Water Spot problem

Hi..I'm pretty new to photography, so bear with me. I now know ways

to prevent the water spots now, but is there any way to remove them

from b & w negs?

There are proprietary neg cleaning fluids and materials for mild water spots. For more serious spots, the negs should be rewashed and rinsed in a photoflo solution.

If the water spots consist only of residue left behind by the water droplets on the base side, then Art's suggestions will work. However, if the water spots are on the emulsion side, there was probably damage to the gelatin material. This damage would be caused by swelling of the gelatin material in the area of the water droplet and shrinkage during drying of the material outside the area of the water droplet. This causes a rupture line around the perimeter of the water droplet.

 

The problem cannot be totally repaired, but can be minimized to some degree. Some have tried soaking the film in a developer solution to soften and swell the gelatin layer. Sometimes this will minimize the separation along the rupture. You could also try using one of the scratch removal treatments such as Edwal's "No-Scratch." You could also try nose grease. Such treatments as these might or might not work temporarily, but they definitely are not permanent solutions.

A quick fix is a wipe with lighter fluid.

Brutal but it often works.

I've done this, on the few occasions when there were drying marks on the shiny side, with no damage - "touch wood":

 

Grip end of neg strip with finger nail on clean paper surface, breathe ONCE on strip and immediately wipe (away from held edge) once firmly with pad made from clean cotton hanky. Marks are removed and don't show on prints. Of course damage can be done if you're not careful.