Deep Thoughts On Tub Toys

When I was a kid I thought plastic rotted. After all, all my tub toys had black flakes coming off them all the time. That must be the rotting plastic, right? So, OK then. Plastic rotted. Euww.

For some reason I lost interest in tub toys not long after that.

Having learned about mold since those days, I'm very careful with the toddler's toys. I've got her trained to hand them to me at the end of every bath. I squeeze the water out of them as best I can and deposit them in a mesh bag hanging on the shower wall. It's not working though. The outsides are mold free, but I noticed the other day that one of her favorites has got black mold growing all inside it. I'm inclined to throw it away, but only because I can't figure out how to clean it.

Is this simply the way of tub toys? Do they inevitably attract gross black stuff? Has science failed us, leaving no way to save them from this awful fate?