My old floppy disks are decaying! Help!

[basil@rain.org (Basil)]

I hope this is the right group... I couldn't find anything tailored to disks
or magnetic media specifically.
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I started into computers back in the early days of Apple ][+ and TI-99, so
I have several disks that go back as far as 1983. Only recently did I take
a look at some of my oldest Apple disks, mostly 3M and Maxell (back when
they used to cost $30-$60 for a box of 10 5.25" DS/DD disks). On several
of the older 3M disks, as well as a few Janus and a no-name brand, there
are black-brown stains all over the disk surface when I spin the disk
around. They are clearly from a chemical reaction with the inside paper
lining because the only place where there are no stains/spots is in the
opening where the head reads the disk. These stains do not come off with
a Q-tip and on the worse cases, the disk has read errors. Disks with mild
stains are still readable (time to make some back-ups quick)!

These have been stored inside in stable temperature environment and untouched
for several years. Does anyone know why the paper lining is reacting with
the surface and if this is going to be the fate of all disks eventually? It's
not a pretty thought when I consider that it may be necessary to make copies
of and throw away all of my disks every 10-15 years! I don't have time to do
all of that. I hope that newer disks, including the MEI generic disks I've
been using since the late 80's will fare better. One good sign is that no
Maxell's were affected.

It's funny that on this same day after I discovered my first floppy disk rot,
I checked some old VHS tapes and found some residue on tapes. Maybe that's
tape rot? Not to mention that last year I ran across laser rot on my
laserdiscs. I'm beginning to have *really* low confidence in any type of
media lasting beyond 10 years -- whether CD, CDROM, laserdisc, VHS tape,
audio tape, or floppy disk. I have neither the time nor the money to replace
everything I own every 10 years. I will have to cut back my purchasing of
magnetic and optical media if this continues to happen.

I'd appreciate hearing if anyone else has had similar problems/experiences.