Hands in Tank???
- Thread starter flames9
- Start date
Just to throw a spanner in the works I thought I would would mention this. Fish TB MYCOBACTERIUM MARINUM, also called fish tuberculosis, fish tank granuloma in my oppinon is the main reason why you should not stick your bare hands in your aquarium. I have some knowledge on this through my work,although I have never seen it first hand . Very nasty bacteria, if you ever have any cuts on your hand,I dont recomend you put them in your tank. Even though your fish tank is not the only place you can get this bacteria it is a prime breeding ground. Our tanks, you may not like to admit , are little cesspools ,no matter how clean you keep your tank, you are keeping an unnatural bio load in a very small volume of water , and this results in diseases prolifrating. In general this disease is very rare so I would not panic, but I will say if you have sick fish and the disease is unknow I would show a little caution. All that said I generaly put my bare hands in my tank after I have thoughly washed them to get body oils off and then I thoughly rinse them. As Daveedka said citric acid cleaners do rinse very well.
ashdavid, can you repost that in English? :sim:
Anyway, Take it from me, I bet my hands have been in my tanks more then half the posters to this thread put together, Hardly a couple days go by I don't stick my hand in here for some reason or other, although I did make a wire picker as I call it for picking straglers of java moss and moving hornwort around in my tnak, so I don't have to get my hand wet just for that.
If I havn't done anything for awhile that would have anything on my hands, I don;t bother washing them off, have my hands in tanks with open wounds before to, never seen a fish die from that. Unless you are always putting your hands in there, I would be more appet to worry about the stress on the fish.....
Anyway, Take it from me, I bet my hands have been in my tanks more then half the posters to this thread put together, Hardly a couple days go by I don't stick my hand in here for some reason or other, although I did make a wire picker as I call it for picking straglers of java moss and moving hornwort around in my tnak, so I don't have to get my hand wet just for that.
If I havn't done anything for awhile that would have anything on my hands, I don;t bother washing them off, have my hands in tanks with open wounds before to, never seen a fish die from that. Unless you are always putting your hands in there, I would be more appet to worry about the stress on the fish.....
Swimfins
This is as good as it gets.
If your putting bare hands in the tank they should be clean (no soap, no perfume, no hand lotions) afterwards, wash with ordinary soap. Hand sanitizers are a good thing. I use those antibacterial towellettes after fiddling in the tank.
If you have a cut or abrasion on your hand, buy the ordinary playtex rubber glove. Tie it securely around the wrist with a broad elastic band.
(I did this after I scraped my hand when I jerked it up and hit it on the lip of the tank after my meanie red rainbow bit my arm.)
Tanks are fish toilets. Think about how you'd like to clean your own toilet with your bare hands.
Ewwwwwwwieeeee
If you have a cut or abrasion on your hand, buy the ordinary playtex rubber glove. Tie it securely around the wrist with a broad elastic band.
(I did this after I scraped my hand when I jerked it up and hit it on the lip of the tank after my meanie red rainbow bit my arm.)
Tanks are fish toilets. Think about how you'd like to clean your own toilet with your bare hands.
Ewwwwwwwieeeee
What about those people that start a siphon with their mouth? I have even seen them do this at the LFS.
Swimfins
This is as good as it gets.
Boohoo said:
I am guilty as charged. Yes. This is absolutely the worst...... I ended up once with a mouthful of tank water. OMG Ick!
Now I have bought a bulb to start the siphon. Its a matter of ignorance, I think.
I clean my tubing in a mix of mild bleach and water occasionally and the soak it in declhloinator an clean water.
The odds of you getting a disease from your tank are phenominally low. It could happen, yes, but you can also get it from swimming in any body of water, even swimming pools. And yes, fishtanks are "cess pools" but so is all of the water on this Earth, more or less. 
The odds are much higher for you making your fish sick.
For anyone interested:
http://edcp.org/factsheets/mycobacterium.html
The odds are much higher for you making your fish sick.
For anyone interested:
http://edcp.org/factsheets/mycobacterium.html
MrAquarium said:
Putting your hands in the tank with open wounds to my knowledge will not harm your fish, what I am talking about is the fish bacteria(Mycobacterium marinum) this can be transfered to humans through open cuts. If you are unfortunate enough to be inflicted by this bacteria, the time taken to heal can take 6 mounths or more and also can result in surgery. The areas affected are usually hands, knees and elbows , if you want to know more about this just do a google Mycobacterium marinum, there should be plenty of information on it. Like I said before the aquarium is not the only place you can contract it(lakes , swimming pools ect), but if your fish have this bacteria you are much more likely to be infected especialy if you have open wounds and definately do not put your hands in your tank until things are rectified. People who siphon with their mouth are in the same boat, but the way I understand it is that fresh open wounds is the most likely way to be affected(But siphoning with your is still a risk) . But like I said before dont panic if your immune system is fuctioning well your are more than likely to be fine.
As an aside:
I have been trying to remember something I read many years ago. It was a book or an article or something written by a guy who ran a fish store in NYC. Anyway, the part that stuck in my head was a story about a rather large fish tank that he had to clean. After thinking about the problem for a while he just decided the easiest thing was to get in the tank and clean it.
I don't remember the details.
I have been trying to remember something I read many years ago. It was a book or an article or something written by a guy who ran a fish store in NYC. Anyway, the part that stuck in my head was a story about a rather large fish tank that he had to clean. After thinking about the problem for a while he just decided the easiest thing was to get in the tank and clean it.
I don't remember the details.
I use bare hands and rinse them and my arms off when done.
I do suck start the siphon by mouth too, you can do it without getting much if any in your mouth.
People swallow or inhale worse stuff. I guess it depends on how anal you are.
Tom
I do suck start the siphon by mouth too, you can do it without getting much if any in your mouth.
People swallow or inhale worse stuff. I guess it depends on how anal you are.
Tom
