Hands in Tank???

[Kasakato]

Again:

uke:

 

[FisheyLisa]

siphoning: I use mouth (I'm rought tough.), my tube is long enough, and I have noticed having the water in starting the suction thing (as mentioned in refrence to free gass). I have also used a turkey baster, though it takes patience.

I put my bare hands in, but if I need coverage I have used dish gloves or unpowdered latex with an elastic to prevent water entering it. don't know how fish safe that was, though I figured my hands were only in for a short time, as I try not to get too wet if I am injured. I also use nu-skin for bandaids every so often, to block cuts. I would just not put my hands in for a bit let the chemical scent leave. again, don't know if it is fish healthy.

there's my 2cents

 

[cyberbeer65]

My gravel vac has a one way valve,all I have to do is shake it up and down to get a siphon started.

And also I use my bare hands in my tank,never had any problems.

 

[schigara]

George Carlin said it best but we have an immune system for a reason and if we try to live a totally sterile life, our immune systems won't be up to par and will be more prone to getting diseases. No gloves for me!

 

[ashdavid]

Well yes, if your fish are sick and you stick open wounds into the tank you may just be asking for it. My point was not to scare people off and have them freaked out about simply cleaning their tank. You have the same odds, presumably, of catching the disease any time you go swimming anywhere...its not as if fish tanks are the "cause" of it. Re: the cess pool comment, that is true, but Earth is also a closed system, whose water supply must also support the wastes and needs of every animal on it, aquatic or not But we're digressing here quite a bit

We are digressing here quite a bit here and I dont want to sound like I am going for an argument, I am not. I am not trying to scare people and maybe this informayion dose not belong here, if so I appologise. But you talk of the earth being a closed system, I agree and so I assume you are refering to our fish tanks as closed systems which I totaly disagree with.You speak as though our tanks are holding only a lttle more bio-load than what the earth supports,eg. even if you kept one neon tetra in a 1000g tank that would still not come close to bio-load/water volume that the rivers and lakes are supporting(taking into account terrestrial animals). If you are not calling our tanks closed systems then you must agree that higher bio-load means more wastes and more wastes mean more disease. So in actual fact I am saying that the fish we keep in our tanks can be, under certain circumstances ,more prone to disease which translates into more risk for us. So yes I believe that you are more likley to be affected if you have sick fish and you have cuts on your hand, that being said M marinum is an uncommon infection. In the United States, studies report an approximate annual incidence of 0.27 confirmed cases per 100,000 patients ,so it is very unlikely that you will be infected by this.

This however is very concerning. This is an extract from this web page.
"Over the pass decade it would appear that mycobacteriosis (Fish Tuberculosis) has slowly developed a stranglehold on the rainbowfish hobby in Australia. Information from international sources would indicate that it is also commonplace among rainbowfishes in both Europe and North America. I believe that it is now so widely circulated in the hobby that it is almost impossible not to be beset by it at some time. In fact, it may be bordering on an epidemic. Most cases of mycobacteriosis are not reported or more often, are simply misdiagnosed. Mycobacterial infections of fish can only be confirmed by positive laboratory findings. " This is a scary thing ,most of M marinum cases are not reported or misdiagnosed and can only be indentified through scientic methods. This could mean that one of us may have already had this disease in our tanks. And let me ask you this if you knew you fish were infected by this and you had an open wound on your hand would you knowingly put your hand in the water? I know I wouldn't.

http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Myco.htm

Don't you agree that this information should be passed around, and not informing people just because it may scare some of them is no reason to not pass it around.
But I will say again dont panic ,it is very unlikely that you will be affected, that being said if your fish are sick I would show a little caution putting your hands in the water if they have cuts on them.

Btw I have always put my bare hands in my tank and I will continue doing so, in fact as ergo sum said in his post with big tanks sometimes you have to get inside them to clean them and my tank is no exception.

 

[valleyvampiress]

Just a tip for everyone "stealing gas",


Fill the small hose with water and plug with finger, when you are ready just put vaccuum in the water and remove finger over bucket....this will start the syphoning process automatically, no mess, no stress works everytime and its simple

What I would do is just put the whole tubing and everything in the tank, plug the hole with my finger and let 'er rip in the bucket. Today, after using a new gravel vac with a little flat part at the end, all I have to do is plug the tube with my finger and stick the thing in. Then I just release my finger and voila! Out pops the water. I don't know what brand it is, but it isn't a Python.

*This new way I should explain more properly. I don't get my hands wet ever because it used gravity to start the suction. I put one finger at the hole end, and with the gravel vacuum part, I stick it in the water. When I release my finger, the air preasure is what causes the water to start coming out.

 

[valleyvampiress]

This is the vacuum I bought and used today:
http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...<>ast_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1115624665472

 

[pugmonkey]

i used to be able to start my syphon without sucking on it but now i have a huge syphon tube thats almost 25 to 30 inches long because my tank is 31 inches deep, so theres no way for me to get the darn thing started other then to suck. if i get a mouthful of fish water, no biggie, ive had worse

 

[nursie]

I have a cheapo python that doesn't hook to the sink to start it that I use on my smaller tank at work. I just fill the tubing with water and close off both ends and carry it to the tank...put one end in the tank...and the other in the waste bucket, and it willl start it's own siphon.

As far as transmission of disease to our fish...there is any number of bacteria that humans can have on their hands that could make fish ill.

 

[Debra Mark]

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.

My policy is that I NEVER stick my hands in the tanks....the water creeps me out.....but my husband has to physically get in to clean the glass and do maintenance.....