Some of those insects that jean mentioned can be difficult to spot, unless you know what to look for. The only other way that your plant could have black sooty mold is if it were sitting underneath a plant that had an infestation of one or more of those critters, and the honey-dew was dripping on it. The plant looks like a hibiscus, but I'd need to see a better picture of that flower in order to be certain. If so, pest insects are considered normal. Neem is recommended for the control of piercing sucking insects on many different kinds of plants, including the one hibiscus, but I'd still like to be certain of the plant.

I ran into this problem today actually.. what I found out to get rid of all that black gunk out of the jets is to take off the filter cover. Yes, take off the filter cover (it should be attached with a screw.) So take that off, then just clean it out. You will be amazed on how much gunk is actually stuck in there. Then run the tub with the bleach, or whatever solution you're using with the filter off.. once done, replace the filter, run some water through the tub again, and that should solve the problem. HTH.

I would call my water supplier if you have municipal water. For a few weeks I was detecting an odor coming from my faucets. I called the water company. Two men came out and took various samples. It turned out that I had very high chlorine content. They also took samples from my taps that had filters and those had much lower levels of chlorine. They explained how that happened, it was very interesting to learn what was going on at the water co. If you have private well water you're probably on your own, but if it's public you should probably call them to see if they'll inspect your water and/or test it. If many more people are having this problem and calling in to them it might tell them something.

LWO - I'm reading into your statement, but are you saying that Grohe is a crappy quality faucet? Correct me if I'm wrong. We've had a Grohe LadyLux Plus faucet for years without any problems. It doesn't have to be reset from spray when you turn it off. We love it. When we go to my sil's new house, I can see that that is one place she skimped. Her faucet is a piece of crap. Our Grohe has held up with heavy use and when we remodel we will use the same faucet and add another Grohe to our prep sink. However, if I loved the Kohler Karbon as much as you seem to, I'd try to swing that one if at all possible. I think it's a really cool faucet but I just couldn't justify the cost for *me.* Oh, and I wouldn't go with the cheap screw-on spray attachment.