Basically, I was just wondering how dangerous it is to not wash my hands after every time i stick them in the tank. Now, Im not talking about touching corals I'm just talking about adjustments to vitals and surface water. Because i do use latex gloves when doing anything extensive like fragging or aquascaping. Can anyone shed some light on the topic? just in a general sense. For example , can i catch a parasite while smoking a cigarette after putting my hands in surface water?
what about sterilization for humans?
- Thread starter willis87
- Start date
widmer
Drug Enthusiast
If there were any risk at all, you'd think you would hear about it at least once in a while. The only risks I've heard of to date are the cone snails, blue ring octopie, zoa toxins. While I don't think it's necessary to use any soap after poking around in the tank, I don't think it's such a bad idea to rinse your hands in some freshwater afterwards. If you want it to be a more carefree thing, maybe keep a little bin of freshwater near the tank you can just dip your hands in and shake off, and change that once in a while?
wayne in norway
New member
I would do a search on the word mycobacterium. I have a pretty mean rash on one arm right now that flares up everytime it goes in my tank, and I seem to recall it appeared right after messing around with a large torch coral.
dogstar74
Premium Member
I would think that most of our tanks aside from having a little more algea, have less toxins than the southern california coastal waters, and surfers suck in a lot of water pretty regularly. I'd think that would be much more of a worry than the occasional taste of saline I get when I siphon my tank out.
I'm not too worried.
Aaron
I'm not too worried.
Aaron
Hormigaquatica
Active member
After dealing with Mycobacterium marinum, I wash well every time I get in the tank. Its was not a pleasant thing. Granted, chances of picking up the bacteria are pretty low, but I still think its worth the 20 seconds and $.03 worth of soap it takes to get rid of anything that might be on your hands.
And yeah, the thread title definitely got my hopes up... lol
And yeah, the thread title definitely got my hopes up... lol
Moonstream
New member
I never wash my hands after touching the tank, and have yet to get sick from it.
mhummel
New member
If you have animals and use frontline, advantics or somthing to control fleas and ticks WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!. I know from experience this will kill all your shrimp and pods, maybe crabs depending on how much you get in the tank. This stuff is designed to attack the exoskeleton of fleas and ticks and i believe this will do the same to our aquarium exoskeleton critters. Within and hour all shrimp were dead even after removing them from the tank. My recomendation would be do anything in your tank before putting this on your animals then wash your hands really good and don't even think of touching the tank for 12 hours to allow the stuff to dicipate on your hands
Aquarist007
New member
Tanks seem to thrive better the less you put your hands in them
this was just discusssed on this thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1374571&perpage=25&pagenumber=2
quoted by ACblinkey:
Couldn't agree more. My tank is full of activity, very fun to watch. My recipe for a happy, active reef is pretty simple:
1) Keep your hands out of the tank unless it's absolutely necessary. Use a magnet cleaner for glass, glue nori clips onto magnets so you can raise them out of the water without getting your hand wet, and don't mess with rock/critters inside the tank. If you must put a hand in the water, be fast and wear gloves (oils and other substances from our skin aren't good for reefs). Rearranging your rockwork may be your idea of a fun Saturday afternoon, but I can assure you your fish don't feel the same way!
2) Make sure all inhabitants -- fish and inverts -- are compatible with one another. If you have a bully present, remove him/her so the other fish can relax.
3) Keep things consistent. Don't change the aquascape around (fish get used to sleeping and hiding in certain places), keep lights on timers, feed around the same time each day, etc. Fish and corals are creatures of habit, and routine keeps them happy.
4) Maintain good water quality.
5) Make sure everyone has enough room. Crowding is stressful and leads to posturing or outright fights. Even crowded corals will compete for space, sometimes with disastrous results.
__________________
this was just discusssed on this thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1374571&perpage=25&pagenumber=2
quoted by ACblinkey:
Couldn't agree more. My tank is full of activity, very fun to watch. My recipe for a happy, active reef is pretty simple:
1) Keep your hands out of the tank unless it's absolutely necessary. Use a magnet cleaner for glass, glue nori clips onto magnets so you can raise them out of the water without getting your hand wet, and don't mess with rock/critters inside the tank. If you must put a hand in the water, be fast and wear gloves (oils and other substances from our skin aren't good for reefs). Rearranging your rockwork may be your idea of a fun Saturday afternoon, but I can assure you your fish don't feel the same way!
2) Make sure all inhabitants -- fish and inverts -- are compatible with one another. If you have a bully present, remove him/her so the other fish can relax.
3) Keep things consistent. Don't change the aquascape around (fish get used to sleeping and hiding in certain places), keep lights on timers, feed around the same time each day, etc. Fish and corals are creatures of habit, and routine keeps them happy.
4) Maintain good water quality.
5) Make sure everyone has enough room. Crowding is stressful and leads to posturing or outright fights. Even crowded corals will compete for space, sometimes with disastrous results.
__________________
danceswithfish
New member
I have read of a few people catching vibro from their tank.
Why on earth did you quote this here? This thread is about catching diseases from a tank. Also, I'm not sure that ACblinkey's claim that skin oil is bad for a reef has any evidence. I doubt any study has been done on the topic. As to the rest of the items you quoted, they're true, but they're not apropos anything in this thread.
Aquarist007
New member
I did feel it was appropriate here because it deals with hands in the tank
Thanks for your critique of the post, just the same
wow, thats exactly what i was looking for. i will still always wash after, but i guess the topic sould be more of a thread as for contaminating the tank?Considering all the toxins we touch every day i guess the Question really becomes how much should you sterilize yourself as not to contaminate the reef a full 360 you might say? as regard to our oils i believe they are basically the same as un-disolved organic compounds of which will form on the surface causing a result in altered water parem's. and decreased oxidation transfer as many of you have said.
