are likely
to be triggered by trace amounts of formaldehyde remaining from fixation in
specimens stored in alcohol (I know, I have tried this in the lab). In
order to test for "10% formalin" (eliminating the positive for trace
amounts of formaldehyde) you have to dilute the solution to be tested
substantially and do the math. Its really not worth it.

I have not tried Sadie's hack before but that is a very clever idea--the
drawback, of course, is that you are not testing for the presence of
formaldehyde with it, just the presence of alcohol. If the alcohol
concentration is too low, the Sharpie ink would not run but it would not
indicate formaldehyde.

Another hack you can use (which has the same limitation as Sadie's idea) is
check the concentration of the fluid. A "10% formalin" solution is about
96% water; a 70% alcohol solution is 30% water.

--John

John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
simmons.johne at gmail.com
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
and
Instructor, Museum Studies
School of Library and Information Science
Kent State University

On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 7:43 PM, Steve Halford <halford at sfu.ca> wrote:

> I routinely made up and used Rob's test strips and supplied them to OHS
> too.  They worked well except for a rather short shelf life.  I believe
> they were commercially available at one time -- possibly through University
> Products?
> Steve.
>
> Steve Halford (halford at sfu.ca)
> Museum Technician (Retired)
> Department of Biological Sciences
> Simon Fraser University
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 1:23 PM, Sadie Mills <Sadie.Mills at niwa.co.nz>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Erling and NHColl list,
>>
>>
>>
>> A very simple hack for this that we have been using in the NIWA
>> Invertebrate Collection is to cut up some scrap Resistall label paper
>> strips and put a simple stripe of sharpie permanent marker on it. Dip the
>> strip into the solution, and if it runs you’ve got alcohol, if it doesn’t
>> run you’ve got formalin.
>>
>>
>>
>> Simple, but very cheap and effective!
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Sadie
>>
>>
>>
>> Sadie Mills
>> Marine Biology Technician
>> Collections Manager
>> +64-4-386-0464 <+64%204-386%200464> | 301 Evans Bay Parade, Greta Point,
>> Wellington | www.niwa.co.nz
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>> [image: NIWA]
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>> *From:* nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailm
>> an.yale.edu] *On Behalf Of *Erling Holm
>> *Sent:* Thursday, 31 August 2017 7:51 AM
>> *To:* NHCOLL <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
>> *Cc:* Mary Burridge <maryb at rom.on.ca>; Sarah Steele <
>> sarah.steele at mail.utoronto.ca>; Brenna Wells <brennaw at rom.on.ca>
>> *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] Test for formalin
>>
>>
>>
>> Is there a quick test to determine if a fluid is formalin vs. ethanol
>> other than the "sniff" test? Are the QUANTOFIX® Formaldehyde strips, which
>> test for formalin up to 200 ppm, useful for determining solutions of 5-10%
>>  formalin?
>>
>>
>>
>> Erling Holm
>>
>> Department of Natural History (Ichthyology)
>>
>> Royal Ontario Museum
>>
>> 100 Queens Park
>>
>> Toronto, ON
>>
>> M5S 2C6
>>
>> Landlines: 416-586-5760 <(416)%20586-5760> or 905-826-3215
>> <(905)%20826-3215>
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>>
>> Email: erlingh at rom.on.ca
>>
>>
>>
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