what would happen?

[debaric]

Anyone know what would happen if one day when you were sucking up your water during the water change and you swallowed a cups worth? I am curious the types of bacterial colonies that exist in a fish tank, too bad I dont have a microscope at home. Anything harmful in there that might send you to a hospital?

 

[hmt321]

worst case:

amoebic dysentery
tape worm
various internal parasites

I started my siphon for years my mouth and nothing ever happened to me. But as you get older, you come to realize that its worth the $29.00 or so for a python.

check this out, you may find it cheaper other places,python

my 2 cents

 

[born2lovefish]

Probably not much. Your immune system should take care of things, but some people do not have much of an immune system. I siphoned gas from my gas once when working on it, and after getting a mouth full....I am still living, but then again not much live in gas.....

 

[downloader]

happen to me a few times, not paying attention when starting the siphon. Still alive and kicking.

www.bluewhippet.net

 

[psilo]

I have to say that i used a siphon by mouth for 15 years and never had any ill effects. Having said that yesterday I read an article that said you can catch salmonella from swallowing aquarium water so maybe it is wise, if possible to err on the side of caution.

 

[jaymasta]

yea most ppl are immune to samonella by the age of 15 anyways.. LOL

 

[Roan Art]

Salmonella is the least you need to worry about. Have you guys not heard of Fishtank Granuloma/Fishkeeper's Disease that is caused by mycobacteria, Fish TB?

Fish TB is very real and more common than you think.

IMO, You are putting a lot at stake by getting aquarium water in your mouth.

Roan

 

[webcricket]

I never understood starting a syphon with your mouth and risking eating fish water, when you could start it just as easily using gravity. I've always used the cheap not self-starting syphons - bucket on floor, syphon in tank, hold off the end of the syphon tube with your finger, fill the vac part up with water, take your finger off the tube end and stop it as soon as the water starts flowing through, refill the vac part, submerge the vac, take finger off the tube part to let the water flow again, instant syphon. You just have to it shake back and forth a few times if the flow rate seems slow.

That said, I just ordered a Python a couple of days ago after seeing how much folks here seems to love them. I'm looking forward to no more bucket trips and sloshed out water!

 

[wolf22t]

Well i dont do it to my aquarium but i have with my fish pond with stale dirty old water in it (no fish yet) and swallowed less than a mouthfull, needless to say i was sick for three days and have ever since used a pump, they are not that expensive so yeah DONT RISK IT is what i say

 

[twig]

Yeah there is a lot of Siphons that you just shake to get started if you're worried about getting some odd disease from your fish water.

Personally I think it's a load of crap.
People drink water that is far worse off than fish water everyday and there is no effect.

I think using a Python that attaches to the sink is still a good idea. You save yourself a lot of time and hassle and it's actually really fun to clean the tank when you've got one .... lol i've been looking forward to it ever since I got mine.