Sheeeeeet! How do I clean this loo?

[GravityGoesSouth]

We have a bathroom upstairs that we never use. Only guests use it if they stay overnight (which hasn't happened in months).
Anyway, I went in there this morning and found the loo bowl a dark brown, at and below the water line. It stays like that when I flush the loo.
What could it be?
And more importantly, how should I best clean it? It can't be limescale as I didn't think limescale goes that dark. Did someone just not flush the loo after they'd done a pee and now it's stained the sides of the bowl?

Bleach. Leave it for half an hour and flush.

I have one of those too and bleach doesn't shift it. Nor does the black harpic or any of the "serious" toilet cleaner products.

I've just bought a pumice stone and am going to try that on the marks after reading about them online. Bit worried about the glazed finish being scraped off so will test it first.

You'll need to put a lot of bleach, leave it to sit for a while, then you'll need to scrub it with a toilet brush and gloves, You'd probably need to repeat the process, i've never seen something as bad

Definitely try the Harpic in the white bottle, it’s called ‘White and Shine’

Squirt some straight in and give it a really good scrub (I recommend you use an un-mumsnetty loo brush ) then flush.
Squirt a LOAD more in and have another scrub, leave for at least an hour or overnight then scrub and flush again.

Hope it works!

Cheap cola from the cheapest store that you can find will have the strongest critic acid in it. Fill the bowl with a full bottle and then leave until finished fizzing. Then leave for as long as possible before using loo brush to scrub.

Take a photo afterwards and let us see the effects

Not bleach. Tha will just make it hard to see where the dirt and limescale are.

Denture cleaning tablets for a start. Throw a couple in and leave them overnight. If you seee a change throw a couple more in... leave all day. At night have another look. It should have made some headway. Then you can start with a pair of gloves and one of those magic sponges.

That has been a revelation for me! The magic sponge (I buy the cheap ones) gets into corners, round the back of the bowl and really seems to move all the stained limescale and any other build of gunk!

I also haven't seen it that bad but yes I would also put loads of bleach down and leave 30 mins or so, go back up, flush, then pour more down, leave 30 mins, go up and scrub. Then repeat the bleach and scrub as much as you need.

Get some spirit of salts. Job done.

Buzz try coke or denture tab first.

When you use the pumice remember to take out as much water as possible. If you physically push the surface of the water you can force it round the u-bend! And the pumice does no damage to the porcelain - nad I really scrubbed ours in a rented house!

Yuck! It's clearly a dissolved poo.
What have you already tried?
Bleach, scrub, rinse, repeat.
If that fails dissolve some bio washing powder and leave to soak.

you can also try vinegar with baking soda directly poured into the area one after the other

Probably kilrock descaler

Thanks very much for all your suggestions everyone!

Incidentally, does anyone know what it might be? (Am very curious....not to mention slightly horrified!)

Give it a good scrub by hand then stick bicarb and vinegar in and leave over night.
I think I've seen strident recommend before.Dont use pumice the glaze will go and everything will stick to it from then on.

Use a mop to mop up all the water in it, squeeze it out in a bucket. The bowl should be dry. Water will just dilute any products. Then apply a strong limescale remover or bleach neat to the stains. Leave to soak for a few hours and scrub with a loo brush. Rinse and repeat.

We had a toilet like that when we moved into a rented house.
We tried white vinegar, cola etc nothing shifted it.
Siphon the water out and put the black harpic lime scale remover down there and leave it for a good few hours. That removed some, then I scrubbed it with a toilet brush. Toilet brush broke in the process and I was then able to chisel it off with the broken handle. It came off in lumps!

Take the water out of the bowl (I use gloves and a sponge, suck it up and put into a bucket).

But a bottle of Viakal and some kitchen roll. Soak the kitchen roll in Viakal liquid and place on the limescale/brown. Pour more liquid over so it’s absolutrly saturated. Leave for 24 hours and remove paper, scrub if needed and flush a good few times go replenish the water.

Works a treat! My toilets were horrific when I bought my house. They’re pristine now.

Its limescale build up. That then picks up any mineral in the water and anything else that passes.

Ours had been properly ceaned 6 months before we moved in, never used, and was black by the time we moved in. The kind of water you have makes a big difference to the level of staining you will see!

@Stayawayfromitsmouth i'm not sure it's a dissolved poo...else some of it might've shifted when I flushed, no?
Or maybe it was a poo someone didn't flush away ages ago but then wouldn't there have been a smell coming from bathroom?

Dont use pumice the glaze will go and everything will stick to it from then on. It doesn't though Pumice is softer that vitreous enamel!

Of course if your loo is old, maybe crazed, it wouldn't be such a good idea.

Roller cola! Or washing up liquid - it's designed to break through particles. I'd rather not guess what it is!

Bendylikebeckam great idea.
Then when loo is empty of water spray WD40 on the stein and leave as long as possible then give it a good scrub.

Pour some warm water in the bowl, add a good few scoops of vanish laundry powder. Let it foam up leave for a few hours. I use vanish powder for soaking baking trays and pots. Worth a bash if you've got some already.

Spirits of Salts, do NOT inhale it, in fact you need to not breathe as you pour it in. Close the lid straight away and leave it for half an hour, then flush before opening and leave the room. Go back in a while and check if it has gone, if not repeat.

You need about half a bottle for one application.

It is also handy for smelly drains.

the cheapest coke (as in the rola cola type) you can find, pour a couple of bottles into the loo and leave to sit overnight.